Majestic skies and indifferent cows

Enhe, Hulun Buir. Photo By Tang Yue / China Daily

The day we visited there was not an otter in sight, just birds and a multitude of tourists. Hulun Lake is so big that it stretches as far as the eye can see, and having just spent a couple of weeks reporting the story of the blasts in Tianjin that claimed 173 lives and injured hundreds of others, lying on the shores of the lake and taking a few photographs from time came as a blessed relief.

After dinner, we took a two-hour train to Hailar district, Hulun Buir's largest urban area, and spent four hours on the coach the next morning before arriving at the most eagerly awaited destination of the trip, Enhe, the country's only Russian ethnic minority autonomous township.

The Caucasian ethnicity of many of the locals is readily apparent, and most of the hotels have Russian names. And, of course, everywhere you look you will see kulich, the classic Russian Easter bread, and kvass, the Russian fermented rye bread drink.

A local driver in his 40s said his grandmother is Russian and that it is common for people of his generation to have both Russian and Chinese names.

"But our children don't have Russian names anymore."

We stayed at the Enhe International Youth Hostel and did not expect to meet any foreign tourists because the place is not even particularly well known among Chinese, and it is a drive of about four hours from the nearest airport, Hailar.

However, we did encounter one, Siddhartha Gosavi, 28, an Indian who said he has studied and lived in Japan and Germany and now works in Shanghai.

"It seems you are the only foreigner here," I said.

"Yes. I once came across a very odd website, and Enhe is ranked top on a list of underrated and uncrowded places for travel in China. So I came."