Daniel Dumbrill
From Altay we spent a couple of days on the road heading to Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture. Along the way we made a quick unplanned stop at Ulungur Lake’s Golden Coast for a swim. I really wish I’d filmed more of the driving. Over 13,000 km, a huge part of our time was spent on the road — and those stretches ended up being one of the biggest highlights of the trip. Hours of music and podcasts with the kids, watching the landscape keep changing: Mongolian grasslands giving way to the Gobi, then mountains, then grassland again. Seeing it all transform as we crossed the north really puts into perspective how big and diverse this country is.
Daniel Dumbrill
Our next stop was Altay, way up in the north of Xinjiang. This was the first place on the trip where we really slowed down and stayed for several nights. Our favourite thing to do was simply explore the nature in and around the city. Altay itself has a very relaxed atmosphere.
