5 Days in Yining

The blue-washed old quarter is best taken slowly — a clattering horse-drawn hadek cart, courtyard doors painted every colour of blue, and courtyard teas to finish.

1. yining kazanqi district

Liuxing Street's six-spoke plan dates to the 1930s; the accordion museum keeps more than 800 instruments, and the Lin Zexu Memorial recalls the commissioner's Ili years in the 1840s.

1. yining liuxing street
2. yining accordion museum
3. yining lin zexu memorial

An honest cross-prefecture day — the 2011 Guozigou bridge spans a valley on deck pilings some 200 metres high, then Sayram's 458 square kilometres of lake sit at 2,071 metres in Bortala.

1. yining guozigou bridge
2. sayram lake

The prefecture museum and the Han princesses' memorial (about 2,100 years ago) run long; the bazaars restock dried fruit and naan for the road.

1. yining museum
2. yining han princesses memorial
3. yining city bazaars

An hour west in Huocheng county the lavender fields bloom mid-June (other seasons bring orchards and vine rows), then a sunset at the 1975 bridge closes the loop.

1. huocheng lavender
2. yining ili river bridge