DAY1: The flight lands in Turpan at 4:30 pm. The forecast temperature is 44°C, the ground temperature is even higher, and the scalding air is blowing over the surface, which is not ordinary heat!
July and August are the peak season for tourism in Xinjiang, and car rental is also very expensive. A Borgward BX7 costs five to six hundred RMB a day. After picking up the car, stay in a hotel first, and then find a place to eat. Xinjiang kebabs are a must, but in Turpan A little expensive, 9 yuan a bunch, basically not used to eating baked buns, too greasy. It’s past eight o’clock after dinner, and the sun is still high. Let’s see which scenic spot I can go to. I chose Grape Valley. When I got there, I had already got off work. I chose to go to Huoyan Mountain. Driving can be considered a stroll, and you can see big things everywhere. Beautiful scenery, boundless wilderness, gray stones, straight asphalt road, high temperature of 42 ℃ outside the car, the car is still cool, and the fiery red mountains can be seen from a distance, which is the Flame Mountain. Minutes later, Wangshan ran dead horse, what Haiyun said, a wise saying!
There are powered paragliders here, and the children want to go for a ride, but they are off work, hehe, let's go. Back to the hotel to rest.
DAY2: Today it is planned to travel from Turpan to Dushanzi and visit the Dushanzi Grand Canyon. Depart from the hotel at 9.30 in the morning and walk along the Lianhuo Expressway. There are intermittent road constructions from Turpan to Urumqi. Even though the road is not smooth, the scenery along the way has to be said to be shocking. The windmill forest before Dabancheng is endless. There is also a salt lake, which is so big.
From Urumqi to Dushanzi, the Lianhuo Expressway is widened, the traffic capacity is reduced, the speed limit is 80, all the service areas along the way are closed, there is no place to refuel, and the only way to refuel is to get off the expressway. Arrive at Dushanzi at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and try Xinjiang Latiaozi.
The most beautiful scenic spot here is the Dushanzi Grand Canyon, see the picture above.
DAY3: Today's itinerary is to take the Duku Highway and cross the Tianshan Mountains. Depart at 9:30 in the morning, full of energy, drive on the road, and visit the long-awaited Duku Highway.
It takes basically 8 hours to cross the Duku Highway to Nalati. We arrived at Nalati at 5 pm that day. At 8 pm, we heard that there was a mudslide on the Duku Highway and it was closed for three days. Therefore, the self-driving Duku Highway has to be seen lucky.
DAY4: Nalati-Bayinbulak-Tex.
From Bayinbulak to Tekes, we have to return, and then take the Duku Highway. Due to time constraints, we planned to see the nine bends and eighteen bends, but there is no time, so we can only leave a regret. Returning to Turks, the speed limit along the way is very severe, so be careful when driving by yourself. Tekes Bagua City, it is said that when Qiu Chuji came here, he had some insights from watching the mountains and rivers, and then built the Bagua City. The Bagua shape of the city can only be seen from the air. Famous, Qiankun Kanlizhen Gen Xundui, Bagua City's lamb chops are very delicious. We stayed in a hotel similar to a family hotel. It was very nice. The beautiful lady boss is very kind and helpful.
DAY5: Tekes-Zhaosu-Yining, take the Yizhao Highway, which is also a famous self-driving road. The Kalajun prairie in Turks is similar to Nalati, so if you play Nalati, you can skip this one. There is also a canyon in Turks, you can go there if you have time, the scenic spot is more time-consuming, it takes about 4 hours. We went to Crocodile Bay for a stroll and then went straight to Zhaosu, looking for grassland stone figures and admiring the sea of perilla flowers. ,
Leaving Zhaosu and stepping on the Yizhao Highway, the speed limit on the highway is very strict, and the speed limit on many road sections is 30. The mountain road has many sharp turns and the road is narrow. You must control the speed when driving, otherwise accidents are easy to happen.
There are almost no snow mountains along the Yizhao Highway, which makes people feel a lot of emotion!
Arrive in Yining after 3:00 pm, rest for a while, and continue to taste delicious food.
DAY6: Horgos Port - Guozigou - Sailimu Lake. I have been walking on the mountain road for a few days, and today I can finally take the high-speed again. There is a high-speed road from Yining to Horgos. There is an ancient city of Huiyuan along the way. If you are interested, you can go for a walk. It takes about two hours to get to Horgos. hours away.
Leaving Khorgos and entering Guozigou, although it is a high speed with a speed limit of 60, it is basically impossible to run.
Out of Guozigou, there is a big lake in front of you, that is Sailimu Lake!
Sailimu Lake, one of the most important scenic spots of this self-driving tour, has heard too many legends, and today I finally saw the true face! The scenery is beautiful, and I really want to drive around, but private cars are not allowed in the scenic area. I heard that it was okay last year, but not this year, and the inns, restaurants, and yurts by the lake are all banned. I can’t fall asleep listening to the sound of the lake. , It is inevitable that there is some regret! At night, I lived in a wild yurt in Guozigou. It rained in the middle of the night, so I got up and started on the road.
DAY7: Sailimu Lake - Urumqi. Along the highway, after arriving at Kuitun, enter the widened road section, with a speed limit of 80. There are many traces of the construction of the Corps from the road signs, such as a road sign indicating the 85th Corps. In fact, it is not a Corps, but the name of a place. It's raining all the way, the left is green, the right is gray, Gobi Desert, Gobi Desert, I think of the song "Our Good Place in Xinjiang", the song sings "Our good place in Xinjiang, good pastures in the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, Gobi The sandy beach turned into fertile fields, and the snow melted to irrigate the farms", I have a lot of feelings. Perhaps a long time ago, this place should have been a beautiful prairie. Human activities destroyed the prairie and formed today's vast Gobi Desert. The snow line of Tianshan Mountain is also increasing year by year. , so that it is difficult to see the snow-capped mountains now. Urumqi means "beautiful pasture" in Mongolian. The construction and expansion of the city has already destroyed the original ecological balance. The so-called beautiful pasture is now rare!
The day's journey was very difficult, almost 11 hours, road construction and rain, which made driving a lot more difficult. But in time for Eid al-Adha, the highway is free for three days, haha, it’s okay.
DAY8: Urumqi - Turpan, visit Grape Valley, Karez. All the way to the east, from Urumqi to Turpan, the Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway and the Lianhuo Expressway basically overlap. It takes a little more than three hours to reach Grape Valley. The scenic spot needs to be a traffic car for the scenic spot. It takes about half an hour to reach the scenic spot. There are four scenic spots inside.
In the afternoon, visit Karez Folk Custom Garden.
DAY9: Turpan-Shanshan Ancient City, visit the Kumtag Desert. This section of the road is basically high-speed, with a speed limit of 120, which is not bad. It took about an hour and a half to arrive at the scenic spot.
This Xinjiang self-driving tour ends here.
Postscript: Xinjiang is too big, one visit is definitely not enough, we need to go several more times, try to travel all over southern Xinjiang and northern Xinjiang, where the delicious food and fruits are too tempting!
