After graduating in 2007, I came to work in Korla, Xinjiang. In the past 11 years, I have been mainly staying in Korla in southern Xinjiang. Except for a lot of shopping in Urumqi, I haven’t really visited much in the beautiful Xinjiang. One of the great pleasures in life is to travel around the mountains and rivers with friends you know. So I made an appointment with 2 friends in advance, and the three families traveled by car in northern Xinjiang for 10 days. We went west from Urumqi all the way to complete our self-driving tour in northern Xinjiang. The main places we passed were Shawan, Wusu, Jinghe County, Sailimu Lake, Horgos, Huocheng County, Yining City, Zhaosu Highway, Xiata Canyon, Tekes County, Gongliu County, Nalati Prairie, Gongnaisi, and then back to Korla.
On August 5th, Xiongbo and his wife Xiaoai drove over from Kuqa, I brought my wife and children, and Weijun brought his wife and children. 3 families and 2 cars. At around 11 o'clock, I had dinner and set off. As soon as I set off, I felt that there was a problem with my car. The power was insufficient, boring, and the fault light was on. So I had to go to Yanqi to repair the car. It didn't fix it, but it was probably tight. Therefore, you must check the car before you go out, and don't regret it when you go out.
Running at high speed all the way, I arrived in Urumqi and successfully arrived at the Tarim Petroleum Hotel by relying on the mobile phone Gaode navigation. It is said that Xiongbo has a navigation and an electronic dog, and he agreed to take me with him, but he disappeared as soon as he was on the road. Fortunately, the mobile phone navigation is also good, but I always arrive before him.
After 2 days of rest in Urumqi, Xiongbo’s colleagues treated guests to two meals, especially at Baoshan No. 1, which was opened in Xiongbo Defa. They ate a meal of naan pit meat, earthen hot pot, and pepper chicken. It was really delicious. Drink it A lot of wine, the next day is not uncomfortable. (Unexpectedly, after we came back, we also successfully found a suitable shop. We opened a naan pit meat shop at No. 25 Shenzhen Street, Urumqi Economic Development Zone. It is called Yangbaa Naan pit meat, and we completely learned from Baoshan No. 1.)
Depart from Urumqi on August 7th, go all the way to the high speed, get off the high speed at noon to Shawan for a rest and dinner. Shawan big plate chicken is a specialty of Xinjiang, how can you miss it. We drove to a food street, found a restaurant and ordered food. It was past lunch time and there were no customers. The big plate chicken is different from what I imagined. There are wild vegetables or something in it, and it is more expensive. It is not as delicious as I imagined. After dinner, I also drove around the county town, and it was worthwhile to visit here.
Another high-speed road, we arrived at Wusu, as a rest point at night. Living in Yulong Hotel, the environment is very good. There are many apple trees beside the road with many small fruits. Wusu's beer is famous in Xinjiang, so I still have to go to the beer square to eat at the night market at night.
Not far away is the Friendly Beer Square, where you pay a deposit of 100 and order a bucket of draft beer and some barbecue. I was full at noon and not hungry at night. Go back to your room early to rest after eating. In other words, I still miss the night market in Korla. There are so many delicious foods, the shade in summer, and when I was younger, I could eat and drink everywhere.
On August 8, we set off for Sailimu Lake early in the morning, and we had lunch at Jinghe at noon. I was speeding when I entered Jinghe County. I drove 45 kilometers at a speed limit of 40. Everyone must be careful. We arrived at Sailimu Lake in the afternoon. I felt that my car was boring along the way, maybe it was uphill all the way. Accommodation in Sailimu Lake Hotel is really expensive, there are hundreds of rooms, no room, and more than 200 for a tent. We hurriedly bought tickets to enter the scenic spot, and their tickets had to go out at noon the next day. When we arrived at the first place, there were quite a lot of people, so we took the children out of the car to take pictures. This is the second time I have come to Sailimu, and I feel that a lot of tourism has been developed, including plank roads and infrastructure, but there is a lack of natural beauty. I came here in 2012 when I was recuperating, and it was quite primitive then.
We drove forward again and found a place where we could pitch a tent. In fact, there are many places where tents can be pitched. I also brought a barbecue grill and charcoal, and wanted to barbecue by myself, but unfortunately it couldn't be used in the end, and there was no fire in the scenic area. Xiongbo drove to buy food, and my wife and children stayed to play. I turned over the isolation belt and walked to the yurt in the distance to see if I could buy raw mutton from the herdsmen. I walked a long way to find the sheep, but no one, afraid of dogs, dared not go in.
In the evening we set up a tent, and had a good time drinking and chatting at Xiongbo's account. It was cold and windy at night, so I slept after eating.
I got up early in the morning and took some pictures. There are hot air balloons in Sailimu Lake, but they are too expensive to afford. After driving out of the scenic spot not far away, we arrived at a viewing place, where we can see the Sailimu Bridge from a distance, which is quite spectacular.
It is not too far from Sailimu to Horgos, passing through a bad road, it is said that you should be extra careful when measuring the speed on the bad road. At noon, I had lunch in Huocheng, and I was not far from Horgos after eating. In Huocheng, we had a Bawang meal. We found a relatively large ethnic restaurant, but it turned out that the food was served very slowly. The ethnic comrades who came later than us all served the same dishes, but they didn’t serve us. We urged several times, finally negotiated, and left without paying. . . . .
Remind everyone that if you want to go shopping on the Khorgos border or in the duty-free zone, you need to apply for a border permit. If you apply for a temporary permit, there are too many people in the permit hall. We waited in line for a while, but gave up. I went to a mall to shop, and the products were the same. Bought some chocolates, sparkling wine, red wine, etc. Korgos must bargain hard when shopping, cut off two-thirds first, don't be embarrassed.
Then we went to the Jieyou Princess Lavender Garden in Huocheng. The things are quite expensive, but the lavender is average and the area is not big. It was too difficult to go out, and the traffic sign lines were not clear. We drove around and were caught by the people at the checkpoint, and our driver's license and driving permit were confiscated. What a disappointment, I have to deal with it the next day, so I have to live in Huocheng. We went to the traffic police team, but the documents were not delivered yet, we went to the checkpoint to ask, and then went to the traffic police team. The captain of the traffic police brigade had no intention of hearing that it hadn't been delivered yet, so he yelled at the traffic policeman who was doing the work, and hurriedly sent it over to deal with it. As a result, the attitude of the traffic policeman was very good, and no points were deducted, only 20 yuan was fined. You must think we are friends of the captain.
Coming out of Huocheng, we planned to go to Zhaosu, but we arrived at Yining first, and there was no toll on the highway along the way. I strongly recommend staying in Yining for a day. Yining is a nice city, with touristy old streets and a modern new town with high-rise buildings, it is much better than Korla. It's really nice to go shopping in Hanren Street, with colorful houses and various commodities. Overall, Yining is the best tourist city I feel in Xinjiang.
Starting from Yining, we went to Zhaosu via the Yizhao Highway to see rapeseed flowers and Xiata Canyon. Along the way, the Yizhao Highway is really one of the most beautiful Chinese highways, and its reputation is well-deserved. There are scenery along the way, with hillsides, grasslands, canyon forests. This road is also very dangerous, with many curves, but there are police officers on every curve, and long-term parking is not allowed at scenic spots. The end of this road is Zhaosu, a place rich in Tianma. We arrived at noon, and immediately found the food street in the county seat, a larger restaurant, and ordered noodles and horse intestines. The taste is average, and many people may not be used to horse meat. Many people in the north of Xinjiang love to eat, and the diet varies from place to place.
