Follow me to continue to update follow-up travel notes, learn about landscape shooting experience and post-production tutorials, and customize original solid landscape decorative paintings. The complete travel diary is the itinerary from September 14th to September 29th, and this chapter records the itinerary from September 26th to September 27th.

September 25

Maqin-Jiuzhi County

Transportation: self-driving

Accommodation: a hotel in Jiuzhi County

Catering: dining in restaurants (sichuan cuisine restaurants)

Route: Dema Expressway 205km

Woke up in the morning and loaded the luggage again.

Find a place to have breakfast.

The weather is still good today, so I waited until 11 o'clock to set off.

Continue along the Dema Expressway, stop and go all the way to take pictures, because there are many parking bays on this expressway.

The scenery along the way is actually relatively average, and the weather is not very good.

When passing by Xiazangke Township, I saw a lot of cars parked near a monastery, a lot of people, and a market. We're going to check it out on the highway.

The road from the highway exit to the monastery is not easy, but it's not bad either. There are traffic police guarding the outside. After we registered, we asked the police about the situation, and learned that there was a Buddhist exchange meeting inside, which was probably an annual meeting, so many people came here, including residents and businesses. I saw merchants setting up tents of various sizes, selling various toys, clothing, bags, food, and even Sichuan cuisine restaurants in the shape of tents. We didn't go in to eat, just bought some fruit. The traffic police told us not to take pictures, and it’s best not to take out your mobile phone. If people don’t welcome us into the temple, don’t force it in.

The traffic policeman was very enthusiastic and introduced us to more lively temples, such as the Gemo Temple in Aba Prefecture and the Labrang Temple in Qinghai.

I know about Labrang Monastery, but we didn't plan to go to it in our plan. It was the filming location of A World Without Thieves. Gemo Temple has 9 floors, and it is said that the real body of Sakyamuni is enshrined. However, it is not in our plan to hear him say that it is in Aba Prefecture. Who knows, later, we passed both temples.

In the evening, we arrived in Jiuzhi County. It is obvious that this county is not as good as Maqin County, and the hotel is also very cold. Only electric blankets are available, hot water is mediocre, and there is no shower.

September 27

Jiuzhi County - Lianbao Yeze - Maqu County

Transportation: self-driving

Accommodation: a hotel in Maqu County

Meals: restaurants, road meals

Route: s101, s302, x740, g345 300km

After breakfast at 10:00 in the morning, I was going to Lianbao Yeze. At 11:00, I saw a very tall and conspicuous temple from a long distance. My first reaction was Gemo Temple. I met it unexpectedly. Check it out Checked the map, sure enough.

Walking along the way, I entered G345, and found that I entered the territory of Aba, Sichuan, and the road standards were different. Sure enough, Sichuan is still richer than Qinghai.

So the lotus leaf is a scenic spot in Sichuan? (Actually, the police also said yesterday that Gemo Temple belongs to Aba Prefecture.) I didn’t expect that I would enter Sichuan this time, hehe.

Arrived at the entrance of the scenic spot at 11:30. In the off-season, there was no one at the ticket window. After waiting for a few minutes, I found the conductor and bought two tickets. There is currently only one scenic spot open inside. When you drive in, you will see two very similar intersections. You have to go to the left and continue up the mountain. The dirt road on the right has not yet been opened. There are herdsmen living in the scenic area, so you can often encounter sheep and cattle on the road.

For lunch, we ate our own self-heating rice in the scenic area, because only instant noodles are sold in the scenic area.

12:30 We saw the mountain inside Lianbao Yeze, yes, it is the stone mountain I like. We left when the sun went down during the tour. In fact, if conditions permit, we can take pictures of the night scene. On the way, I met several tourists who were breathing oxygen while walking.

Considering that the journey will be over in less than 2 days, I have to continue on my way tonight and cannot stay in Jiuzhi. We decided to go to Maqu County for one night.

The economy of Jiuzhi County is relatively lagging. When we navigate to Maqu, we still have to pass through Jiuzhi County and then go to Maqu. When we arrived in Jiuzhi County, it was already dark. One of the roads indicated by the navigation is actually being repaired and has been sealed with a fence, so we had to choose another road, X740, a county road along the Shake River. Who knows that this road has been in disrepair for a long time, it is very difficult to walk, and there are many pits along the way. Finally finished this section, got on the G345, and walked to the other side of the road we took during the day (the G345 is going west of Jiuzhi County during the day, and going east at night).

The end of X740 is the Yellow River, and the whole road is also walking along the tributaries of the Yellow River. I can't see clearly at night, I probably walked the Awancang Grassland.

Along the way, we are accompanied by the moon and stars, but the direction we are heading is full of lightning. Sure enough, after we got on the G345, it started to rain heavily, and we could hardly see the road, so we stopped and waited for a while.

There are also many large trucks on this road. When passing a section of winding mountain road, I really felt that I was about to be hit down the mountain by a large truck several times. After passing this winding mountain road, it is less than 30 kilometers away from Maqu. Around 23:00, we arrived at the county seat and stayed in a random hotel for the night. There was no elevator, and it took a lot of effort to carry our luggage up.