Taking advantage of the strong autumn, the long-awaited trip to northern Xinjiang finally took place. When the train drove out of Jiayuguan along the Hexi Corridor and entered the vast Gobi and endless deserts, I couldn't help feeling: Xinjiang is in front of me, and if you don't go to Xinjiang, you won't know the size of China. This is by no means a simple statement. On this trip, we will start from Turpan, Xinjiang, and head north all the way to Tianshan Tianchi, Fuhai Yadan, Burqin Colorful Beach, and Kanas Lake. To find the beauty of northern Xinjiang in golden autumn.
Xinjiang, a place in the Western Regions in the past, is, in fact, as far away as it is near. In the face of modern transportation, a train ticket is needed from Nanjing to Turpan. On the evening of September 12, 2018, we boarded the Z40 train from Nanjing (35-hour journey), and arrived at Turpan North Station on time on the morning of the 13th. Get out of the station and take bus No. 202, 1 yuan per person, get off at Dashizi Station in Turpan, and walk 150 meters to arrive (booked by Ctrip, 4.5 points in online reviews) Turpan Rujia (Dashizi Branch).
【Fire Mountain Chapter】
After checking into the hotel, we took a short rest, and then took a taxi from the front of the hotel (120 yuan round trip) to the Flaming Mountain Scenic Area in Turpan. It is less than 30 kilometers from the city of Turpan to Huoyan Mountain. The long-distance bus has to reverse, which is very troublesome and time-consuming. Tickets for Flaming Mountain are 40 yuan per person, and half-ticket for 65 years old.
Huoyan Mountain is located in the middle of the Turpan Basin, where it is hot and dry all the year round. Hundreds of millions of years of crustal subsidence and wind and water erosion have formed the mountain-shaped landform of Huoyanshan and ravines. Under the scorching sun, the rock surface here is dry and hot. The average temperature in summer is as high as 47.8°C, and the surface temperature is as high as 89°C. It is said that boiled eggs can be baked in the sand nest here. Because the story of Monkey King borrowing the banana fan three times in the mythical story "Journey to the West" was taken here, it was named Flame Mountain. Huoyan Mountain is now an AAAA-level scenic spot, and has become a popular tourist destination for people in Turpan.
A frontier poet in the Tang Dynasty once described Huoyan Mountain: "The volcano is abrupt at the mouth of the red pavilion, and the volcano is thick with fire clouds in May; It vividly portrays the extremely hot and inaccessible place here. The Huoyan Mountain in front of us is a Danxia mountain. Mountains with similar shapes and colors can be found everywhere in Northwest my country. Walking into the Flame Mountain, I feel that it is a man-made landscape, and I can't experience the charm of Wu Chengen's "Journey to the West" and Tang Xuanzang's "Da Tang Western Regions". Maybe it's golden autumn at this time, and the climate is relatively cool, so you can't experience the "fire" rhyme of Huoyan Mountain.
Just at the entrance of the underground passage to the scenic spot on the right (pictured right), there are several coquettishly dressed women, probably imitating the scene of Pansi Cave in "Journey to the West", constantly pestering passing male tourists to take photos with them Fees are charged, and people avoid this one after another.
Today, there are not too many tourists under the Flame Mountain, but there are not too few tourists riding camels. Why do you want to ride a camel under the Flame Mountain? Except for riding a camel, there is no other eye-catching scenery here. Perhaps, riding a camel is more symbolic than practical. Camel rides are expensive!
The Flame Mountain Scenic Area is divided into two parts: the underground and the ground. Tourists must first enter the underground scenic area (Journey to the West Cultural Corridor—Introduction to the Geography of Flame Mountain—Ancient Gaochang Hall of Fame), and then pass through this giant thermometer and "Nine Nine Eighty-one" in "Journey to the West". Only in the "difficult" relief area can you go on the ground for sightseeing. It only took us about half an hour to finish reading the entire content of the Flaming Mountain Scenic Area.
You can stand anywhere in the scenic spot, turn your body 360 degrees, and you can have a panoramic view of the Flame Mountain. Walk around the scenic spot on the ground for about 10 minutes at most. We exited from the ground scenic area and walked to the statues of Iron Fan Princess and Bull Demon King, and there was nothing to watch. So, we immediately left the Flame Mountain and returned to the hotel, and went to the next destination, the Karez Folk Custom Garden in Turpan.
【Kanat article】
We took bus No. 1 from the front of the hotel, 1 yuan per person, got off at Yaer Town Station, and walked 600 meters north all the way to Karez Folk Custom Garden (ticket 40 yuan, half-ticket for 65-year-olds). Karez Folk Custom Garden is located in Dongchang District, Turpan City, about 5 kilometers from the city center, and is one of the famous scenic spots in Turpan. There are Karez Prototype Viewing Area and Karez Folklore Museum in the scenic area, where tourists can learn about the Karez culture in Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, eat and stay here, and experience Uyghur customs and delicacies.
The area of Karez Folk Custom Garden is not large. The total length of Karez viewing area is about 300 meters. The entrance of tourists to the scenic spot is the Karez Museum, where you can systematically understand the culture and structure of Karez. Karez is a water intake project created by digging shafts and underground channels to connect and drain groundwater to avoid water evaporation. The working principle and excavation process of Karez are displayed in the museum, where visitors can fully feel the diligence and wisdom of our Tianshan ancestors. It is said that the Karez Well Project, together with the Great Wall, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and Dujiangyan, are known as the Four Great Projects in ancient China.
According to historical records, there are more than 1,700 Karez wells in Xinjiang, with a total length of about 5,000 kilometers and an irrigated area of more than 500,000 mu. Most of them are distributed in Turpan and Hami areas. Karez plays an important role in local production and life. It is precisely because of the Karez well water intake project that the Gobi desert has become an oasis and the colorful ethnic groups in Xinjiang have been bred. It is said that Mr. Lin Zexu passed through Turpan at that time, and after seeing the Karez well, he praised it greatly: "There are many "card wells" along the way, which can divert water to flow across, from south to north, and gradually lead to higher and higher waters. Benefits, sincerity is inconceivable."
Kanerjing means "well hole", which was recorded as early as in "Historical Records", when it was called "Jingqu", and in Uighur it was "Kanerzi". This is the original origin of the name of Karez. On the north side of the museum, there is a prototype of Karez, which is divided into an underground channel and an open channel. Tourists can pass through the underground Karez channel and have an intuitive and perceptual understanding of the working principle of Karez.
Karez embodies the living conditions of the aborigines in the Tianshan area of Xinjiang thousands of years ago. It is said that Karez technology first originated on the Iranian plateau more than 4,000 years ago, and is part of the spread of the "Two Rivers" civilization to East Asia. The first major development of Karez in Xinjiang was from the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. At that time, the Han Empire made it a national policy to defend the border and fight against the Huns, and vigorously promoted Karez technology. According to the "Hanshu Biography of the Western Regions", Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty sent general Xin Wuxian 15,000 soldiers to the west of Dunhuang to observe the map and open the canal, and dug Kan'er Dajing Six, the canal was connected, and the downstream gushed out to the foot of Bailongdui Dongtu Mountain. According to this, it can be seen that the Karez well project of these six shafts was very successful in diverting water from the canal.
Who invented Karez? There have been different opinions. There is a local legend in Turpan. In order to survive, a young shepherd came to Turpan. In this dry land, he searched for water again and again, but failed again and again. Just as he was about to leave, he found a piece of green grass. Where there is grass, there must be water. However, he searched for several days, but still could not find water. Seeing that the flocks were dying of thirst, he began to dig holes to find water. . At this time, passers-by persuaded him: "Don't bother, the water is halfway, let the sun and the Gobi Desert take it away, the water will not reach Turpan." But the young shepherd was very stubborn and smart, so he dug a well to find water, and finally drew the clear spring out of the well. As a result, people dug along, and the wells dug more and more, and the canals became longer and longer. It created the world-famous Karez in Turpan.
In addition to viewing Karez culture in the Folk Custom Garden, there are also Xinjiang traditional folk performances such as drying raisins, Anar Khan’s home, and baking naan cakes in the scenic area. process. In addition, you can experience the architectural style of Uyghur folk houses and taste Xinjiang specialties here.
The raisin drying room in the folk garden, although it is not the grape drying season, it is not bad to go in and experience it.
2 yuan a piece of baked naan, crispy and delicious, but the price is twice as high as that on the street. The grapes in the folk garden are said to grow better than those in the grape ditch.
【Jiaohe Ancient City Chapter】
The ancient city of Jiaohe is the largest, oldest and most well-preserved ruins of the original native city so far in the world. It is known as "the most perfect ruin in the world". In 1961, it was listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit. In 2014, Jiaohe Ancient City, as a site of the "Silk Road-Tianshan Corridor", was included in the United Nations "World Cultural Heritage List". The ancient city of Jiaohe was once one of the most prosperous cities on the ancient Silk Road. It is an ancient city in the Western Regions that is as famous as the ancient city of Loulan. It is known as the "Oriental Pompeii City".
The cause of the ancient city of Jiaohe: Our ancestors cleverly used the unique geographical conditions to dig out a large-scale corridor city on the platform where the two rivers meet by adopting the method of "reducing the land to keep the wall and digging down". , hence the name Jiaohe Ancient City. Today's Jiaohe Ancient City is a blend of history and modernity, and it has become a must-see for backpackers and photography enthusiasts all over the world when they visit Turpan. We also decided to visit Jiaohe Ancient City after a comprehensive comparison (historical humanities, architectural features, etc.) between Jiaohe Ancient City and Gaochang Ancient City, and choose one of the two.
The walls of all buildings in Jiaohe Ancient City are excavated from primary soil, and the walls of temples, government offices, city gates and other large-scale buildings are made of raw soil + rammed earth. The streets and alleys of Jiaohe Ancient City are narrow, long and deep, like a maze of winding trenches. The whole ancient city is like a group of sculptures of ancient buildings. Its unique architectural craftsmanship and grand scale are rare at home and abroad. It embodies the ingenuity and outstanding creativity of our ancient ancestors.
Jiaohe Ancient City was first built by the Cheshi people in the 2nd century BC. According to historical records, Yanshi, Dayuezhi, Wusun, Gaochang and other countries in the Western Regions successively established their capitals here. During the Han Dynasty, Jiaohe City was mostly used to garrison troops and store food, and it reached its peak in the Southern and Northern Dynasties and Tang Dynasty. In the 14th year of Tang Zhenguan, the famous general Hou Junji set up the Anxi Protectorate here after destroying the Gaochang Kingdom. It once became the political, cultural and commercial center of the Central Plains Dynasty in the Western Regions. From the 9th to the 14th century AD, due to successive years of war, Jiaohe City gradually declined. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, it suffered serious damage again and was eventually abandoned.
The ruins of Jiaohe Ancient City are quite well preserved. The ancient city is 1,750 meters long from north to south and more than 300 meters wide from east to west. It is divided into temples, residential buildings, government offices and other parts. The total area of the ancient city is 470,000 square meters, and the existing architectural relics are 360,000 square meters. Most of the buildings in the city were built in the Tang Dynasty, and the architectural layout has quite the architectural characteristics of the Central Plains. The ruins of Jiaohe Ancient City are divided into three parts, one of which is a road about 350 meters long and 10 meters wide that divides the old city into two residential areas, east and west; The official office area of the old city.
Standing on the viewing platform of Jiaohe Ancient City, looking up, it is full of primitiveness and vastness for thousands of years. It can't help but remind people of "Li Bai. Guan Shanyue" "The bright moon rises from the Tianshan Mountains, among the vast mountains and rivers. The wind blows for tens of thousands of miles, blowing across the Yumen Pass; the origin of the battle, no one returns."
The Old City of Jiaohe spans time and space, is full of historical vicissitudes, and has a strong visual impact, which is very suitable for photography. Here we met a photographer from Chengdu, who has come to Jiaohe Ancient City for the fourth time. He said that every time he came here, he would have different feelings. In the past, he could go to any location in the old city to take pictures. Now, the old city is strictly protected, and he can only find shooting spots within the plank road. Although the effect of the photo was far less shocking than before, it still couldn't stop the old city from attracting him.
As the sun goes down, it seems like there is a lot of people, the hissing of war horses, the sound of camel bells, and the rush of business travelers. In this ancient city in front of you, in the long river of history, how many soldiers who fought in the Western Regions, for the sake of the unification of the motherland and the rise and fall of the country, bid farewell to their wives, children, and parents, and never returned from here! How many business travelers and envoys have walked on this difficult ancient road, either for wealth or for exchange, on the long and yellow sands of the Gobi! Their distant figures and footsteps seem to be telling people the history and prosperity of the ancient city of Jiaohe.
In the evening, the old city of Jiaohe is quiet and barbaric, and the scenery is very shocking. It has witnessed the vicissitudes of thousands of years here, every building in it has a story, and every house has a fresh life! This is what we saw, this once important town on the old road of the Western Regions, now the ancient city of Jiaohe in Turpan, we have been here for you, and it feels like a worthwhile trip!
【Punch Grape Valley】
On the morning of September 14, we took a taxi for 15 yuan (the grape valley is 4 kilometers away from the city center, and there is no direct bus), and came to the grape valley scenic spot in Turpan. It is said that Grape Valley is a place that is "neither black nor speculative". We believe that Grape Valley is a village where grapes are grown. Tourists first come here to see the vineyards and taste grapes. Nowadays, the cake here is getting bigger and bigger. There are wine tasting, watching songs and dances in the mountains, Uighur home visits, Wang Luobin’s concerts, visiting mosques and other charging items. Cards are set up everywhere for transportation and tickets. . It has already exceeded the original intention of tourists to come here. According to the words of our taxi driver: "This is a place where you regret not coming, but even more regret when you come."
On the outskirts of Turpan, villages like Grape Valley are everywhere. You can visit the vineyards for free, and tasting grapes is much cheaper than Grape Valley. We did not enter the Grape Valley, but only briefly checked in in front of the scenic spot, and saved this photo immediately, and chose to leave immediately. Take the tourist special bus 5 yuan/person + walk 2 kilometers back to the hotel. The per capita transportation cost of this trip to Grape Valley is 13 yuan, which is the least expensive scenic spot in Turpan.
We returned to the hotel and had lunch at a restaurant run by a Chengdu native called "A Good Meal" opposite the Grand Cross. After that, we finished our trip in Turpan. Then we went to Turpan North Railway Station and took train T295 (11.13- 13.12) arrived in Urumqi in the afternoon. The next itinerary is to see the panorama of Urumqi in Hongshan Park, visit Erdaoqiao Grand Bazaar and Tianshan Tianchi, and visit Xinjiang Museum. In this regard, we have new expectations.
The end of this article (to be continued) Jinling Lesou 2020/8/28
