2020.10.26 I arrived in Xining in the evening, and I felt a difference as soon as I landed. The symptoms of chest tightness were gone, and the oxygen was enough! Breathing is much easier and people are more relaxed. After check-in, the lights are on, the night view of Xining City.
2020.10.27 Because I came to Xining in 2009, the only goal this time is the famous Internet celebrity attraction: Chaka Salt Lake.
The weather was not beautiful, and there were large snowflakes in the sky before we set off. The driver was very worried about whether he could climb over the mountain smoothly. Fortunately, after the departure, the snow gradually became smaller and turned into sleet. The first thing to pass is Riyue Mountain and Daotang River. Riyue Mountain belongs to the Qilian Mountains. The average altitude is about 4000 meters, and the highest point is 4877 meters. Riyue Mountain is not majestic. Its importance lies in the fact that it was once the boundary mountain between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo (called Chiling in ancient times), and it was also the boundary between the Loess Plateau and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It has been the "Middle Qiang Road" and "South Silk Road" since ancient times ", an important channel of the "Tang-Tibet Ancient Road". It is also the place where Princess Wencheng stayed when she married Songtsen Gampo. Daotang River originates from the western foot of Riyue Mountain and flows into Qinghai Lake from east to west. It is different from most rivers running from west to east, hence the name Daotang River. It was not yet clear when passing by, and I only felt the outline of the mountains and rivers in the haze, passing by in a hurry.
When we arrived at Chaka Salt Lake, the snow had stopped, but the clouds were still overcast. It is said that only sunny days can have the mirror effect. It seems that the scenery today will be compromised.
The salt lake is formed by the movement of the crustal plates, the junction area originally covered by sea water gradually uplifted into a plateau, and part of the sea water accumulated in the low-lying area during this process. Chaka Salt Lake is a natural crystalline salt lake. It is one of the four major salt lakes in the Qaidam Basin. The lake is 3,100 meters above sea level, with a total area of 105 square kilometers. It is a renewable salt lake with a salt storage capacity of 40,000 tons. The mirror effect that can be formed is called "mirror of the sky".
The first thing you see when you enter the scenic spot is the railway and the small train of Internet celebrities. The weather is bad and there are few people, so I choose to walk and watch.
Although I was mentally prepared not to see the perfect appearance of the mirror of the sky, I was still shocked by its magnificence when I saw the whole picture of the salt lake. The white and flat surface of the lake stretches as far as the eye can see, and the place where the sky and water meet is vast. It is indeed a must-visit place in life.
Tip: The scenic spot is quite long, and it takes about 2 hours to walk back and forth. If it is peak season, it is recommended to take a scenic train. In addition, there is a "Sky One" next to Chaka Salt Lake, which is easily confused with the Sky Mirror, but the scale is much smaller than here. The driver said that it was built purely to divert tourists from Chaka.
Back to Xining, we first passed Qinghai Lake, and then climbed over Rubber Mountain. Rubber Mountain is 4,451 meters above sea level, and all of them are winding mountain roads with steep slopes. The altitude is high and the temperature is low, and it looks like there is heavy snow here. Fortunately, the driver is familiar with the road. After some trepidation, he finally came back smoothly.
rubber mountain snow
2020.10.28 After eating hot beef radish buns and hot pepper soup in the morning, head to Dunhuang by train.
It was already past 6 pm after checking in, but it got dark here rather late, so let’s go around the city first. Dunhuang is not big, with a population of less than 200,000. I live near the Muslim area, and there is a mosque here. Nearby is the night market,
The climate and style here are very similar to Xinjiang, and there are many pepper chicken, big plate chicken, grilled skewers and naan. For dinner, I ordered fried chicken, thinking that there would be side dishes such as green peppers and potatoes, but it was all seasoning and chicken nuggets, which was indeed not much different from that in Xinjiang. According to the driver on the second day, in fact, Dunhuang's special food is Huyang stewed cake, donkey meat yellow noodles and apricot skin water. I first bought apricot skin water to taste. It tastes sour and sweet, a bit like sour plum soup, but it has the fragrance of apricots, which is very delicious. The Huyang stewed cakes I ate the next day tasted very good, and the mutton was also affordable. But in fact, it is more like mutton stewed noodles. The driver said that it is because the noodles used by the restaurant are quick to serve, and the local homemade noodles are thicker and more delicious.
2020.10.29 The first stop today is of course the Mogao Grottoes. This is the focus of this trip, and it is also a place that I have been thinking about for many years.
Mogao Grottoes, commonly known as Thousand Buddha Caves, was built in the sixteen kingdoms of the former Qin Dynasty and has a history of nearly a thousand years. After being built in the Northern Dynasties, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Xixia, and Yuan Dynasties, it has formed a huge scale, with 735 caves and 45,000 square meters of murals. It is the largest and richest Buddhist art site in the world. Mogao Grottoes, Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan, Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi, and Maijishan Grottoes are also known as the four major grottoes in China.
It is excavated on the cliff at the east foot of Mingsha Mountain in the southeast of Dunhuang City, facing Dangquan in front and Sanwei Mountain, a branch of Qilian Mountain in the east. The total length from north to south is 1680 meters, distributed on cliffs with a height of more than 15 to 30 meters, with 1 to 4 floors above and below. The architectural forms of the grottoes include the central pillar cave (the Zhiti cave), the hall cave (the central Buddhist altar cave), the top-covered cave, the elephant cave, the nirvana cave, and some pagodas. There are 492 colored sculptures, most of which are wood, bone and clay sculptures. The main bodies include Buddha statues, Bodhisattva statues, disciple statues, heavenly kings, King Kong, Hercules, gods and so on. Paintings are preserved in more than 500 caves. The grotto murals are rich and colorful, with various Buddhist scriptures and stories, landscapes, pavilions and other architectural paintings, landscape paintings, flower patterns, flying Buddha statues, etc., and the painters of all stages have absorbed Iran, India, The ancient arts of Greece and other countries are strong, and the Eastern and Western cultures magically meet here, forming a unique style and distinctive artistic features.
Visits need to be reserved, and the caves that are open every day are different. The tour route for the day is No. 328 Tang Dynasty, 335 Early Tang Amitabha Sutra Changes, No. 17 (the original 50,000 cultural relics) Tibetan Scripture Cave, and No. 292 Sui Dynasty , No. 259 Northern Wei Dynasty, No. 249 Western Wei Dynasty (a lot of precious lapis lazuli was used in the murals), No. 237 Middle Tang and Tubo Period, No. 96 Early Tang Dynasty. This cave has a 35.5-meter-high Maitreya statue, which is the largest Buddha in Mogao Grottoes.
The murals in each cave are rich in content, magnificent and magnificent. After taking a quick look at the flowers, I understand why so many professors and artists are willing to stay in this barren place for the rest of their lives, because each cave is a perfect art treasure. However, due to the protection of cultural relics, photography is not allowed in the cave.
Tip: Be sure to pay attention to the digital exhibition center after booking tickets online. It is not with the scenic spot and is 15 kilometers away. To visit, you must first go to the digital center to collect tickets, watch related documentaries, and then send them to the scenic spot by bus. (Fortunately, I called in advance and almost took a taxi to the scenic spot)
In the afternoon, come to the second most famous scenic spot in Dunhuang: Mingsha Mountain Crescent Spring. Crescent Lake is surrounded by Mingsha Mountain, and its shape resembles a crescent moon, so it got its name. Mingsha Mountain is said to be sand moving, but I didn't hear it.
There is a viewing pavilion beside the spring.
In the scenic area, you can ride camels and camel bells in the desert, as if they came from ancient times.
Reeds under the mountain.
You can climb up the nearby sand hill to overlook the Crescent Moon Spring. The sand hill is so steep that it is really difficult to climb up. It took me a long time to get to the top of the mountain. But the scenery on the top of the mountain is beautiful, and the hard work is worth it.
2020.10.30 This day is a one-day tour on the west line of Dunhuang. First go to the ancient city of Dunhuang (actually it is a film and television city, all of which are newly built). Didn't go in, clocked in outside.
West Thousand Buddha Cave, here is earlier than Mogao Grottoes, so the damage is more serious. That day, I only saw the Sui and Tang Dynasties in Cave 0405, the Middle Tang Dynasty in Cave 15, and the Northern Zhou Dynasty in Cave 18.
Next stop: Yangguan. Yangguan is a pass that the ancient Silk Road must pass through. Because there are only beacon towers left, the tour guide suggested to see Yumen Pass, but did not enter. Punch outside.
The fourth stop, Yumen Pass. Yumen Pass got its name because Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty opened up the Western Regions and imported jade. At that time, both Yangguan and Yangguan were places where soldiers were stationed, and the Central Plains and the Western Regions all traveled through the two passes. They were important military passes and Silk Road traffic arteries during the Han Dynasty. There are three ruins in the scenic spot, the first is Dafangpan City. It is the site of "Chang'an Cang" in the Han Dynasty, more than 2,000 years ago. It is a grain storage warehouse. The city is built of rammed earth slabs, rectangular in shape, 132 meters long from east to west, 17 meters wide from north to south, and the highest point of the ruined wall is 6.7 meters.
The second scenic spot in the scenic area is the ruins of the Great Wall of Han Dynasty. The Great Wall of the Han Dynasty was built during the period when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty conquered the Western Regions. It is about 136 kilometers long, starting from Guazhou in the east along the south bank of the Shule River to the territory of Dunhuang. The Great Wall of Han Dynasty in the scenic spot has gone through thousands of years of wind and rain erosion. Although it has lost its original majestic style, its outline is still vaguely discernible. The highest part is 2.95 meters, and the top width is 0.65 meters. It is built layer by layer with reed, sandstone, red willow and loess, and each layer is about 0.2 meters thick.
Immortal Populus euphratica in the distance
The third scenic spot is Yumenguan Ruins, also known as Xiaofangpan City. It was built around 111 BC. The Guancheng is a square. The loess barrier is about 10 meters high, 3 meters wide on the city wall, 5 meters wide at the bottom, 24 meters long from east to west, and 26.4 meters wide from north to south, covering an area of more than 600 square meters.
I think back to the sound of camel bells, the caravans came, the market was prosperous, gold and iron horses, and there were heavy soldiers. Now there are only loess castles left, isolated Gobi, criss-cross ravines, towering ruins, old Populus euphratica, swaying reeds, which makes people have mixed feelings, and nostalgia for the past emerges spontaneously. The world is long, sighing sadly.
Exit Yumen Pass and go to Yadan Geopark. This is also the focus of the entire Western Front. The road leading to Yadan is already a no-man's land. On both sides of the road is the test site of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, which is only 120 kilometers away from the famous Lop Nur center.
"Yadan" is the name of a landform. At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the Swedish Sven Hedin and the British Stein went to Lop Nur for inspection. The local guide described this "steep hill" in Uighur, so, " The word "Yadan" has become a general term in geography and archaeology, that is, a raised mound, which refers to a special landform in a dry area.
There are two important factors in the formation of Yardang landform. One is that there must be lake sedimentary strata; the other is the external force, that is, the erosion of strong directional wind and flowing water in the desert. Due to the long-term violent erosion of the wind, the soft sand and rocks were swept away, and the surface was eroded into valleys, while the hard soil and rock layers became mounds of different heights, and the strong wind carved the mounds into one by one. Strange shapes, such as "stone lion", "stone Buddha", "stone mushroom", "peacock", "pagoda", etc., are in various poses and with different expressions, lifelike, full of wonders. After night falls, the strong wind makes a terrifying howl, like thousands of wild beasts roaring, which is creepy, hence the name "Devil City".
This is the golden lion welcome
This is the South China Sea Fleet, but it is better to look at the aerial photos.
As time goes by, night falls quietly. Watching the sunset in Devil City is not only beautiful, but also melancholy.
On the way back to the city, the driver also took us to see the starry sky. Although the moon was very clear that day, we still saw many stars.
It was past ten o'clock in the evening when we arrived in Dunhuang City. I thought that the nightlife in the north would end early, but I didn't expect the Shazhou Night Market here to be bustling.
Two days in a hurry, Dunhuang City has left me with good memories. It is simple, natural, low-key and quiet, and it is a very safe northern town.
Goodbye, Dunhuang, goodbye, Mogao Grottoes, goodbye, thousand years of history.
