Qinghai, I'm here again, just ten years ago, I remember seeing you for the first time.
Ten years ago, I didn't know how to drive or take pictures. It was the first time I met you across mountains and rivers in the name of collecting folk songs. I vaguely remember Qinghai Lake, which is as magnificent as the sea in my hometown, a huge rapeseed field, distant mountains, grasslands, horses, and white clouds. It turns out that this is the distance I dream of.
Five years later, I came here for the second time, rushing to a poetic name - Chaka, the realm of the sky. At that time, there were not so many tourists in Salt Lake, there were no fences, and there was no need to buy tickets. Although it was not yet the season of rape blossoms in Qinghai Lake, and even had a serious illness, it still couldn’t resist the fascination for this place. Driving around the lake , singing all the way.
In 2020, the epidemic has left the restless heart that has been suppressed for nearly a year nowhere to rest, and domestic travel has become the best choice at the moment. The self-media has turned the Haixi area, which was once little known, into several new online celebrity check-in places: China's Maldives-Dongtai Jinel Lake, Devil's Eye-Aiken Spring, Sea Fleet-Water Yadan , each name sounds exciting, so we came together again and formed a team. . .
first picture
Mangya Aiken Spring--Evil Eye
Qinghai Mangya Emerald Lake
Wusu Yadan Geological Park
Dachaidan Emerald Lake
West Taijinel Lake
Erlang Sword
Cold Lake Oil Base Site
Cold Lake Oil Base Site
Mars Route One
Russian beam
Russian beam
Russian beam
Cold Lake Oil Base Site
About self-driving
Let me talk about our car first: we originally planned to rent an SUV, but finally changed to a Beijing BJ80 temporarily, a low-priced version of the big G, a four-wheel-drive off-road vehicle that is easy to drive on gravel roads and climb dirt slopes. The road conditions in many places along the way are not good. Thanks to the full power of the four-wheel drive, I am not afraid of getting stuck in the sand. I also picked up an SUV that got stuck on Mars Highway No. 1, and pulled it out without driving the four-wheel drive. Beijing has a good view, and the space is big enough to hold our big bags and small bags. One black and one white attract a lot of heads.
It is recommended to rent a car at least 2-3 months in advance for National Day trips. When we rented a car, it only cost more than 500 a day, but when we checked it again in September, it had already soared to about 2,000 a day.
The following is our self-driving route, starting from Xining and reaching Aiken Spring in the west, the whole journey is about 2600km
About fees
Air ticket (Shanghai - Xining) 2352/person
Car rental + insurance + fuel + toll 3839x2+1400+4500=13578 1700/person
Hotel 1048/person
Catering 770/person
Tickets (Water Yardang + Qinghai Lake Flower Field + Horse Riding) 200/person
Total 6070/person
Adventures
The beginning of the story is very similar to the plot in some weird movies. The Zeng couple missed the plane because they cooked eggs for breakfast after waking up; The crash caused a black screen; I forgot to fill up the gas when I picked up the car, but the service area along the way was only public toilets, and the car fuel tank called the police for a long time and finally found a gas station. It’s not over yet, and the most amazing part begins: we need to use the mechanical key in the car key to open the fuel tank of the white Beijing we drove, but when we opened the car key, we found that it was empty. We searched all over the car and found no keys, and brute force was useless. We asked the staff of the car rental company to ask us to find a repair company to get the keys. In the end, the fuel tank was pried open, leaving only a pile of wreckage. Do you think it's over here? No. We were still reminiscing about this experience after refueling, complaining about the shitty thing about renting a car, and suddenly heard my brother Liao say "I x!" He frowned at us with a key in his hand. It turned out that the key It's in the storage compartment of the door next to the driver's seat. It probably went to a parallel world when I was looking for it before, and everyone was in an uproar. . . Everyone looked at each other and smiled. Don't let the people from the car rental company know about this. After going around, the key is still there, and the oil cap has been pried off. . .
In this way, we stopped at Daotang River for nearly 2 hours. At this time, we should have watched the sunset and had barbecue in Heima River, but now we can only look forward and sigh, waiting for the two late partners to join us.
Day1 self-driving route map
Hello, Qinghai Lake
It was almost midnight when we arrived at Heima River last night, and everyone got up early the next day to watch the sunrise. It seems that people are far more desperate in travel than in life. The sunrise in Qinghai at the end of September is about 7 o'clock, the temperature is lower than expected, and the sweater and down jacket are tightly wrapped and still can't withstand the cold wind.
Hello, Qinghai Lake.
We are really here.
Qinghai Lake Heima River
The sunrise of Qinghai Lake ps: There are a few big white clouds floating in the sky, only a morning glow can be seen
Day2 self-driving route map
On the way to Dachaidan, the golden autumn leaves on both sides of the road let us stray into northern Xinjiang in autumn
You still have to pay attention to taking pictures in the car?????? We collapsed the roof of the car
Gahai
Dachaidan Emerald Lake
Dachaidan Emerald Lake is our second stop.
When you enter the Emerald Lake Scenic Area, turn left and you will see Luwei Lake. The blue lake water reflects the sky, but it looks different from the Emerald Lake in the picture, which makes people suspicious. In fact, the real Emerald Lake has to be driven deep into the scenic spot. The lake water is gradually divided into pieces by the saline-alkali land, and the color of the water has also turned into oil painting green. From the drone, it looks like emerald in various shapes.
By the way, the current Emerald Lake is still open to the public for free, and private cars can also drive into the scenic spot. But when we came, the scenic spot was already building a public parking lot and some tourist facilities. The installation of the toll gate and the small sightseeing train had also taken shape. It will probably start charging next year.
Can you see what words we put here? Ha ha
?????? I LOVE U ??????
37° north latitude
The sun has already set when we arrived at the starry sky camp. The starry sky camp at 37° north latitude can be regarded as an Internet celebrity hotel. Suddenly, a futuristic camp lined up in a desert. From the perspective of God, it feels more like Star Wars scene.
There are no light sources around the starry sky camp, which is a good place to take pictures of the starry sky, but the time we came coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the moon will gradually set around 5 o'clock in the morning.
Western Expedition Russian Boliang
Day3 self-driving route map
Tips: From Lenghu Town to Mars Camp and Erbo Liang Yadan, you need to pass Mars No. 1 Highway. The gravel roads here are in poor condition, and there are 3 dirt cuts. It is difficult for cars to pass. It is recommended to drive an off-road vehicle. Don't drive to the sand and gravel without cars, so as not to sink the car into the sand. I originally thought that today's itinerary was very easy, as long as I went to Lenghu for a transfer, and then went to the nearby Erboliang. However, the range of the Russian Boliang we found on the map is very wide, covering 20,000 square kilometers. The strategy we read before did not find a specific route, so we didn't have much hope. When we arrived at Lenghu, the owner of the hotel we booked was very familiar with Erboliang. He drew us a map of Haixi area on the spot, and even the kilometers were clearly marked. Everyone was excited. After lunch, we immediately set off to explore the little-known The Yadan landform is Obo Liang.
After entering Mars Highway No. 1, the road conditions become very poor. They are all gravel roads. Basically, the speed can only reach about 50 per hour. The milestones on the roadside are the best road signs.
When driving on Mars Highway No. 1, you must keep a good distance between vehicles. The vehicle in front often raises a large amount of dust, and sometimes you can’t even see the vehicle in front at all. Once you brake suddenly in front, there may be a risk of rear-end collision.
A red Wrangler flying out of the yellow sand in the sky is really handsome and exploded
Turn right from road sign No. 67 of Mars Highway and drive 13km to arrive at Mars Camp.
To put it bluntly, Mars Camp can be regarded as an online celebrity accommodation hotel. Its appearance imitates the shape of a space station, and its interior has a space-themed layout design with a sense of technology, but the price is also quite good-looking.
I don’t know if these people have become obsessed after staying in the barren mountains for a long time haha
Continue to drive forward for 14km from the Mars camp, turn left at the fork and drive about 10km to reach the core area of Erboliang.
The real Yadan landform in the core area of Erboliang is even more spectacular, like jagged peaks in different shapes, which is very different from the relatively flat and thick Yadan landform seen earlier.
Since we set off late in the afternoon and bumped all the way, the speed was very slow, and it was already 6:30 in the afternoon when we arrived at Erboliang, and the sun was going to set in another hour. We didn't dare to go around the core scenic spot and could only look at the periphery. It was inevitable. Some regrets. There are no repaired roads, no street lights, no signs, and even no mobile phone signal. You need to remember the driving route or use GPS along the way, otherwise it is easy to get lost.
Day4 self-driving route map
Tips: There are many trucks in the second half of the way to Huatugou, pay attention to safety, and overtake carefully.
once hot land
Today's first stop is the Cold Lake oil base site. Yesterday, I passed by here on the way to the Mars camp, but I didn't have enough time, so I put the itinerary on today.
The site is located in the desolate desert, and you can see a large area of broken walls and ruins here from a long distance. The former prosperity of the oil field is no longer there. Today's Lenghu is empty and devastated. Even the name of Lenghu has been taken elsewhere. Once an important oil town, with the depletion of oil around 2000, the exploitation of the Lenghu Oilfield gradually came to an end, and some workers moved west to Mangya to continue new exploration work. So far, the Lenghu oil base, which has been brilliant for nearly half a century, has completely become barren, leaving only ruins to tell the story of the passionate era. There may still be words and phrases left on the abandoned remnant walls, and we can still vaguely distinguish the traces of banks, shops or houses. It's just the only remaining remnants of that prosperous age, which makes people feel even more desolate. The youthful enthusiasm of a generation is blown away in the bleak north wind with a handful of loess.
The ruins of the Cold Lake oil base are really big, and it is rare to see such a large ruin. This is probably the most unexpected surprise of this trip. It was originally planned to be just a cutscene, but in fact we stayed in the ruins half a day long. tips: Lenghu Petroleum Base Site is located about 11 kilometers northeast of the current Lenghu Town in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province. From Lenghu to the turntable, go to the direction of Mahai, drive 4.5km on Highway 215, turn to Mars 1 and drive 20 Arrive in about minutes
"Quotations from Chairman Mao" can be vaguely seen on the wall
The chicken eating team is only short of auspicious suits
Even a leather shoe lying on the sand looks lonely
Day5 self-driving route map
Tips: You need to go through security checks when entering and exiting Huatugou. It is recommended to get up early or you will have to queue for a long time. The section to Aiken Spring is a dirt road, the road condition
Relatively poor, to the scenic spot according to the direction of the road signs, the navigation is not allowed.
Devil's Eye - Aiken Springs
Aiken Spring is located in Moheerbrook Village, Haixi, Qinghai. The locals call it "Angel's Eye", but everyone is more used to calling it "Devil's Eye". Aiken Spring has a diameter of more than 10 meters. The spring is like boiling water, constantly tumbling upwards. The sulfur minerals around the spring have been precipitated for a long time and are colorful.
You must have a drone when you come to Aiken Springs, otherwise it is better not to come. Because you can only see an ordinary spring water on the ground or even on the paid viewing platform, there is nothing unusual about it. But when the drone rises to an altitude of 200 meters or even 3,400 meters, the scenery you see is completely different, which can only be described as stunning. But take pictures early, the park opens at 8:30, and we already have 5.6 planes by 9:00, and when we leave, we can hear buzzing everywhere, feeling that there will be a collision accident at any time.
The New Realm of the Sky - Mangya Emerald Lake
Mangya Emerald Lake has formed a scene of colorful colors due to the different concentrations of minerals contained in it. mirror"
Because the salt concentration of the lake is extremely high, although there is a salt road that can be walked on, it also has a depth of about 20cm. If you want to take beautiful photos in the water, you can only waste a pair of shoes. After taking the photo, the boots are enough to raise fish. kind
Be sure to rinse off immediately when you go ashore, otherwise it will cause redness and swelling of the skin.
Passing by Xitaijinel Lake, it was already dusk, the road shuttled between the lakes on both sides, and the color of the clear water was vaguely seen, which swayed in the wind and stirred up layers of waves, and there were seagulls playing on the lake, and suddenly I was in a trance It feels like coming home, back to the seaside of Qingdao.
Day6 self-driving route map
Sea Fleet——Water Yadan
Wusute Water Yardang is the only water Yardang landform in the world. It is formed because the lake rises and gradually submerges the Yardang Group on the northern edge. It is like a vast ocean emerging from the endless desert. Sail on this vast ocean.
Water Yadan can be regarded as the most mature scenic spot in Haixi, where many entertainment projects have been developed: water speedboats, desert off-road, camel riding, etc.
After hundreds of years of weathering, many towering Yadans here have become somewhat fragile and loose, and some have formed cracks.
Dongtai Jinel Lake
Dongtai may be the No. 1 spot in Qinghai's new net red check-in scenic spot. How many people are here for this piece of China's Madai. It is precisely because of this that the number of tourists in Dongtai surged during the National Day, and we were restricted by traffic control when we came.
Fortunately, we have wild roads. With the four-wheel drive function of the off-road vehicle, we drove to the ravine on the side of the road (although there are many cars) to avoid the long convoy and drive into the intersection near the scenic spot. It's a pity that the time of arrival is already noon, even if you avoid the traffic, you can't escape the dense flow of people. It seems that it has been developed into a very commercialized place. There is a row of transparent boats for tourists to take pictures. Various tourists with shawls and silk scarves along the coast check in. Drones are also flying all over the sky.
Because there were too many people, we took a few photos and left in a hurry. I was a little disappointed. I don’t know if we didn’t find the right place. Aren’t the online videos all driving by the lake? Now I can't even touch the lake, let alone drive in the middle of the lake to take pictures. In comparison, it seems that the Emerald Lake of Mangya is still good, and there are few people and the scenery is good for taking pictures.
men carrying bags
The U-shaped highway is a beautiful accident. After a day of tossing and we were all sleeping soundly in the car, I suddenly heard my brother Liao muttering to himself in confusion: "Why are there so many cars suddenly parked on the side of the road?" ! A car of people shouted excitedly, "Stop, stop". Originally thought that the U-shaped highway was heading towards Golmud, but I met here. And there are two paragraphs in a row. But this point happens to be when the traffic is dense, so it’s better to pat on the side of the road for safety. If there is no car in the middle of the road, it still feels like a western movie.
Day7 self-driving route map
Qinghai Lake Erlang Sword
On the way to Qinghai Lake, A Zeng said that his friend also came to Qinghai Lake to play and actually photographed the rapeseed field. We all feel that it is impossible to know that the rapeseed flowers in Qinghai are all open in July and August, and now it is October, where can the rapeseed flowers come from? As a result, when I arrived at Erlangjian in the afternoon, I was slapped in the face. There are really rapeseed flowers here. Moreover, in order to meet the tourists' demand for taking pictures of the sea of flowers, there are not only rapeseed flowers, but also various flower fields, and even various photo installations such as Internet celebrity hanging chairs. . .
Alpaca
colorful sea of flowers
write at the end
The third time I came to the vast land of Qinghai, her magnificence and vastness can always make people's minds broaden and forget their worries. Various situations along the way kept surprising me, and I saw different scenery during my three visits. Is the exposure of the transition in the self-media era a good thing? How to balance nature and recuperate while people see more beautiful scenery?
Qinghai in memory,
There are many blanks,
The world is changing too fast,
Sometimes it's better to slow down and maintain posture,
Qinghai, please take your time.
