2020.10.12 (D7), I arrived at Mangya from Dunhuang yesterday, and stayed at "Pinghua Building" on Kunlun Road. It is considered a relatively good hotel in the local area, with a three-star rating. Today we plan to visit Aiken Spring and Emerald Lake. Since they are located on the west and east sides of Mangya City respectively, we plan to go west after breakfast to Aiken Spring, and return to the city for lunch after the meal. East, visit Emerald Lake.

"Pinghua Building" does not provide breakfast. After getting up in the morning, we still went to the Roujiamo restaurant where we had dinner yesterday, and each person still got a bowl of wonton and a Roujiamo. During dinner, I heard from a local oilfield employee that the Qinghai (Qaidam) oilfield is currently producing gas, supplemented by oil.

Depart for Aiken Spring at 9:35. Mangya is a small oil city. Many buildings in the city are named after "Oil", such as "Oil Building" and "Oil Restaurant". They are also dormitories for oilfield employees. At 9:53, drive out of the urban area, head west along the national highway G315, and head towards Xinjiang (Ruoqiang County). Aiken Spring is located in the southwest corner of Mangya City. It is a gushing spring in the border area between Qinghai and Xinjiang. Because of its very strange shape, it is also known as "the devil's eye". The straight-line distance between Aiken Spring and Mangya city is 29 kilometers, but driving requires a detour of more than 40 kilometers, including a rather long section of dirt road. Although Aiken Spring is a unique wonder, it has been "locked in the boudoir and no one knows it" all the year round. Only in recent years, with the heating up of self-driving tours in China and the gradual rise of national highway G315 becoming an Internet celebrity, the "devil's eye" has gradually become popular. known.

At 10:08, we arrived at the "Qinghai Mangya Public Security Checkpoint". At 10:29, we saw a sign saying "Mangya Aiken Spring Tourism Resource Area" on the side of the road. There is also a sign on the side, showing that the opening hours of Aiken Spring Scenic Area are 08:30-19:30.


At 10:33, I saw the sign "Aiken Spring direction, go straight ahead", and the figure of kowtowing pump appeared in the distance. We are driving near Gasikule Lake at the moment. The largest oil field in the Qaidam Basin so far is called "Gasikule Oilfield". However, the oil producing area is mainly located on the east side of Gasikule Lake. Driving on the west side of the lake, there are only a few sporadic kowtow pumps working in the field of vision.

At 10:39, I saw the sign "30 kilometers away from Aiken Spring", and there was a warning sign on the side of the road saying "protect the grass and prevent fire, and the alarm bell will keep ringing". This area is called the Alar Grassland, which has been a natural pasture since ancient times. It is said that if it is in spring and summer, the pasture is green and the land is full of wild flowers, and the scenery is excellent. However, it is now late autumn, the sky is vast, and the autumn grass is yellow. Although there are still large herds of cattle and sheep on the grassland, as far as the eye can see, there is only a piece of withered yellow.

At 10:53, we saw the sign saying "20 kilometers away from Aiken Springs", and the road under the wheels has also turned into a washboard dirt road. We saw several cars in front of us "crawling" with difficulty, and we drove the SUV roaring past. The dirt road crossed the small river many times, and every time we crossed the bridge, we saw the "Be careful" reminder. There was a loud noise, and we got out of the car to check, and found that the panel on the lower right side of the front of the car was knocked out by something, which made a square hole the size of a fist. At 11:17, we arrived at the Aiken Spring Scenic Area. There is no need to buy tickets for this place. You only need to pay the parking fee (20 yuan/car) and you can drive straight in. In addition, there are express warnings here that vehicles are only allowed to drive along the road when entering the scenic spot, and are not allowed to drive into the grassland and Gobi. Violators will be fined 2,000 yuan.

After entering the scenic spot, drive to the parking lot. The road crosses the saline-alkali barren beach, and the surrounding area is completely white. It looks like snow at first glance, but it is actually alkali flowers. Arrived at the parking lot of the scenic spot at 11:30, however, Aiken Spring itself is still 1 km away. Following the guidance of the road signs, we first crossed a large piece of withered grass after getting off the car, and then crossed a vast barren beach. The landscape on the barren beach is very strange, bare and colorful. Aiken Spring is located in the center of this large strange wasteland. area.

The Russian traveler Przevalsky was the first to see Aiken Spring in written reports. He led a team to explore Lop Nur during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. He encountered this magical spring on the way, and then wrote in his book "To Lop Nur" Proclaimed to the world. Aiken Spring is neither suitable for animals to drink nor plant growth because of its extremely high sulfur content in the water. Therefore, birds and wild animals on the grassland avoid it, but no grass grows wherever the spring water flows. Sulfides of various colors stay and deposit in the area where the spring water flows, and make the vast area around the spring water present grotesque mottled colors. The local Mongolian herdsmen dare not graze near the spring water. "Aiken" in Mongolian It also has scary connotations.

The Mangya City Photographers Association built a high platform next to the spring. Members are free to go on the stage, and other tourists have to pay 20 yuan per person. We went on stage after paying the fee. Compared with the off stage, the photos taken on the high stage are better because of the higher shooting angle. Climbing on the high platform can also see the scenery of Aiken Spring and its surroundings more clearly. The water color of Aiken Spring is green and yellowish, and the large area around the spring is colorful. Yellow, brown, orange, and red complement each other. Miscellaneous, the scenery is very strange. This large piece of colorful wasteland is surrounded by vast grasslands. Behind the grasslands on the south side lies a large mountain in the distance. Snow can be seen faintly on the top of the mountain. That is Kunlun Mountain. The parking lot of the scenic spot is located on the north side of the high platform, and we came from that direction just now. There is a long line of container houses on the parking lot, which is said to be convenient for photographers to spend the night here and take pictures of the starry sky and sunrise.

Walking down the high platform, X.J. released the drone again by the spring. For Aikenquan, only high-altitude aerial photography can truly reflect the effect of the "devil's eye". We also used drones to take pictures of ourselves, and as the drones soared and zoomed, the two of us became smaller and smaller in the frame, and eventually became almost unrecognizable. The surrounding area of ​​Aiken Spring is very desolate. Even if the drone is flying to the highest point, only the parking lot, viewing platform and Aiken Spring are the three obvious landmarks. There is also the saline-alkali barren beach with whitening of the earth, which is endless as far as the eye can see.

Aiken Spring is in the shape of a circle with a diameter of more than ten meters. There are a large number of bubbles rising in the spring, which feels like boiling water. However, this is just an illusion. The water temperature of Aiken Spring is actually not high. due to release. Aiken spring water comes from deep underground. The high pressure underground presses a large amount of gas into the water. After the spring water rises to the ground, the pressure drops suddenly, so a large amount of dissolved gas will escape, and a large number of bubbles will rise, resulting in a spring water boiling. Effect. The sulfide contained in the spring water will also be precipitated due to the sudden drop in pressure, forming sulfide deposits of various colors around the spring, and for a long time, a ring of yellow, red, orange, brown and other colors will be formed around the spring, forming A shape that looks like a pupil. Looking down from the sky, it seems that there is an evil eye appearing on the vast land, so the "Evil Eye" comes from it. However, the authorities of the scenic area don't seem to like the word "devil", so they erected a stone tablet with "Angel Eyes Aiken Spring" next to the parking lot.

I left Aiken Spring at 12:58 and returned to Mangya City at 14:05. I chose "Dingsheng Beef Noodles" near "Pinghua Building" for lunch. Each person has a bowl of beef noodles. I feel good, but X.J. I like it, he said that the most authentic Northwest Beef Noodles are actually not as good as the "Northwest" Beef Noodles in Xiamen. After the meal, we took a short rest in the noodle shop, and set off again at 15:15, heading east along the national highway G315, heading directly to "Emerald Lake".


15:25 Arrive at the foot of the famous "Oil Sand Mountain" in Qinghai Oilfield. The road passes between Gasikule Lake and Oil Sand Mountain. On both sides of the national road, it stretches from the lakeside to the top of Oil Sand Mountain. They are working tirelessly. This area belongs to the No. 1 Oil Production Plant of Qinghai Oilfield, and it is also the area where the oilfield was first developed. In the 1950s and 1960s, a large number of oil workers and their families came here to participate in the oil battle. They struggled hard, ate and slept in the open, and some even gave their lives. There is a monument to the martyrs on the right side of the road. The martyrs will always shine in the world."

At 15:36, drive to the intersection of "Mangya Emerald Lake". The Emerald Lake scenic spot is located on the east side of Gasikule Lake. It is actually a salt mine, which is rich in high-quality potassium fertilizer, Glauber's salt, and lithium salt. The so-called "Emerald Lake", as a piece of water, is actually a salt pond used by salt mines to dry brine and extract potassium and nitrate products. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was originally an ocean in ancient times, and then the ground was uplifted. As a depression on the plateau, the Qaidam Basin became the place where the ancient ocean eventually died. The salt carried by seawater was deposited here, thus forming a rich reserve of potassium. Nitrate deposits. Many years of mining have left behind many salt ponds and mining pits. They are of different sizes and depths. The types and concentrations of mineral salts in the brine in the ponds are also different, thus forming gorgeous lakes of different colors. The ice is as clear as emerald. Therefore, the lake is called "Emerald Lake". However, this place is the same as the Aiken Spring we visited in the morning. Although it has excellent scenery, it has been "raised in a deep boudoir and no one knows about it" for many years. It has gradually become a popular punching spot along the "Internet Red Highway" National Highway G315.

When driving to the scenic spot, first of all, you pass through a large area of ​​salt flats. The car drives on the thick salt layer, and the whiteness of the view makes it feel like a snowfield. The main business of Emerald Lake is still mining, and heavy-duty salt trucks may be encountered from time to time. There is no gate to the scenic spot. Only a large placard saying "Welcome to Mangya Emerald Lake" indicates that this is the entrance to the scenic spot. There is a simple cover on the side of the road as a toll station in the scenic spot. When entering the scenic spot, the toll is calculated by car. According to the size of the vehicle, it is divided into three classes. The larger the car, the more the charge.

The total area of ​​"Mangya Emerald Lake" is about 30 square kilometers. The lake surface is divided into square-shaped lakes of different sizes and shapes by many ridges. The vast lakes are 2-3 kilometers long, and the smaller ones are hundreds of Meters long and wide. These cube-shaped water bodies are excavated manually and are mainly used to dry brine to make salt. Local people call it "brine circulation pool" or "salt mining pit". At present, only a few of the nearly 100 "brine circulation pools" in "Mangya Emerald Lake" are open as scenic spots. They are connected together and located on the northernmost side of the entire Emerald Lake, adjacent to the national highway G315.

Tourists visit the route in a clockwise direction, along the soil ridges, around the open area of ​​the lake, starting from the toll station of the scenic spot, and finally returning to the toll station. There are road signs everywhere. We drove into the scenic spot at 15:47. First, we drove up a long, straight ridge in the middle of the lake. It is not only a sightseeing route in the scenic spot, but also a transportation channel for salt mining in the mining area. The road is wide enough for two heavy-duty trucks to run in parallel.

This dirt ridge road runs roughly from northwest to southeast, and is built directly on the surface of Emerald Lake. We drove in the center of the salt lake. On the left (north side) is a vast water area about 3 kilometers long, with a width of 600~ At 800 meters, the turquoise lake water is crystal clear, and against the blue sky, there is a touch of light blue in the green. The bottom of the lake is full of pure white salt crystals, which gather under the water to form salt domes and salt ridges of different heights, which in turn cause the lake water to vary in depth, making the lake surface appear in different shades of green. On the other side of the salt lake is a long earth mountain, which is said to belong to the remnants of the Altun Mountains. The uncanny craftsmanship of nature has carved a series of deep grooves on the slope of the mountain, with various shapes, which are called "Yadan" in geology. The level of the lake is like a mirror, reflecting the figures of the Yadan peaks. The yellow-brown mountain shadows and the emerald green and blue lake water are dazzling and beautiful.

As for the south side of the ridge road, it is a different scene. The whole salt lake is endless, and the lake surface is divided into many squares by one ridge after another. They are all salt fields for drying brine. , at a glance, it seems that there is no end. The landscape on the lake is also quite different from that on the north side. The salt mounds and salt ridges deposited on the bottom of the lake have emerged one after another, forming an intricate network on the lake. Moreover, because the salt concentration in the water is higher, the color is more abundant. From different angles, or choose different water surface areas, the lake water also presents different shades of yellow-green, emerald green, light blue, blue-green, one by one. , A bark, like pieces of emeralds and gems, inlaid on the vast white and flawless lake. In the distance to the south, there is a faint shadow of a mountain, which is Kunlun Mountain.

The essence of "Emerald Lake" is a salt mine, and all the lakes are also salt fields where brine is dried. Therefore, I guess that the landscape differences of different lakes should also be related to the process of brine drying. The north side of Tugeng Road is in the early stage of brine drying. All the salt crystal deposits are submerged underwater, and the salt fields on the south side are approaching the late stage of the drying process. The salt domes and salt ridges have already emerged from the water surface, and may soon enter the stage of harvesting and salt mining.

X.J. flew a drone by the side of the road, and the Emerald Lake overlooked from the air was more beautiful than the one seen from the ground. The 4th and 5th photos below show a long ridge of soil in the middle of the lake, which is the ridge road where we are flying the drone. Moreover, it can also be seen from the pictures taken by the drone that the current "Mangya "Emerald Lake" is just a very simple scenic spot. The X-shaped position in the picture is the entrance of the scenic spot, and there is a simple cover on the side of the road that is the ticket office.

Some scenes can only know the "true face of Lushan Mountain" from a bird's-eye view from a high altitude. It was only after the photos sent back by the drone that there was actually a larger salt lake behind the salt flat.

From a high-altitude bird's-eye view, the essence of Mangya Emerald Lake as a salt mine "brine circulation pool (salt mining pit)" can also be seen more clearly. The neat edges and corners of the waters are obviously artificial. There are also obvious differences in the conditions of salt ponds with different brine drying progress. Some lakes have abundant water, and all the deposited salt crystals are underwater, while some lakes are almost dry, with potholes on the lake surface. It's out of the water, and it's estimated that salt can be harvested in the near future. There are still a few salt fields. At present, there are only soil ridges around them, and the interior is empty. There is neither brine nor salt. I wonder if they belong to the salt fields that have been emptied? Or is the newly built salt pan not filled with brine yet?

Take back the drone and continue to move forward. At 16:10, I saw an earthen platform protruding northward into the lake on the left side of the middle section of Tugeng Road. There was a lying tablet in the water under the platform. Simple viewing platform, so I parked on the soil platform. The depth of the lake here is quite different, so the water color also changes endlessly. The lake near the shore is the shallowest, and the water color is also the lightest. Against the background of the white salt crystals at the bottom of the lake, it presents milky white, light yellow, yellow green and light green. , as the lake gradually deepens, the color of the lake gradually becomes darker, especially around some deep pits at the bottom of the lake. A long row of reflections of the earth mountains, the scenery here is unique. At 16:25, the drone was released again. Looking down from the sky, the lake surface is more colorful and beautiful.

Continue along this dirt ridge road, and at 16:48 we come to a T-shaped intersection, the road sign guides us to turn right, and we turn into another southwest-oriented lake center ridge. The roadside here already belongs to another salt field. It may be because of the higher concentration of brine, the emerald color of the salt lake is more intense. Moreover, the accumulation of salt crystals at the bottom of the lake is almost out of water, which looks particularly white.

The authorities of the scenic spot built a T-shaped soil ridge on the lake, which is convenient for tourists to walk into the center of the lake along the ridge. A small group of "aunts" are taking pictures on the ridge in the center of the lake. They are all prepared and dressed in red gown. The drone took off again, and the "aunt" on the ridge in the middle of the lake was also captured by us. The red figure dotted with the green lake surface, and the distant mountain shadows set off, forming a very eye-catching and beautiful landscape.

Continue to move forward and meet T intersection again at 17:03. There is a road sign of "Scenic Spot Exit" here. We turn right again and turn northwest to the direction of the exit of the scenic spot. On the side of the road here, we saw another "Mangya Emerald Lake" lying monument. Considering that we were about to leave, we chose to stop here and took a photo of "A Tour of Mangya Emerald Lake".

Continuing to go around the lake, there are another T intersections one after another, and we drive through one after another on the lake surface. We are always driving in the direction of the sunset, and there are always beautiful scenery on both sides of the road. However, due to the beautiful scenery everywhere, we are a little "aesthetic fatigue" at the moment, and we are no longer as excited as when we first came. We didn't stop along the way and went straight to the exit of the scenic spot.

Leaving Emerald Lake at 17:28, driving on National Highway G315 again, and returning to Mangya City. Mangya's famous "Huatugou" Yardang peaks have once again caught our eyes. The tourism department of Mangya City is vigorously promoting "Exploring the Wonderful Yardang", and this long list of Yardang peaks has inspired A figurative name is called "Thousand Buddha Cliff". When we came from the city in the afternoon, because we were only thinking about Emerald Lake and were busy on the road, we didn’t pay much attention to this piece of Yadan. At this moment, we carefully observed and observed this long line of Yadan peaks. , It's really a bit like "a thousand Buddhas juxtaposed". It is said that this "Thousand-Buddha Cliff" landscape is a special geological phenomenon produced by the combination of Danxia landform and Yadan landform: the steep cliff (Danxia) of Tertiary red sandstone evolved a layer of red mud after weathering , Covering the surface of the cliff, the master hand of nature (wind, rain, sunshine) carved this layer of mud into strange hanging folds (Yadan), the shape of these folds is like a mountain waterfall, pouring down the steep hillside Down below, the grandeur of the scene and the majesty of the momentum are really breathtaking.

At 17:35, I passed the "Oil Sand Mountain" again, and once again saw kowtow pumps all over the mountains. Qinghai Oilfield is mainly located in the Qaidam Basin area, so it is also called Qaidam Oilfield. The big slogan on the roadside reads "Promote Qaidam Wood oil spirit, dedicate tens of millions of tons to the great cause of development."

At 17:48, we returned to the urban area of ​​Mangya, and passed a cross-street archway displaying a large picture of Yadan. The banner on the top reads "Explore the magical Yadan, see all living beings and thousands of Buddhas". If you think about it, this archway must be set up by the tourism department of Mangya City. As an oil city, Mangya's resources will always be exhausted one day, but the tourism industry is an ivy, which can last forever. At present, Aiken Spring and Emerald Lake in Mangya City are already well-known tourism brands. Pushing Yadan and Grassland, this should also be a rainy day for the local authorities.

For dinner, I still choose the Roujiamo fast food restaurant near the hotel. X.J. doesn’t like pure Northwest food, and only this restaurant can satisfy him. Each person still has a meat clip, a bowl of wonton, X.J. wants a small bowl, I choose a big bowl. I'm never picky about meals, I can adapt to whatever I eat, and I always have a good appetite.