Unveiling the Mystique of Zhaosu Yuli Lake: A Tiffany Blue You’ve Never Seen Before
(Travel Diary + Handy Tips)
This year, I spent two months in a yurt by the Yuhu Lake in Zhaosu County, Xinjiang, shooting a vlog about “Nomadic Daily Life.” The phone signal was hit or miss, but it let me really soak in the lake—the color changes every day. Back home scrolling through Xiaohongshu, I saw people complaining that “the photos look better than reality,” while others exclaimed, “This lake looks so fake!” Having spent dozens of nights by the lake, all I wanna say is: it’s not the lake that’s fake, it’s just that you went at the wrong time.
📸 What’s the Difference Between Seeing It and Photos?
The first three days I was there, the weather was all cloudy, and the lake looked gray-blue, like cement—nothing like the pictures. I was totally devastated. But then on the fourth day, the sun suddenly came out, and starting from 1:30 PM, the edges of the lake began to show a soft misty blue, just like a Tiffany gift box, with a creamy feel, as if someone spilled milk into the lake. No matter how I tweaked my camera settings, I couldn’t capture the delicate color that the naked eye sees—it looked like silky milk blue to my eyes, while my phone photos turned out bright and greenish. Eventually, I just gave up on the gear and looked with my own eyes, and that’s when I really understood why cameras can never get it right.
Why Is the Lake So Outrageously Blue?
To put it simply, it’s not just clarity; it’s a suspended liquid.
- The lake bed is covered with white granite, which has been ground down by glaciers into extremely fine “glacial milk.”
- In the water, there are floating calcium carbonate + carbonate crystals, small enough to remain suspended, semi-transparent, and milky white.
These crystals primarily scatter blue-green light, layering it to create that milky look. This physical phenomenon can’t be replicated by camera sensors; only the naked eye sees the authentic Tiffany blue.
Three Truths About the Colors
(These are the insights I gathered over two months.)
| Factor | Effect | On-Site Experience | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light Angle | Sunlight hitting at a 210° angle (1-8 PM) | The lake surface looks illuminated by soft light | Low-angle light hits the crystals directly |
| Cloud Cover | Thick clouds = grayish blue; thin clouds = milky blue | Thin clouds are the best surprise, like the lake has its own filter | Don’t aim for a completely cloudless sky; the light will be too harsh |
| Wind Speed | Strong winds stir up particles underwater | The color gets a bit muddled, creaminess decreases | If it’s over level 4 wind, don’t expect much |
Tip: If you go before 1 PM or after 8 PM, the lake will just look like ordinary deep blue, totally different from the photos—so don’t waste your trip.
My Two-Day, One-Night Journey
(Don’t want to take a wrong turn? Just copy this!)
DAY1
- 11:30 Arrive at the parking lot, first grab a spot at the scenic viewpoint on the east side of the lake (there’s a simple wooden walkway).
- 12:00-1:00 Wait for the lunch crowd to thin out and the sun to rise higher.
- 1:10 The color begins to turn milky blue; I set up my camera and drone to record simultaneously, eye > lens, don’t just focus on taking pictures.
- 3:00 Carpool to the west bank for some milk tea and pilaf at a herder’s yurt, and switch out the drone battery along the way.
- 7:30 The last milky light on the lake, as the sun sets, the lake looked like spilled milky candy.
- 8:00 Stay in the yurt; it got down to -5°C at night, and I watched the Milky Way reflecting on the lake—deep blue, a completely different world from daytime.
DAY2
- Sleep until I wake up naturally; the lake looks deep this morning, perfect for capturing the symmetrical reflection of the snow-capped mountains across the way.
- 10:30 Pack up and head down the mountain; on the way, I see early-arriving tourists just getting there, they only see the deep blue version, looking puzzled and asking me, “Is the online photo fake?”
Four Useful Takeaways
- When is the best time to visit?
From mid-June to the end of September, the snow line moves higher, and the area around the lake is snow-free, keeping colors the most stable. - Transportation Options
There’s only one road from Zhaosu County to Yuhu, 70 km long and in good condition; it’s best to hire an old Jetta from a local Kazakh driver for about 200 yuan round trip, since he knows which parts of the road are soft and will avoid deep potholes. - Equipment Recommendations
- A polarizing filter on the camera is useless; it’ll filter out colors;
- Drones can fly, but some no-fly zones pop up occasionally, so ask the herders before takeoff.
- Food and Lodging
There are only five yurts on the west bank where you can stay, costing about 60-100 yuan per person for breakfast and dinner. Showers? Nope. Signal? Just E-network. Download offline maps in advance.
Bonus: Little Moments I Captured
One afternoon, it was cloudy, and suddenly a hole opened up in the clouds—the sunlight hit the lake like a flashlight, splitting the milk blue and deep blue right in half. An older herder said, “Looks like cut milk tofu,” so I recorded it for the vlog intro, and it went viral.
These little moments make up all my memories of Yuhu—it's not going to change for anyone’s filter or reputation; it follows its own seasonal rhythm for a makeover, and it’s always worth coming back for a second or third time to see the colors.
