At the end of July and the beginning of August, I took my baby to the northwest to escape the summer heat.
D1: G429 departures.
When I parked in Dingxi Northwest, I found the cool feeling of Northwest China.
Arrived in Lanzhou at 19:50. After nine o'clock in the evening, the flow of people at Zhengning Street Night Market was still surging. The yellow cake is not to your taste, but the barbecue is really good, the haggis soup is also affordable, and the 1.5 liters of Yellow River beer tastes refreshing. It's just that the famous "milk egg fermented glutinous glutinous rice" has a long queue in front of each stall, and I didn't get it in the end.
Photo: Night Market
D2: The Amber Beef Noodles for breakfast is well-deserved. I was almost fooled into eating the set meal (specially aimed at foreigners), but in the end I ate the meat and eggs in the lobby.
Figure: shop and noodle
Then go to the forest of steles, not to see the newly developed "ancient steles", but to overlook Lanzhou City.
Figure: overlooking
Walking on the Zhongshan Bridge, feeling the Yellow River rushing under your feet, you are a little dizzy.
Figure: Yellow River
For lunch, go to "Yunfeng Beef Noodles", which stands on the bank of the Yellow River, with the water of the Yellow River under your feet, and the water of the Yellow River outside the window. The small building by the river in the picture above is.
In the afternoon, T295 entered Xinjiang.
D3: The 4G signal of the mobile phone is intermittent along the way.
Arrived in Urumqi at 13:38, equivalent to 11:30 in the Mainland. For lunch, I found a "Saraman Diet", which is said to have authentic ethnic flavors, with a very stylish architecture, kavas drinks have a strong honey flavor, the baked buns are a bit hard, and the luxurious noodles are really slow.
There used to be a security check when entering the mall.
Photo: Kavas
Then go to the International Grand Bazaar to open your eyes. The surrounding parking lots are full. We found four parking lots before we could barely line up. There are many people in the Grand Bazaar, but you must never buy anything in it, including but not limited to dried fruits, jade, clothing accessories and other specialties.
Photo: Grand Bazaar
There are more people in the food street of the International Grand Bazaar. Barbecue, noodle lungs, baked buns, and watermelon stew (you read that right) smell delicious, but the seats are very narrow and crowded, and I feel messy. I walked around and hurried out.
For dinner, I found a farmhouse barbecue, "Liangjun BBQ" (near Chenggong Street). There is also a security gate when entering the hospital. The lamb chops were awesome, baked in a naan pit. The house beer is not bad either. Soup rice (noodles) is very tasty.
Photo: Grilled Lamb Chops
D4: D8804 times to Turpan, focusing on Grape Valley.
The traffic in Turpan City is not friendly enough for independent travel. After leaving Turpan North Railway Station, you can’t find the 202 road that you can check online. As a result, I took a K2 (Route 206 hung on the butt of the car), which happened to connect several scenic spots in the city (Jiaoheyi, Karez Custom Garden, Turpan Museum, Grape Valley), 5 yuan per person.
Grape Valley has changed from an original scenic spot (Old Grape Valley) more than ten years ago to a scenic spot in the 5-block area. The water sold at the gate of the scenic spot is not much more expensive than outside, but it turns out that there are basically few folks selling raisins at home in the scenic spot, and they are all relatively formal stalls.
Photo: Grapes in Grape Valley
The Grape Valley is really comfortable. We focused on the Grape Valley Folk Village, Dawazi Custom Garden and Grape Valley Amusement Park. The Avanti Custom Garden was abandoned, and the Wang Luobin Music Art Museum was not opened. There is a cool breeze under the grape trellis. There is also a high-altitude tightrope walking performance at about 1:30 noon in the Dawazi Customs Park, but the performance venue is very hot. Although there is a stand shed, it is really stuffy underneath. The watermelon I ate in the scenic area was the most enjoyable one I ate recently.
Picture: Watermelons that can only be enjoyed in Xinjiang
Photo: cool and sweet watermelon
Coming out of Grape Valley, it once again exposed that the traffic in Turpan City is not friendly enough for free travel, and there is no bus back to the city at all. There are black cars, which are actually taxis. The so-called chartered cars, we asked for 30 yuan a car, which is acceptable, and it is about 5 yuan more expensive than using a meter.
There are several scenic spots related to Karez in Turpan City (Karat Custom Garden, Karez Museum, Karez Paradise, Karez Source, etc.), we went to Karez Custom Garden (together with Karez Museum, one ticket down), the inside of the well is quite cool . But the 40 yuan per person ticket is only enough to watch for half an hour, which is a bit tricky. Later, I found out that the Karez scenic spot that was developed relatively early should be Jiaoheyi·Karez source, but it seems that the traffic there is even more inconvenient, and no bus was found.
I came out of Karez Custom Garden and planned to take a car to the high-speed railway station, but I suffered a great crime. The weather forecast at that time had a maximum temperature of 42 degrees Celsius, and the surface temperature definitely exceeded 50 degrees. The key is that it is too difficult to take a taxi. The top is drying and the bottom is roasting. After 15 minutes, people are almost cooked.
Having said that, taking a taxi in Turpan is not expensive. And the security check at Turpan North Railway Station is really strict.
D8815 times back to Urumqi.
I had dinner with a friend in the evening, and he actually ordered the Hubei dish "Xiang Chuqing", which I laughed at, haha.
D5: Departure to Tianchi Lake.
It is said that it just rained in the morning, so it was really cool all day.
In addition to the original Tianchi scenic spot, when there was another "Maya Mountain", you have to take the cableway up and down (the cost is not included in the scenic spot's big ticket), so I didn't go.
The cool breeze around Tianchi is cool, the clouds are thick and the air is very transparent. So slow down the pace, walk slowly and watch slowly, and it is also very comfortable. Lunch was a pretend picnic on mats under the shade of the trees, which made my little one very happy.
Figure: Tianchi
On the way back to Urumqi from Tianchi, I encountered the most stringent security check during the whole tour. There is only one word: absolute cooperation!
Back in the city, I had dinner at "This is Xinjiang", a shop with a very Xinjiang style, two floors, the second floor is open-air, selling delicacies from all over Xinjiang, such as barbecue, rice intestines, noodle lungs, yogurt and so on. I tried my best to avoid drinking the deadly Dawusu along the way, but this time I finally couldn't avoid it, haha.
Figure: Hotel
D6: On the recommendation of local friends, drive to the Tianshan Grand Canyon scenic spot in Nanshan. It is still cloudy throughout the whole process, and the Grand Canyon is relatively high in altitude, so it is very cool.
Figure: Grand Canyon
In my impression, Xinjiang is short of water, but there is such a scenic spot not far from Urumqi, which is really good.
Take a look at the water in Zhaobi Mountain Bilong Bay Scenic Area, then walk in, ride a horse in Swan Lake Scenic Area, and see the mountains, grasslands, and Gobi—are the names of these two scenic spots reversed?
Photo: beautiful small waterfall
With tents and moisture-proof pads, we had a formal picnic at noon, and we could pick mushrooms on the low hills. The rhythm is also not fast, and it also makes the little guy very happy.
Z42 left Urumqi at night. The journey is over.
Summarize:
1. There is a bullet train between Urumqi and Lanzhou, but it is tiring for about 12 hours, so it is not as good as a sleeper car. There is a high-speed rail in Lanzhou, so you can choose the high-speed rail to go to Lanzhou first, and change to the normal speed train to enter Xinjiang. The same goes for going out of Xinjiang.
2. After entering Xinjiang, there may be security checks everywhere in shopping malls, hotels, scenic spots, and cities. It is strongly recommended to cooperate absolutely.
3. The traffic in Turpan is not friendly enough for free travel, so free travel enthusiasts should be cautious.
4. After entering the Tianshan Grand Canyon Scenic Area, you need to add clothes, at least one long sleeve. It is best to prepare one for Tianchi.
5. The food and drinks in the scenic spots are slightly more expensive than outside, but fortunately they are not outrageous.
6. July and August are actually quite hot in the Northwest, so you need to pay attention to sun protection.
