The lowest point on the land of the motherland, the sand and fire of Turpan!

The lowest land of the motherland is the Turpan Basin, where besides the grapes, there are also the Kumtag Desert and the Flaming Mountains!

The sand and fire here make people feel the enthusiasm of the land of Xinjiang.

DAY 1 Toksun to see apricot blossoms

Take the train from Karamay, sleeper directly to Urumqi, at 6 o'clock in the morning, it was a bit bleak and freezing. Outbound inspections are strict. After exiting the station, take the bus directly to China Southern Airlines Pearl International Hotel, the gathering place for a one-day apricot blossom viewing tour in Toksun, Turpan.

Drive past Dabancheng

At around 9:00, the bus departs and arrives at the destination. The tour guide Xiao Xin, a very lively girl, will introduce you to the main points of the itinerary. The car passed by the salt lake. On the south bank of the road, there was a large piece of white crystalline salt accumulated on the lake bank, with lake water in the middle.

When passing through Dabancheng, Xiaoxin also reminded everyone that this place name is famous all over the country because of a song, "Girl in Dabancheng", "If you are married, don't marry someone else, you must marry me", haha.

Passing through a very empty desert, there are many wind turbines, the wind here must be very strong. There are mainly two places with windmills in our country, the southeast coast and the Gobi desert in the west.

From Urumqi to Turpan, the south must cross the North Tianshan Mountains, but it is not considered to be worn, and the North Tianshan Mountains are not continuous, there is just a big gap here. The mountains here are very different from the central and eastern parts. The most obvious feeling is desolation. There is no vegetation on the slopes, and the khaki is bare and a bit creepy.

Looking north on the road, you can see the snow-capped mountains in the distance. The highest peak should be Bogda Peak, which is the holy mountain in the west.

Xinghua village has no apricot blossoms

Finally arrived at the destination, Toksun Xinghua Village. From the map, this is a big oasis in the desert, a strange nature! It takes at least 20 minutes to walk from the parking lot to Xinghualin.

Along the way, you can see some hollow brick houses, which are used for hanging raisins. There is also a main street where local residents run restaurants and specialty shops. I heard from the tour guide that this is a mobile village, and it is only so lively during the flowering period, and there are usually no people.

When I went to the apricot blossom forest, I was disappointed, the flowers were about to disappear, and there were apricot blossom trees everywhere, but it was hard to see a piece full of apricot blossoms. It is said that the wind has been strong these two days, and it has all been blown away, but it is basically the end of the flowering period.

I only found a small area with a lot of apricot blossoms, so I didn't run in vain. Apricot blossoms are similar to peach blossoms and plum blossoms, and it is not easy to distinguish them! There are also two pear trees nearby, and the white pear blossoms are in full bloom, which is beautiful.

Have lunch with the tour guide and the driver, they are locals, and it is not wrong to listen to them chatting about interesting things. Toksun is rich in apricots, peanuts, leeks, wheat (which can be made into noodles, especially famous), etc., and Kashgar is rich in pomegranates, and the most famous and purest apricots are produced in Kuqa. The driver also showed me that they went to some places in Xinjiang far away from human habitation, Bazhou Huludao (sound), where there are Populus euphratica trees and lakes, it is really beautiful. The Qiemo county in Hetian in southern Xinjiang is the best for eating mutton. I am very curious. I just ate the mutton in Kashgar. I am already very happy. Is there any better mutton? !

For lunch, we ate noodles and roasted lamb with red willow. The lamb here is marinated and slightly salty, which is much inferior to that in Kashgar.

The normal itinerary is to return at 4 o'clock, but group members began to come back and wait for the bus at 2 o'clock. Around 3:00, almost all the guests arrived, only two or three guests were left. They said they wanted to continue shopping, which was embarrassing, and they waited until 4:00 to leave. The feeling was really bad.

While waiting for the bus, I bought raisins from a mobile vendor. The boss said that horse milk raisins cost 30 yuan a catty, and seedless raisins cost 35 yuan a catty. I bought him a big bag of grapes for 25 yuan a catty, a total of 60 yuan. The raisins in Xinjiang are really sweet!

The climate in Xinjiang has a large temperature difference between day and night. Down jackets are worn in the morning, short-sleeved at noon, and down jackets are worn in the evening. There is such a saying in geography before, wear cotton-padded jacket in the morning and gauze in the afternoon, and eat watermelon around the stove! The mountains are not moistened by vegetation, and the water cannot be locked, and the entire temperature difference cannot be buffered, so it is very hot.

Go back to Urumqi, take a car to the Youth Hostel, check in; eat something around dinner, and do nucleic acid with other guests who checked in that day at 8 o'clock.

DAY2 Sand and fire in Turpan

Turpan day trip.
I went out at early 7 in the morning, the sky was dark, there were almost no people on the road, no shops were open, and only a few residents were running and exercising in the light rain, amazing! The speed of the BRT bus is still good. I arrived at the train station in time, and arrived at Turpan North in the early 10 o'clock, together with other group members. Three young mothers from Sichuan, two girls from Shihezi, a sister from Taiyuan, a brother from Tianshui, Gansu, and a Korean guide from Turpan, happily set off.

Overview of Turpan

It's good to have a guide, and you can learn more. The climate in Turpan is really dry, and the annual precipitation is more than 10 millimeters. People have the genius invention of Karez in order to survive, and it is still in use today! Even today, urban greening has to adopt drip irrigation. Director Han said with a smile that raising trees is as difficult as raising children, and requires careful care.

Director Han also introduced that Turpan is the lowest point in the land world (the Dead Sea is the lowest sea level), but it should be the lowest point in China. The lowest point in the world must be the coast of the Dead Sea, haha. Turpan is a basin surrounded by mountains. In summer, Turpan has more than 40 degrees, and the highest temperature is more than 50 degrees. It is scary to think about it. In the Huoyan Mountain Scenic Area, the hottest temperature can reach 60 or 70 degrees, which is worthy of the name. How can people bear it?

70% of Turpan's population are ethnic minorities, with more than 30 ethnic groups. Now it is basically based on tourism and agriculture. Grapes are ripe from July to September, which is the peak tourist season here, but it is also hot. Grapes are grown here and everywhere. Turpan is an aided city in Hunan Province, so there are place names such as Changde Park, and Shihezi is assisted by Dalian. I just talked about the recent hot spot cotton in Xinjiang. There is cotton in Shihezi, which is mechanized and has a large area. It is quite rich.

Home visit of Uighurs in the Holy Land of Grapes

Soon we arrived at the first scenic spot, the home of a Uighur boy. Han Dao taught everyone to say aximises, which means hello in Uighur, and at the same time put one hand on his chest and bent down to greet. The young man speaks Mandarin well. He introduced that there are only 50 families in Turpan who are qualified to receive them. Many of them either cannot speak Mandarin or are not qualified for other reasons. He is one of the leaders of this group.

After arriving at his home, the young man explained a lot about the living customs of the Uighurs. He emphasized that in Uyghurs, men have a high status and value boys over girls. When asked why, it was said that Turpan mainly made a living by planting grapes. Every winter, the grape vines had to be rolled up and buried under the soil, dug up again in spring, and placed on shelves. Men did all the heavy work, which was extremely hard work. Men have high status.

A Uyghur man, called Lord Bai, meant to marry eight wives. I smiled and asked how many wives you plan to marry. The young man laughed and said that he could only marry one. Now the law does not allow it, haha! Then he also said that when entertaining guests, the man must serve first, followed by the woman; the woman eats after the man finishes eating; the woman after the table has to help the man put on shoes. Oh, it's scary, haha. The young man kept asking the girls in the group to demonstrate this rule. I smiled and said no, otherwise the two of us will have a hard time in the future itinerary!

After eating and resting for a while, the young man took us to see raisins. This is another professional introduction. I can barely remember the details and introduce them to you: ①There are many varieties of raisins, and the worst one is the one on the right. The other products are eaten by cattle and sheep, and the grapes come from those that fall from shaking trees or fall during transportation and drying. Some unscrupulous merchants will reprocess and sell these, which may be colored or soaked in sulfur. You can shake them in mineral water and the color will fade. You can tell if there is a sulfur smell. ② Next to it is the basic type, one is green dried in the grape house, and the other is dried on the ground, black, pregnant women can eat more. ③The third brown color, the main sugar is monosaccharide, the only kind that people with high blood sugar can eat. 80 per kilogram. ④The latter two are grape grandma and grandpa, which are produced by century-old grape trees and are very nourishing. The head is relatively large, and one has seeds. 120 for one kilogram. ⑤ In addition, there are shrunken grapes and grape seeds (the main component is anthocyanin), 300 a can.

Millennium Karez

The second attraction is the Desert Botanical Garden and Karez.

The Desert Botanical Garden, the lowest botanical garden in the world, contains many desert Gobi plants. The tour guide asked everyone to pay 30 yuan to take a tour bus. After visiting, everyone generally felt that this itinerary was unnecessary. About 10 minutes along the way, the driver will explain about seven or eight kinds of plants to you, including Shaguai jujube, strange willow, etc. It is very windy here, so the method of grass lattice is not suitable. Most of the desert plants have well-developed root systems. Although the branches on the sand are not big, the root system under the sand is several times that of the above, thick and long, and deeply rooted.

After leaving the botanical garden, watching Karez is really amazing.
Karez is composed of four parts, vertical shaft, open channel, underground channel, and dam (water storage, let the water temperature return to normal temperature before flowing out, otherwise the ice water irrigation crops cannot bear it). There are shafts every 20 meters. There are more than 1,000 Karez wells, more than 5,000 kilometers, and a history of more than 2,000 years. Like the Great Wall and the Grand Canal, they are great projects of the ancients, and many people have been sacrificed.

The culverts in Karez are neither wide nor high, and people have to kneel down to dig them. After a long time, they suffer from rheumatism and other problems. The average life expectancy of workers is about 30 years old. We entered the Karez culvert, which was specially dug wide for tourists to visit. The actual culvert is generally only one meter wide and one meter high. The water is really cool, cool to the heart. After all, there is snow in the Tianshan Mountains, so the waterlogging dam is required to buffer and store the water, and wait for the water to reach normal temperature before watering. Karez, I have been studying history textbooks for a long time, and I finally see you today. Really exciting and shocking.

noodles

Xinjiang cuisine, there is a kind of noodles, made of wheat flour, among which the wheat of Toksun is of the best quality, and the noodles made are the best. The tour guide chose a noodle shop called Toksun Little Fatty. The group meal is 15 yuan of mixed noodles. Here it is like a bowl of rice. Each person chooses a plate of toppings. A large plate, and then each person chooses a portion of white noodles, add this plate of toppings, stir, and eat. It is really fragrant and the noodles are very strong. Taiyuan sister paper Tianshui brothers add me, each add a bottle of red Wusu, cheers!

Kumtag desert drag racing

After lunch, the group members added a sister from Nanjing who brought a camera and took a lot of photos. We decided to go to the Kumtag Desert first, drive for 1.5 hours, and then go to the Flame Mountain.

The drive was really long, I was tired from sitting, and slept all the way. Director Han comforted, Xinjiang is very big, this time is considered short, some scenic spots are four to five hundred kilometers, even longer. There is a long distance along the road, and there are deserts and Gobi deserts on both sides. There is no vegetation. This kind of place feels really unsuitable for life. Passing through some village roads, scattered apricot trees bloomed quietly in and outside the courtyard, and the flowers bloomed better than yesterday in Toksun Xinghua Village, so embarrassing, haha. Apricot blossoms, as expected, the pink ones that just opened are relatively deep, and the flowers that bloom for a few days will gradually turn white. These apricot blossoms along the road are really beautiful.

When we arrived at the desert scenic spot, the tour guide recommended to take a sand bike. There are different route packages. Everyone chose 150 yuan/person, which is farther away. There are three rows of seats, the last row is the most exciting and bumpy, especially fun, remember to wear seat belts. The driver of the sand bike proficiently rushed into the desert and walked freely on the sand dunes. I felt like I was about to fall out of some turns. Many turns seemed to be overturned. The adrenaline soared! The people in the whole car, especially the rear row, made all kinds of noises, which is really surprising and love! It's super like riding a motorboat on Nan'ao Island, turning sharply and the whole person is like flying out!

At the top of the mountain, there is a pavilion where bags, shoes and socks can be placed. Taking out the rented sandboards, 9 people rented three pieces for a total of 90 yuan. In fact, only one piece is enough. I guess it was the most rowed, but only five or six times. It's great to slide down, but the experience of walking back to the top of the dune with the board is really not good, it's too tiring, hahaha! Walking up the slope of the sand dunes with one deep foot and one shallow foot is very physically demanding!

Everyone skated several times in batches, and basically stopped playing, and ran to take pictures or climb higher dunes.

I was the first to climb to the highest peak next to it, where the view is wider, and I can look around, most of which are deserts, and Shanshan County in the distance. The main wind direction here is from the county town to the desert, so the residents are basically not affected. It is said that the ancient city of Loulan chose the wrong wind direction, so it was swallowed by the desert. The county looks really small, in front of such a big desert! The rows of Zhutianyang were scattered but continuous around the entire county, like a row of guards, salute!

Everyone sculpted in the desert, and it was a very happy time. Standing on a high place overlooking the desert, Nanjing sister is in a red dress, the visual impact is really too powerful, if she runs, I will definitely give her a piece of "Let me go", a little friend who has never heard of it You can go to search and listen, the classic soundtracks of the movies "Evil in the West" and "Journey to the West" are similar to and compatible with the mood of the vast and desolate desert!

We stood on the top of the hill, and my sister from Nanjing helped to take our silhouettes, a lonely shadow in the desert! Four or five people are posing there, happy.

Come down next to the wooden house, and everyone will take off collectively, which is very dynamic.

The sand bike is also a very good viewing tool, don't miss it!

The view at the highest point is really good, very wide and refreshing! In addition to the sea, the desert can actually make people feel the same! The Kumtag Desert, the third largest desert in Xinjiang, has come to Turpan, don't miss it.

There is a specialty shop at the exit of the desert scenic area, where you can see various special products of Xinjiang, and interested friends can go shopping. There are cantaloupe, Tianshan snow lotus, Cynomorium and so on.

A glimpse of the Flaming Mountains

The last scenic spot, Flame Mountain. In order to catch the high-speed rail, basically only stayed for 10 minutes. Director Han said that this is a planned scenic spot, the location where the 86 edition of Journey to the West Flame Mountain was filmed. In the scenic spot with this theme, the main landscape is the row of ravines across the canyon that have been combed by a comb. It is very spectacular from such a distance, and it will be even more shocking if you walk in! There was an ocean tens of millions of years ago, and these landforms were formed at that time. These mountains are rich in iron elements. If the sunlight is strong, they will appear more red and magnificent! The highest temperature in summer reaches sixty or seventy degrees!

There is a large thermometer set up here, surrounded by the shape of the alchemy furnace of Taishang Laojun, which is interesting! This corresponds to the Arctic Square in the northernmost Mohe Arctic Village of the motherland. In extreme weather, one is minus 40 or 50, the other is 60 or 70, and the temperature difference is 100℃+. It is also amazing. China is really big! North-south, east-west, three steps, natural landscape, cultural accumulation! I am really proud to live in China with such a long history, such a vast territory and such diverse landforms! You don't need to go abroad, so much nature and culture are enough for you to shop for many years!

In addition, there are several groups of bronze statues in the scenic area, one is the four Tang monks, the other is the bull devil riding a bull, and there is an iron fan princess. I don’t know when tourists started to form such a habit of touching the nose of the cow, the legs of the cow, the feet of the bull devil, and even more embarrassing is the chest of Princess Iron Fan. ,Ha ha! I didn't touch it.

Ten minutes, in a hurry, the most admirable thing is the magnificent mountain on the opposite side, which is comparable to the colorful Danxia in Zhangye!

Chaoshan Beef Hot Pot

It took more than half an hour to arrive at the high-speed rail station, and the trip was very smooth. We made an appointment for dinner, 5 people together, and the group members of Brother Tianshui from yesterday. Go to Wanda Plaza near Urumqi Station together, there is a restaurant called Niufu, Chaoshan Beef Hot Pot. I am from Shantou, well, haha, of course I am here to serve you! When we arrived at the restaurant, we served 4 plates of meat, 2 meatballs, 1 beef tendon, and 1 crispy pork. The amount was not bad, and there were seven or eight plates of vegetable snacks, which was enough for 6 people. I will cook the meat for everyone. It is really the first time to use the mandarin duck pot to cook the beef. I ordered about 10 bottles of red Wusu, exchanged cups, talked happily, played games, happy night!

It was after 12 o'clock after dinner, and I planned to go to ktv, but it was already late, and in addition to the epidemic prevention and control period, entertainment venues were basically closed. Everyone walked a short distance on the road, and then returned separately. We are destined to meet again.
If you take a taxi back to the youth hostel, you can travel about 10 kilometers for 24 yuan, and the price is quite affordable. As a reminder, the price of black cars leaving the station will basically be high, and it is more formal to take a taxi at the traffic lights on the right side of the station and turn right there.
The whole day in Turpan is really fulfilling! Get to know the general situation of this city, visit the home of the local Uyghur guy, visit Karez, eat noodles, go wild in the desert, and then rush to Huoyanshan to see the fiery red mountains and ravines! It's really filling!

DAY 3 Urumqi

I played all day yesterday, and only went to sleep in the youth hostel in the middle of the night. There is no rush for the plane this evening. Sleeping until noon, I went to eat Roujiamo and mutton hand-picked rice with my roommate Xiaobai, and then went to Linghua Dried Fruit Wholesale Market to buy specialty raisins and naan.

Snow in Urumqi

Going out, in Urumqi at the end of March, snowflakes were falling, intermittently, flying all over the sky, which is rare. Going to Mohe in mid-March is full of snow, and finally there is a lot of snow in the county. Now when I come to Urumqi, I can still see snow. Although I have seen snow many times, but I was born in Guangdong, and I still have a unique feeling for snow, and I can watch it quietly for a long time. It was snowing and people were in a hurry on the road, so we quickly arrived at the nearby Roujiamo shop, bought a pancake to fill our stomachs, and then went to find hand-caught mutton rice.

Mutton Rice

There is a Mamai Pilaf · Halal nearby, which looks good. In the store, I feel very good! The decoration of Xinjiang Uyghur elements, a black and white with lamb chops, is a classic here. Black and white refers to the color of the rice. Half of the white rice and half of the sugar-colored rice with sauce (soy sauce) should be oiled. The shiny oil makes people particularly appetizing. The taste is very glutinous and delicious. The lamb chops are also very good, with a lot of meat, fresh and tender, and it is really a perfect match with this rice. In addition, I added a bowl of yogurt, which is amazing, with a layer of film on the surface, and a spoon can be placed on it. The yogurt is cold and slightly sweet. After eating rice and mutton, a few mouthfuls of yogurt are a perfect match.

Linghua Dried Fruit Wholesale Market

There are two or three rows of shops here, and some of them are hardware stores. There are many dried fruit shops, many selling raisins, and I don’t know which one to go to, so I walked around and chose one at random. The raisins sold here are much cheaper than the ones I bought in Xinghua Village, Tuokexun County. The raisins sold at 60 yuan per kilogram over there are small, but there are more raisins at the same price here.

It is the first time I know that there are so many kinds of grapes, which are much more than what we saw in the home visit of the Uighurs in Turpan. They are large and small, with different colors, divided into nearly 20 grids, and they are all dazzled. The boss is very enthusiastic and knows how to do business. He asked me to take it easy and try it casually. I didn’t rush or follow. I just tried them one by one leisurely. It’s really sweet. The fruits and melons in Xinjiang are really delicious. I ordered four or five kinds, each weighing 1 kg, packed in 10 bags, and prepared to go back and make souvenirs. Raisins from Turpan, Xinjiang wow.

When I took it back to give to my friends, most of them exclaimed, such a big raisin! It's really big, much bigger than our usual specifications! The key is also very delicious wow!

Naan

Under the flyover near the Nanhu Square Subway Station, a small shop sells freshly baked naan. The big one smells delicious and is still steaming. 5 yuan a piece, the price should be a little higher, but it's good just out of the oven. I bought one and put it in a bag. The bag soon steamed and condensed water droplets, which would make the bag soft when I was stuffy. I quickly opened a corner of the bag to breathe. Tear off a piece and try it out. It is delicious, just like the texture of a flatbread, with a fragrant and slightly sweet taste. When you come to Xinjiang, you have to eat a naan, hahaha!

Xinjiang is really a vast land and abundant resources! The natural landscape is magnificent and shocking; the humanistic customs are very characteristic and strong, which makes people never forget!

The ancient city of Kashgar, mutton, old teahouses, and children, the oil in Karamay, the desert in Turpan, the Flame Mountain, and raisins, and the mutton rice in Urumqi are all memorable. The next time you go to Xinjiang, you may go to Kanas in Northern Xinjiang, or Yili, or Hotan. expect.