Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes
Last year, Happy Flying, the first stop of our little friends was Dunhuang, an important town on the Silk Road.
When you come to Dunhuang, the first scenic spot to check in is of course the Mogao Grottoes.
The Mogao Grottoes were built in 366 A.D. during the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms. Afterwards, it went through the Northern Wei, Sui, Tang, Northern Song, and Xixia continuous expansion and construction, until the Yuan Dynasty and after the Mogao Grottoes gradually declined and were abandoned.
Now if you go back to the urban area from Dunhuang Airport, you will pass through an ancient city on the way, which is the film location built for shooting Dunhuang back then.
After Dunhuang was abandoned, no new caves were opened in the Yuan Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, Dunhuang was sealed off from the Jiayuguan Great Wall. Dunhuang became a land beyond the Great Wall, a nomadic land for nomads.
Keep going forward, there is a flying statue under the big tree.
She is showing a beautiful dancing posture. Feitian is a fairy flying in the air in Buddhism. Generally, when the Bodhisattva is preaching, Feitian will appear around her, sprinkle flowers or dance for her.
In many subsequent Dunhuang murals, we all saw flying statues, including the city logo seen in the center of the street when we entered Dunhuang just now, and it was also a flying statue bouncing a lute.
Witness the exquisite murals. There are 735 caves in the entire Mogao Grottoes, only 60-70 of which are open to the public all the year round. Entering the Mogao Grottoes, you will be overwhelmed by everything in front of you, and concentrate on the square inches on the mottled stone walls.
There are 735 existing caves in Mogao Grottoes, and there are a large number of murals and clay colored sculptures painted in the caves. It is the largest and richest art site in my country and even in the world.
Visit tickets are divided into categories A, B and C, and there are some special cave exhibitions. We bought the cheapest category B tickets, and we can see four of the caves.
In the entire Mogao Grottoes, there are basically primitive caves excavated along the mountain wall.
When visiting, queue up and divide into groups, each group arranges a guide to lead the group to watch at random. In order to prevent air from entering, the murals are oxidized, so after each visit, the tour guide will lock the door before leaving.
The nine-story building is the first cave visited by category B tickets and the last cave visited by category A tickets.
As the name suggests, the pavilion consists of a nine-story wooden structure in front of the cave, which was rebuilt during the Republic of China. The original pavilion had only four floors, and it was rebuilt successively in successive dynasties. The last one was completed in 1935.
The cave was excavated during the Kaiyuan Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty (713-742 A.D.). The Maitreya Buddha enshrined in the cave is the "successor" of Sakyamuni, so people call it the future Buddha.
It is said that the face of the Buddha statue was built according to Wu Zetian's prototype, with a round and full shape, a quiet posture, and a degree of grace. The entire Buddha statue is 26 meters high, and the width between the knees is 12 meters. Visitors stand at the feet of the Buddha and look up.
The soles of the Buddha's feet are very large, and the nails can be clearly seen, which conforms to the aesthetic art of people in the Tang Dynasty.
The murals in the cave were repainted in the Song Dynasty and are also very exquisite. Then the murals left at the passageway just entering the door are said to be the original works of the Tang Dynasty, but they are all faded now, so they are not very clear.
Inside the Reclining Buddha Grotto is enshrined the Nirvana statue of Buddha Sakyamuni. The reclining Buddha in the grotto is 15.8 meters long. .
A group of small Buddha statues behind the reclining Buddha express the different states of Sakyamuni's disciples when they saw the Buddha passed away, with different faces and expressions.
The murals on the top of the cave are very gorgeous, and there are countless small Buddha portraits that come into view. Think about how much energy and time it takes for the painters to paint such exquisite images in this small space.
The portraits on the outside of the cave are much simpler, and the colors are not as bright as those inside, which may be the reason for oxidation due to long-term exposure to the air.
After reading it, the guide locked the cave door again.
In 366 A.D., the Buddhist monk Le Zun opened the first Buddhist shrine in the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. After 1650 years of construction, these historical pictures that travel through time and space have become world cultural heritage. The Mogao Grottoes, together with the Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi and the Longmen Grottoes in Henan, are also known as China's "three major grotto art treasure houses".
So, how was the Mogao Grottoes excavated?
Why do the murals inside have not faded after thousands of years?
How are tall Buddha statues made and built?
With these questions in mind, I came to the Dunhuang Grottoes Cultural Relics Protection Research and Exhibition Center to find answers.
1. Geological environment
Mingsha Mountain, where Mogao Grottoes are located, is dry and rainless all year round, which provides a good external environment for the preservation of stone carvings, murals, colored sculptures and other cultural relics.
Second, the pigments used
In the Dunhuang Grottoes Museum, the paints on display are all made of natural ore. After materials selection, crushing, iron removal, grinding, bleaching and grading, various colors suitable for painting are produced.
Its color is pure and vigorous, bright and not vulgar, and it has the characteristics of weather resistance, light resistance, and acid and alkali corrosion.
Secondly, animal glue is used, which is a binder of mineral color. It skillfully bonds the particles of mineral color, and superimposes pigments of different colors to produce a unique hair color effect of mineral color, making the picture more colorful. Changing color charm.
All the caves in Mogao Grottoes are a trinity of comprehensive arts including cave painted sculpture, architecture and painting. From the beginning to the completion of a cave, it generally goes through a series of construction procedures such as repairing the cliff face, digging caves, drawing murals and statues, repairing and decorating the eaves or halls.
From the beginning of the cave construction project, there was a relatively detailed division of labor.
The craftsmen involved in the construction of caves mainly fall into the following categories:
1. Cave diggers are craftsmen who drilled rocks and plated grottoes on the cliffs of Mogao Grottoes;
2. Masons are artisans engaged in grotto excavation, construction stone processing, and stone tool manufacturing and repair;
3. A mason is a craftsman engaged in civil engineering;
4. Carpenters are craftsmen engaged in the manufacture, processing and repair of civil engineering and wooden appliances;
5. A sculptor is a craftsman engaged in clay sculpture and coloring;
6. A painter is a craftsman engaged in painting.
The Mogao Grottoes Museum also exhibits cultural relics related to the Sutra Cave, including copies of Dunhuang posthumous writings and paintings lost abroad.
There are manuscripts and engravings on display. The contents of the documents are mainly Buddhist scriptures, as well as Taoist scriptures, Confucian classics, poems, letters, and petitions. These are very important research values for scholars, especially for studying ancient Chinese history. if.
The cave statues are also very exquisite in workmanship. Although they are all replica caves, the color reproduction is very rich, and the figures of the Buddha statues are peaceful and serene. From these art treasures, we can see some situations of religious and social life in medieval China.
It is conceivable that this huge painting project must have exhausted the energy of many painters all their lives, and it takes people to stay in Dunhuang and devote their entire lives to achieve this artistic achievement, right?
The painted sculptures and murals in the Dunhuang Grottoes are extensive and profound, and most of them are Buddhist: statues of painted sculptures and murals, stories of Sakyamuni’s life, Buddhist stories, Buddhist historical sites, etc. roof and altar.
The picture above is a picture of the story of the supporter worshiping the Buddha.
In addition, there are some paintings showing various aspects of social life such as hunting, farming, weaving, construction, dancing, weddings and funerals at that time. Looking carefully at the portraits, the costumes of the characters can reflect the characteristics of people's dressing and maintenance in different periods.
The murals of the Dunhuang Grottoes can reflect the social life and customs at that time. In this picture, the hair of the three people on the right looks like that of foreigners.
These are the carved floor tiles buried in the cave.
These are the four steps to build the Buddha. They are made of wood as a support, then tied with straw on top, covered with mud, and finally carved and colored.
The materials used in the Mogao Grottoes, Azurite No. 3-14, are made of lapis lazuli. Dunhuang murals and statues all use mineral pigments, which are ground from ore. The colors are bright and thick, and the expressive effect is very strong.
The tickets for Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes are booked in advance on the official website. I bought a B-type ticket for 100 yuan per person, including a digital exhibition hall and a field visit to 4 caves in Mogao Grottoes.
traffic recommendation
Taxi: Take a taxi in the urban area to the Digital Exhibition Center for about 9 kilometers.
Bus: Please go to the diagonally opposite Silu Yiyuan Hotel and take bus No. 12.
We chartered a car to go.
Attraction address
Gansu Province - Jiuquan City - Dunhuang City - Near Provincial Highway 314
Visiting Tips:
Mogao Grottoes are divided into Type A, Type B, and Type C tickets
Category A is to visit 8 caves, category B is to visit 4 caves, and category C can only watch digital movies.
To visit the Mogao Grottoes, you must make an appointment in advance, and you must show your "health code" to enter, and you must wear a mask throughout the visit.
oil town
Dunhuang travel guide, the filming location of "Nine-story Demon Tower", Aksay Oil Town
Our Qingan-Gansu Great Ring Road, the second scenic spot in the itinerary, is the oil town of Aksai.
Petroleum Town is an Internet celebrity tourist attraction on the Gansu-Qingqing Ring Road. After paying the 20 yuan ticket, you can enter this "ruin" creation and visit.
The oil town was built on a large flat land, overgrown with weeds;
Many adobe houses have collapsed, and most of the internal facilities of the existing brick houses have been dismantled and emptied, and some of the remaining door frames are also fragmented and incomplete.
The roads of the town are straight and neat, but the streets are lifeless, full of dilapidated and lifeless atmosphere.
I know Stone Town from the movie "The Nine-story Demon Tower". In the movie, it is said that the town was attacked by monsters in 1985, and everyone in the town was killed before it was abandoned.
After checking the information with curiosity, I discovered the real reason why the town was abandoned. It is because the natural environment in the Northwest is too harsh, because the resources here are mainly exploited, and as time goes by, the oil resources will gradually dry up, when the oil field falls into a trough in development. After the resources were exploited, the oil town lost its value, and because of the lack of water and food, it was abandoned directly.
What to do in the ruins of the oil town?
Of course, it is the filming location of punch cards. The abandoned town has become the filming location of many movies, such as "West Wind" and "Nine-story Demon Tower".
Walking around the old cinemas, government buildings, hospitals, kindergartens, ancient prison ruins and other buildings, you will gain a sense of loneliness that is difficult to experience on weekdays.
Photography is the best way to experience the ruins of an oil town. The town as a whole retains the taste of China in the 1980s, and it is also very suitable for taking pictures.
Everywhere you take a shot, there is a dilapidated and wasteful atmosphere.
You can shoot some industrial style, apocalyptic style, glamorous blockbusters.
Perhaps this is the beauty of decay brought to people by the passage of time.
On the building, there are many monster props used in previous movies. They are wrapped with iron chains and have long fangs in their mouths. They still look a little scary.
In the 1980s, the advertising version of motorcycles.
The map inside the government building, made of tiles, has not faded after so many years.
In the Nine-story Demon Tower movie, the theater was attacked by monsters.
There are shops in the town, and the nine-story demon tower is inserted upside down and the bus is on the main road. In addition, there are airplanes, tanks, and jeeps on the ruins of the road, which are all good creative backgrounds.
If you want to shoot industrial style, you can look for the factory building at the back. There are five big characters on the tall wall to promote production. There is also a bus stop in front.
Route 16 road sign in Mexico, USA.
Play Tips:
Navigation: select "Boluo Turning Well" as the location, or Aksai Oil Town
Parking fee 40/car, ticket 20 yuan/person
Erboliang Geopark
In the days when outbound travel is nowhere in sight, everyone can only wander around in the country.
Ever since, many unpopular scenic spots in China have been developed one after another.
Isn't it? Today, I will take you to check in. This scenic spot is the number one internet celebrity on the Gansu-Qingdao Ring Road.
Known by many netizens as "the place most like Mars on Earth" - Qinghai Lenghu Erboliang Geopark.
"Eboliang" is the name given to it by the locals. This is a Mongolian word, translated into Chinese it means "Aobao" and "Mound of Earth". This word is easy to understand from its shape, that is, on a vast land, there are many mounds of soil piled up.
The reality is indeed the case. Only by visiting Eboliang can you truly feel the desolation of the Northwest.
There is always a strong wind in this place, and whenever a vehicle passes by, high dust will be rolled up behind; from a close look, there is no grass growing on the land, and from a distance, the Gobi Desert will produce dazzling lights in the sun. You know, it is a piece of alkali salt crystal, reflecting the sunlight. So long-term water shortage, plants can not survive here.
According to the words of geologists: the desolate "Obo Liang" is the place on earth most like Mars.
The Erboliang Geopark is on the S305 Provincial Highway, which is a no-man's land, so this park does not charge tickets.
There is no asphalt road in the whole park, so you can only follow the rut track of the car in front.
The place with the best view is in the soil forest, the more you open to the inside, the more unique the view is, all of which we cannot see in our daily life.
We chose one of the higher soil bags to climb up, and we can overlook the entire Yadan group.
The soil bags are like aircraft carriers in the vast ocean, majestic and majestic.
Erbo Liang has a wide variety of single-piece Yadan shapes, including turtle-backed soil bags, grooved ridges, beacon towers, columns, and many other shapes.
The dense beacon-shaped earth bags look like thousands of troops standing on the battlefield, and the unique scenery is breathtaking.
Although I haven't been to the Devil City in Xinjiang, the peaks and clusters of the Erboliang Geopark are definitely a good natural Yardang landform museum in China.
The uncanny workmanship of nature has left such magical lines on Erboliang, which is super beautiful!
Play Tips:
Address: Erboliang Yadan Landform Scenic Area, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province
Tickets: Free
Photo guide:
Like all scenic spots, the prime time for shooting is half an hour before sunrise and sunset. And the Milky Way is the most beautiful here.
The deserted place is an excellent place to watch the starry sky, and many car advertisements are shot here.
Precautions:
1. After dark, it is very easy to get lost while driving or walking on the Erboliang, because there is no official road in the scenic area, so navigation is also unusable.
2. In the Yadan group, there are all the same soil bags all around, the vision is not far away, there is no reference to judge the direction, and there are basically no road signs. The entire Gobi Desert is full of chaotic ruts. Although the sunset scenery is beautiful, But if you don't live here, it's very difficult to go out.
3. Don’t leave the roadbed easily, it’s easy to get stuck in the car, because there are many ruts, we wanted to save the distance, and chose a nearby rut to walk, but got stuck after walking for a long time, fortunately, we were able to escape by returning to the original road in time .
Mars Camp
Aerial photography of the Russian Boliang Mars Camp, which is the largest Yadan group in the world, and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful.
In the depths of the Qaidam Basin in my country, there is a suddenly uplifted wind-eroded soil forest group with a total area of 20,000 square kilometers. This is the largest wind-eroded soil forest group found in my country, and it is also the largest and most typical in the world. One of the Yadan landforms.
According to expert research, the formation of this wind-eroded soil forest group is that after the Himalayan orogeny, the ancient seabed uplifted upwards, and after the seawater dried up, it was continuously eroded by wind, forming the current turtle-shaped, round-hill, column-shaped, and ridge-shaped Yadan shape landscape.
In the no-man's land of Erboliang, every step you take is soft sandy soil, with a lot of dust in the soil layer, and there is not even a grass around it. It is called "the place most like Mars on earth".
What's more interesting is that someone here has built a "Martian camp", which provides accommodation and meals. The layout is all arranged according to the space station structure of the astronauts, and the sleeping cabin looks the same as the plot in the movie.
However, after inquiring about it, the price of accommodation here is quite expensive.
The biggest advantage is that this is the only hotel in the Erboliang Geopark, and every night after nightfall, you can see the entire Milky Way across the sky with the naked eye.
Because there are no towns within 70 kilometers of Erboliang, there is no light pollution here, and it is an excellent place for watching the starry sky in China.
At night, I use the Yardang landform of Erboliang as the foreground + the big Milky Way, both photos and videos are super shocking.
Play Tips:
Camp Mars One
address:
In Erboliang Yadan Geological Park, Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province
transportation:
After seeing the billboard of "Russian Boliang Yadan Geopark" on National Highway 315, turn into the dirt road and follow the signs of Mars No. 1 Highway to guide you.
Camp provides accommodation and meals
Features, there are some balance instruments outside the camp, which are used by astronauts for daily practice, and tourists can feel it by themselves.
The Mars Camp is also China's first Mars simulation base for research and study. You can bring children here to conduct popular science education such as stargazing and space roaming. By cultivating children's interests, they will lay the foundation for future scientists.
Photographers, if you want to shoot the starry sky, you must take it before the moon comes out, even if it is a full moon, you can still take a beautiful starry sky.
For creative photography, you can buy a space suit or night fluorescent suit on a certain treasure as a photo prop, so that you can take pictures that are different from the public.
On the road, I happened to be traveling with a small noodle stall. The price of the food inside was about the same as in the urban area. In the no-man's land, the price was quite conscientious, so I quickly added some food.
Mangya Emerald Lake
Let’s talk about Qinghai’s internet celebrity check-in place-Mangya Emerald Lake. Although it is not as famous as the Chaka Salt Lake, it has a cantaloupe-like texture composed of lakes of different sizes, which is not found in other salt lakes. So the clear beauty is the paradise that I wait for photography lovers to look for.
Mangya Emerald Lake is the mining area of the Dachaidan Chemical Plant Salt Lake. There is no tourism development at present, so there is no admission fee for the time being.
The color of Mangya Emerald Lake is related to the concentration of minerals in the lake. The lake water contains a lot of magnesium and potassium. When the water evaporates, the lake water will become crystal clear. Especially when the sun comes out, the color of the lake surface is the same as emerald. nice.
It is understood that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was an ancient ocean hundreds of millions of years ago. Later, the crustal movement caused the ground to rise and uplift. After the seawater evaporated, the salt in the original seawater remained, forming many salt lakes in some low-lying areas. Emerald Lake is one of them.
Photography suggestion: It is suitable to choose some bright clothes, it is easy to make a big picture.
The sun at noon is the best, and the color of the salt lake is also gray. We were a little disappointed at one point. After waiting for more than an hour, everything became beautiful after the sun rose.
Note for photography: The light in Emerald Lake is very strong. When flying a drone, it is recommended to use a light reduction filter to avoid overexposure of the photo. Or turn on the HDR mode.
There are red mountains like this on weekends. The snow-capped mountains in the picture below are the Kunlun Mountains.
white is salt
Lying on the salt lake, you can also take a glass boat, 50 yuan per person.
The salt lake is so big that it takes 15 minutes to drive around it.
Emerald Lake Tips:
Traffic guidance: There is currently no bus to the scenic spot. At present, we can only go there by car. We chartered a car to the scenic spot.
Opening hours all day
Tickets free
The address of the scenic spot is in the salt lake mining area of the former Dachaidan Chemical Factory in Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province
Suggestions for playing: When playing, it is not recommended to enter the water, because the salt content is very high, and the skin will immediately form a white layer of salt when it touches the salt water.
Accommodation: There are no hotels near Emerald Lake. The nearest town is Dachaidan Town, where the accommodation conditions are acceptable.
Aiken Springs
Self-driving tour on the Northwest Ring Road, the magical Mangya Aiken Spring, like eyes embedded in the earth
The Northwest is a very magical place. In this barren land, there are many little-known beauties hidden. During our 8-day self-driving, the landscape every day is amazing to the beauty of nature, so it is better to go out and see Yes.
Arrive at Mangya on the fourth day. In addition to Emerald Lake, Aiken Spring is also a local must-see attraction.
Aiken Spring has many titles, "Eye of the Devil", "Eye of Qaidam" and "Eye of the Earth", which are the most vivid descriptions of this magical spring.
The first person in the world to discover and record this spring was a Russian explorer named Purzhevalski.
In the book "To Lop Nur", he quoted the local Mongolian language and recorded this spring as "Aiken Spring".
"Aiken" means "terrible" in Mongolian, because birds and animals dare not approach the spring, and where the spring flows, no grass grows, so the local herdsmen call this spring "the eye of the devil".
The real reason is that the sulfur content in "Aiken Spring" is too high. After long-term evaporation, the soil around the spring water will infiltrate with precipitated minerals, destroying all the surrounding vegetation and soil. If animals drink these Water, will be poisoned to death.
From the aerial photography, you can see that there is an oval spring with a diameter of 10 meters in the middle of the flat, vast and vast land. There is boiling water in the center of the spring, which keeps rolling up and up, colorful and very beautiful.
The magic of Aiquanyan lies in the fact that when looking down from the air, you can find the central spring and the surrounding crimson ring-shaped sediments, which form a unique pupil shape, as if it is an eye embedded in the earth.
Next to the spring, the herdsman's mani pile is used for blessing.
The local herdsmen specially built a simple iron frame viewing platform, which costs 10 yuan to climb on the viewing platform.
Because the spring water is corrosive, local herdsmen built a temporary bridge for tourists with water pipes to facilitate passage.
There is no grass around the spring, but after 800 meters away from the spring, you can still see green plants growing on the salinized land. Pay attention, the white ones are not snow, but salt crystals.
In the distance, you can see the majestic Kunlun Mountains, which are covered with a layer of white snow, which is very spectacular.
The G315 national road is OK. From the intersection to the scenic spot, it is a 30-kilometer-long gravel road. The road is not easy to walk and the road is narrow. Be careful when driving.
This is the entrance of the Aiken Spring Scenic Spot. The scenic spot is free. Here you need to get off the bus and show the itinerary code, and register the license plate and personal ID number and other information.
Along the way, you will see many oil wells on both sides of the road, which are part of the Qinghai Oilfield.
Behind the oil field is the vast snow-capped mountains.
Dachaidan Emerald Lake
Dachaidan Emerald Lake in Qinghai, the emerald left in the world, mysterious and low-key, free of charge
Compared with Mangya Emerald Lake, Dachaidan Emerald Lake has a larger area and richer colors. Another advantage is that it is only 10 kilometers away from Dachaidan Town, and the road is very easy to walk. It takes only 10 minutes to drive to the scenic spot. convenient.
The scenic spot is the mining area of the Salt Lake Mining Team of Dachaidan Chemical Factory. Before entering the scenic spot, you can also see the big slogan of the factory.
There is a parking lot in the scenic area, as well as toilets, from signposts to internet celebrity glass boats, so among the salt lake scenic spots in Qinghai, this is the best facility.
You can experience its beauty in many ways, and aerial photography is still the first choice, because the Salt Lake is particularly spectacular when viewed from the air.
Countless shattered emeralds were divided into dozens of lakes, large and small, inlaid on the ground.
There are continuous snow-capped mountains not far away. When there is no wind, the calm lake is like a mirror, reflecting the blue sky and floating white clouds. It is really beautiful.
The tour route is a circular route in a clockwise direction. Turn left after entering the door, follow the road, and walk along the lake. If you see something interesting, just park the car on the side of the road.
There are many types of salt lakes here, and the most popular is the "heart-shaped lake", which is covered with dark brown land, surrounded by white salt crystals in a "heart" pattern, and the light green lake is in the middle, lying on the side to take pictures, Super beautiful!
This lake is the location of the last exit. When you see the red minaret, the first 60 meters stop is the heart-shaped lake.
Salt Lake knowledge:
Continue to talk about the formation of the salt lake. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was still a vast ocean 200 million years ago. After the Himalayan orogeny, the seabed rose upwards and became the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In some low-lying areas, seawater gathered here, and the seawater receded and evaporated. Crystals of salt formed and settled on the area.
Modern people have developed this place into a mining area. These large and small lakes are the pits left by the workers after mining.
Because the salt content in the pits is different, the lake water can show different textures, joints and colors.
And whenever the sun shines, the light will penetrate the lake water, and the lake water will change in different colors due to different densities.
The most beautiful time for photography in the scenic area is at noon, when the sun shines the most, and there will be no shadows in aerial photography.
There is also the sunset, which is said to be very beautiful, but we see it due to time constraints.
There is no light pollution around, so it is suitable for shooting the starry sky, especially the time-lapse video is super positive. We didn't dare to persist because of the strong wind at night, so we went back to rest.
West Taijinel Lake
During this Northwest self-driving tour, I checked in 4 net red lakes, namely Dongtai Jinel Lake, Xitai Jinel Lake, Dachaidan Emerald Lake, Mangya Emerald Lake, all four lakes are unique, and more magical, Or West Taijinel Lake.
The special feature of Xitaijinel Lake is that it is a two-color lake. It is not obvious on the ground, but you will be surprised to find that the flat and clear lake is divided into two parts by the road, one side is green and the other side is emerald green, which is very magical!
Such miraculous lake water is because the lake is mainly affected by flood, alluvial, aeolian, lacustrine clastic deposits and some salt chemical deposits. It belongs to the magnesium sulfate sub-salt lake, which is particularly rich in lithium ore resources, and lithium is also a raw material for making lithium batteries.
It is very convenient to check in on this lake, because National Highway 315 passes through the lake, and there is no specific viewing point on the lake. If you see a suitable one, just park your car on the side of the road.
The road surface is not paved with asphalt and cement, it is all loess roads, and when cars pass by, smoke and dust will billow.
Isn't the sunset silhouette beautiful?
The double-color lake looks like the same color as the sea. If I didn't tell you that it was in Qinghai, just looking at the photos, you would think it was taken by the sea.
The colorful clouds under the sunlight and the wild ducks fly together. Is there any Tang poem "Sunset clouds and solitary ducks fly together, and the autumn waters are as long as the sky is the same color." "The artistic conception?
Most American Highway 315
Self-driving in the Northwest, take the most beautiful highway 315 National Highway, to encounter the beautiful scenery
Continue to discover the beauty of the Northwest. There are several national highways in China that must be punched in a lifetime. For example, the 318 National Highway from Shanghai to Tibet has been there three times. This time, the Gansu-Qingdao Ring Road chose to walk on National Highway 315, which is praised by many netizens.
National Road 315 became an Internet celebrity highway last year. Its starting point is Xining City, Qinghai Province, and its ending point is Kashgar, Xinjiang, the westernmost point of mainland China. The whole journey is 3063 kilometers.
The most beautiful section of National Highway 315 is the U-shaped road that crosses the desert, because the road is built along the undulating terrain of the desert. I think the most shocking scenery is the uphill section, because it looks like the road is like climbing to the sky. , vertically upwards, very unique.
The road condition of Highway 315 is very good, and all of them are asphalt roads, and the road surface is also very clean.
Looking at it in the air with a drone, it looks like a huge black crouching dragon lying on the sand of golden sand.
Driving on the straight 315 National Highway, the car windows are completely free of yellow sand, and there is no human habitation at all, revealing the desolate atmosphere of the desert everywhere.
Every day of traveling in the northwest, I feel that my eyes are in heaven. We drove through one uninhabited area after another, crossed the Qaidam plateau, and looked at the unique Gobi Desert in China, which was full of harvest.
When I went there, it was already September, and I still saw so many people forming a team to check in. They opened the car windows and poked their heads out to enjoy the most beautiful national road.
Someone waved the silk scarf on his hand and gestured to us.
In the distance of the desert is a towering snow-capped mountain. It is said that the climate in the desert is very different. It is not suitable for human beings to live here, but animals can still live on it, like wolves and camels.
Climbing up to the top of the mountain, you can see farther, all of which are boundless loess.
The one behind the car is Altun Mountain.
The panorama of National Highway 315, deserts are not static, they will constantly move and change the shape of their dunes with the wind.
Xiaochaidan Lake next to National Highway 315, today's weather is good, the weather visibility is high, and there are continuous crimson mountains on the other side of the lake.
We stayed in Dachaidan Town at night, and then went to Dachaidan Emerald Lake the next day.
Yadan on the water
The must-see scenic spot for Northwest tourism, Yadan on the water, the reason for its formation is this
On the beautiful Qaidam Basin in the northwest, there is a unique scenic spot in the world, that is the magical Water Yardang Geopark.
The full name of the Water Yardang Geopark is Wusut Yardang Geopark, and "Yadan" is translated as steep hills in the local Uighur language.
Looking around, I can see long islands like warships appearing on the blue water in the distance, which complement each other with the endless lake and Gobi desert around them, forming an unstoppable stunning scene beautiful view.
How did this stunning landscape come about?
According to expert research, this may be because the global temperature is rising, the thermal effect melts the surrounding snow mountains, and then the lake surface area expands. The magical landscape of Yadan on the water appeared only after the original wind-eroded soil forest group was submerged.
The soil forest in the Yadan Geopark can be climbed up, and you can see that there are no plants growing on the soil mound, which is completely the most primitive natural style.
The entire water Yadan peak forest is densely covered with different shapes, most of which are long strips, and some are oval. The momentum stands out.
Walking along the lake, you can see some water birds living on the quiet lake, which is also their natural habitat.
Play Tips:
address:
Next to National Highway 315 directly under the jurisdiction of Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province
transportation:
Whether you go to the Haixi Line or the Qinggan Great Ring Road, you will pass through this scenic spot. It is more than 260 kilometers away from Dachaidan Town on the Liuge Expressway and Xisha Line.
Tickets: 120 per person including shuttle bus
Photography suggestion: You must use a drone to shoot, otherwise the shocking momentum cannot be expressed.
Accommodation suggestions:
There are RV camps in the scenic area. You can rent a car to experience the fun of RV life. The car has a separate bathroom, TV, WIFI, etc. The accommodation conditions should be the best nearby.
The advantage of living here is that you can see the dazzling starry sky by pushing the window, which is also super beautiful.
The water Yardang landform area has undergone tens of millions of years of geological movement to give birth to this extremely spectacular Yardang wind-eroded soil forest group.
Dongtai Jinel Lake
There is a must-see scenic spot in Northwest tourism, hidden deep in the secret place of Qaidam no man's land, the best is Dongtai Jiner Lake, known as Qinghai's "Maldives".
The most special feature of Dongtai Jinel Lake is that its water color is Tiffany blue and clear; it looks the same as the sea water of the popular island destination Maldives.
On the days when you can’t travel abroad, it’s good to come to the northwest to see the Qinghai version of “Maldives”.
Jinel Lake in Dongtai is even more beautiful than imagined. The lake is boundless, and with the white beach under your feet, it is like going to the seaside for vacation.
Jumping on the glass boat to take pictures is completely "pretending to be on the island".
Dongtai Jinel Lake is a free scenic spot, but it is actually a chemical mining area in Dachaidan Town. The lake is a magnesium sulfate salt lake, and the lake water contains a large amount of resources such as lithium, potassium, potassium, and magnesium, which are all important industrial raw materials.
Compared with Chaka Salt Lake, another Internet celebrity in Qinghai, "the realm of the sky", Jinel Lake in Dongtai will be more primitive, less commercialized, and there are not many tourists. It is still a small secret place.
East Taijinel Lake, West Taijinel Lake, and Yadan on the water were originally connected together. Later, because the lake dried up, they gradually separated.
Salt lake salt flats, look at the silver flats formed by the salt on the shore. No animals or plants were seen in the entire lake area.
Viewing platform, you can go up to take pictures.
Before entering the scenic spot, you will pass through this section of dirt road.
The safety notice in the mining area reminds tourists that although the lake water is very clear and transparent, they should not swim in the water, because the water is an aqueous solution of "magnesium chloride" crystallization.
Yellow River Stone Forest
When it comes to Stone Forest, the first thing that comes to your mind may be Stone Forest in Kunming, Yunnan. In Jingtai County in the northwest of my country, there is also a Stone Forest of the Yellow River in Jingtai, Gansu, which can be mentioned on a par with Yunnan Stone Forest.
The Yellow River Stone Forest Scenic Area is located in the southeast of Jingtai County, Baiyin City, Gansu Province. The stone forest covers an area of 10 square kilometers. The stone forest landform is rare in China and unique to the Northwest.
Lewan Jun saw the Yellow River Stone Forest for the first time, and was immediately shocked by its majestic scene. The stone forest and the Jiuqu Yellow River are connected together, and the towering mountains are cut into deep grooves one after another. The peaks and forests here are all loess-colored, rough, vigorous, simple and thick, showing the western characteristics.
The gate of the scenic spot is on the top of the mountain. We need to take a sightseeing bus to go down to the bottom of the valley, and then change to a battery car to continue the tour. During the period, we can also take a sheepskin cutting and experience a yellow river rafting. The most unique thing is that in the canyon, we take a mule with a Northwest style. Car play.
Compared with other well-known scenic spots in China, the canyons in the Yellow River Stone Forest Scenic Area are more winding, with towering peaks, various hanging rocks and cliffs flying in the air, majestic and magnificent, with many natural shapes, and people also give them various good names. What are some romantic and sentimental names such as "elephant absorbs water", "goddess watching the moon", "couple under the moon".
The order of our tour is to park the car in the parking lot, go to the ticket office in the picture above to buy tickets, and then walk to the bus point to take the bus down the mountain.
The gate entrance of the scenic spot is a model of the stone forest.
There are also murals in the Yellow River Stone Forest National Geological Park, which show the scenes of the ancients living by the Yellow River.
After going down the mountain, the first scenic spot is Panlong Cave, a fairyland on earth.
"Panlong Cave" is hidden in a canyon in the stone forest. It is a temple. There are some Taoist relics inside.
The ground of Panlong Cave has been paved with flat floor tiles, so it is quite comfortable to walk on.
There are also a lot of green plants planted on both sides, as well as green bamboos, which are very eye-catching.
On the main entrance of Panlong Cave, there are two golden dragons carved on it, and there is a stone lion on each side of the entrance.
There is a stone tablet at the entrance of the cave, with gold letters on a blue background, engraved with a brief introduction of Panlong Cave, which says that Panlong Cave was built in the first year of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty.
Panlong Cave has two floors. The picture above shows the ground floor of the main entrance, which houses statues and shrines.
Enter the cave, look up, and see a purely natural Tai Chi picture on the top of the cave, which is said to be a dragon and phoenix auspicious pattern, have you seen it?
Looking at the picture carefully, I am going down the secret passage to the basement level of Panlong Cave to find out.
It can be seen that there are also statues and shrines on the basement floor.
The light inside the cave is relatively dark, and the temperature is obviously several degrees lower than the outside. It is said that Panlong Cave is because the local people used to pass through this cave, and they would often see fog floating out of the cave entrance. Later in the Qing Dynasty, Taoist priests built temples in the caves, thus forming a religious place, and nearby people would come to burn incense during festivals.
Taking aerial photos of the Yellow River Stone Forest, you can see that the oasis under the Yellow River Stone Forest is quite large, which forms a huge contrast with the desolate Stone Forest.
The Yellow River behind has turned a big bend here, and there is a green sandbar island on the river course.
The stone forest blends with the Yellow River, oases and villages, which has the charm of a large natural garden.
The winding mountain road when going down the mountain is narrow and has many 180-degree sharp turns.
The roads are built along the cliffs, and as the altitude drops, the scenery outside the car window becomes more and more beautiful.
An aerial view of these deep trenches cut by flowing water.
Came to the embankment by the Yellow River.
Play information:
Address Longwan Village, Zhongquan Township, Jingtai County, Baiyin City, Gansu Province
Opening hours 07:00-18:00
Ticket price package 125 yuan / person (including tickets, shuttle bus, battery car, one-way cruise)
It is recommended to play for half a day
Traffic The scenic spot is 160 kilometers away from Lanzhou Airport. We drive by ourselves, and it takes 2.5 hours from the airport to the scenic spot.
Wing Tai Turtle City
The last Turtle City in the world was left in the depths of the Northwest Gobi. It was once a popular movie location
Historically, Lanzhou was the forefront of the tug-of-war between farming civilization and nomads. At that time, the Ming Dynasty specially built the Great Wall to defend against the invasion of nomads in the north. Yongtai Turtle City was a castle built because of the war. It is located in 27 kilometers southwest of Jingtai County, Gansu Province, it is called Yongtai Turtle City because the castle looks like a golden turtle when viewed from a bird's eye view.
The ancient city of Yongtai Turtle City is an ellipse, surrounded by 4 urns, shaped like the shoulders and feet of a golden turtle.
The castle has a history of more than 400 years, and it is still well preserved, but the wooden buildings on the urn city were destroyed. Now there are still some traces of military facilities such as moats and beacon towers, and we can still see the momentum when it was a military fortress at that time.
Yongtai Turtle City is an ancient city in the northwest that is slowly disappearing. The surrounding area is in the Gobi semi-desert state, and the natural vegetation is becoming scarce. Only some drought-resistant plants, such as edelweiss and wormwood, grow on the Gobi wasteland.
From the aerial photography, the majestic castle is surrounded by the endless Gobi desert, showing the desolation of the Northwest.
The most prominent ancient city was in the Ming and Qing dynasties. At that time, it was the most important military fortress defending Lanzhou City. Because of its existence, Lanzhou City was never captured, but later due to changes in the natural environment. The ancient city gradually declined, and now there are some sheep herders living in the city.
Pass through the rammed loess urn city gate and stroll in the ancient city. You can see many old buildings built with loess. The streets are very straight and tidy. In the middle is a crossroad. According to the old people in the city, the streets on the left and right sides were the most prosperous commercial streets at that time. But now it's empty, deserted, and completely silent.
There are many dilapidated houses and dilapidated courtyard walls left in the city. The residents converted these idle houses into sheep pens, and some sunflowers were planted in the open spaces of some collapsed houses.
The best-preserved building in the ancient city is the "Yongtai Primary School" built in the third year of the Republic of China. It is a Gothic building with a combination of Chinese and Western styles. However, due to the lack of students in the past few years, the primary school was also closed. Now it is the Yongtai Turtle City History Museum.
The museum is a good place to learn about the history and humanities of Yongtai Turtle City. There are pictures and texts on display inside, as well as some real objects. I explained that in the 36th year of Ming Wanli, Yongtai Turtle City was built as a military fortress. At that time, the highest commander in the city was Lanzhou General. , There were as many as 2,000 soldiers stationed in the city, and about 500 cavalry. The ancillary buildings include gunpowder fields, fodder fields, mills, horse farms and other institutions.
In the Qing Dynasty, the descendants of Yue Fei, the famous anti-gold general in the Southern Song Dynasty, the three generations of Yue Zhenbang, Yue Shenglong, and Yue Zhongqi also stationed troops in Guicheng.
Because of the natural landscape and cultural history of Yongtai Turtle City, many popular film and television dramas are chosen to be shot here, such as "Beautiful Big Feet", "Snowflakes That Gone", "The Last Winter Day" and so on.
There is no light pollution around the ancient city, and it is an excellent place to watch the starry sky around Lanzhou.
With the vicissitudes of the ancient city as the foreground, to shoot the dazzling Milky Way, the picture is super shocking.
Play Tips:
Wing Tai Turtle City
address:
27 kilometers southwest of Jingtai County, Gansu Province
Tickets: Free
Parking: Park outside the ancient city, the parking lot at the gate of Wengcheng
stay:
There are homestays in the ancient city, the conditions are relatively poor, 30 yuan per person. It is recommended to go back to live in Baiyin, the hotel environment of 100 yuan is much better.
eat:
There is no restaurant in the ancient city, only dry food. There is a canteen in the ancient city where you can buy instant noodles.
shooting:
The best time to take photos is when the sun sets and the flock of sheep pass through the urn gate and return to the ancient city is the most beautiful. The second is from 8:00 to 11:00, and the shooting of the starry sky is also beautiful.
After reading, leave a message to tell Mr. Lewan, do you want to come here to have a look?
schedule
8.31 Dunhuang airport pick-up at 14:00 p.m.--Mogao Grottoes--drop off to hotel
9.1. Dunhuang--Petroleum Town--Russian Boliang Yadan Geological Park--Mars Camp-Living Mangya 720 kilometers
9.2. Mangya-Mangya Emerald Lake----Aiken Spring---Xitaijinel Lake-Zhushui Yadan 400km
9.3. Yadan on Water - Dongtai Jinai Lake - Highway 315 - 320 kilometers from Dachaidan Town
9.4. Dachaidan Town--Dachaidan Emerald Lake--Yangguan-Dunhuang ends about 480 kilometers (the end of the Ganqing Ring Road)
9.4 Flying from Dunhuang to Lanzhou--Yongtai Turtle City--living in Baiyin
9.5 Baiyin--Yellow River Stone Forest--Lanzhou--Return to Guangzhou
5-seater SUV 5-day total fare: 3,500 yuan (gasoline, tolls, parking fees, driver’s accommodation all inclusive)
5-seater SUV 2-day total fare: 200 yuan Self-driving
Most of the accommodation is not expensive, basically in the early 100s. The most expensive night is in the Yadan B&B on the water. Because it is a no-man’s land, the houses converted from containers cost more than 300 a night. The conditions are not good, the shower and hot water are not warm.
