On October 24, 2020, after visiting the Populus euphratica Scenic Spot in Zepu County, we had lunch at this restaurant in Zepu County. After a full meal of noodles, we set off for Hotan. It was our first correct decision of the day.
Not far from the departure, I saw a field of red dates near Zepu County. The tour guide said that everyone can pick dates and eat them.
After the jujubes in southern Xinjiang are ripe, they hang on the branches, covered with dust.
After many jujubes mature, they fall to the ground naturally.
Jujube farmers harvest jujubes by spreading a large plastic sheet on the ground, and then shaking the ripe dates onto the plastic sheet.
Near the jujube field, I photographed a camel cart with southern Xinjiang characteristics.
Go all the way to Hotan. At the Zepp service area, we filled up the car. This was our second correct decision of the day.
The car headed east along Kunlun Mountain, passed Yecheng, and when it was almost at Moyu County, it stopped moving. There is a checkpoint ahead. Bad news: Kashgar has an epidemic, and Hotan has been closed! Starting from 16:17 on October 24th, we started our escape for three days and two nights!
The expressway from Moyu to Hotan is 26.8 kilometers in length and normally takes half an hour. And we were stuck on this road for more than 8 hours! At midnight, the Hotan side gave a clear opinion: Those who enter Hotan must undergo nucleic acid testing, and those who do not enter Hotan can be released, but they must be escorted out of Hotan by police cars! At a checkpoint in Hotan, we struggled for several hours before we were escorted out of Hotan by police cars.
There was no water or rice for 14 hours. At 6 o'clock in the morning on October 25, we came across a naan shop in the suburbs of Hotan and bought some naan and boiled eggs.
The original travel itinerary can no longer go. We decided to travel day and night and rush back to Urumqi. The nearest road is through the Hea Desert Highway. The He-A Desert Highway is the second highway that crosses the Taklamakan Desert, starting from Alar City, an oasis city at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains in the north, and ending in Hotan City on the northern edge of the Kunlun Mountains in the south. The photo was taken on the He'a Desert Highway.
After eating something on the side of the road, we entered the Taklamakan Desert Highway. The Ahe Desert Highway was completed and opened to traffic at the end of 2007. It is the second desert highway built in my country after the Tarim Desert Highway, with a total length of 424 kilometers. On both sides of the road are continuous sand dunes and tough Populus euphratica, stop and go along the way, feel the charm of the vast desert. The photo was taken on the He'a Desert Highway.
What makes people uncomfortable is that the speed limit here is 60. In fact, many highways in southern Xinjiang have a speed limit of 60, which can ensure the safety of drivers and passengers. The road is so good, the view is so wide, the people are so sparsely populated, and the speed limit is so low. What a pain. The photo was taken on the He'a Desert Highway. Slow is also good, you can have a lot of time to see the scenery. There are many poplar trees on the way.
Xinjiang has a very large area. France is the largest country in Western Europe, but its area is only one third of Xinjiang. Although Xinjiang has many beautiful scenery, many people still regard the desert as the main impression of Xinjiang. The photo was taken on the He'a Desert Highway.
In the Tarim Basin, there is the second largest desert in the world and the largest in China: the Taklamakan Desert. The Uighur language of the Taklamakan Desert means "a place that cannot be entered and exited", and it is called the "Sea of Death". The desert is more than 1,000 kilometers wide from east to west, about 400 kilometers long from north to south, and covers an area of nearly 400,000 square kilometers, nearly the size of three Hebei provinces. A road runs through it. In other words, it is a real desert road, and it makes sense to walk it from beginning to end. The photo was taken on the He'a Desert Highway.
The Taklamakan Desert Highway is currently the world's longest grade highway running through a flowing desert. The main body of this road adopts the construction technology of "strong foundation and thin surface" structure, and the sand prevention project adopts sand fixing technologies such as "reed fence" and "reed grid", which are at the leading level in the world. The photo was taken on the He'a Desert Highway.
On the road, the boundless Gobi Desert passed by our car, the snow-white saline-alkali land was flat and boundless, and the desert was full of oil and gas treasures. Where there is no water, plants can grow in the desert. The vitality is really tenacious. The photo was taken on the He'a Desert Highway.
When approaching the Alar toll booth, the traffic jam started again. The blocked vehicles are 4 to 5 kilometers long, and most of them are large vehicles.
Those who took their dogs out for a trip started walking their dogs.
Fortunately, a staff member came to inform that cars with less than seven seats can go first. The picture shows the Alar toll station.
Alar is the seat of the First Agricultural Division (now the First Division) of the Xinjiang Corps, located at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains and the northern edge of the Taklamakan Desert. The predecessor of the First Agricultural Division was the famous 359th Brigade in northern Shaanxi during the Anti-Japanese War. In 1953, it was collectively transferred in Aksu to form the First Division of Agricultural Construction of the Xinjiang Military Region. In 1954, it was attached to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. The photo was taken at the Alar toll station.
Aral also has a public security checkpoint. Here, people who have been to Kashgar have to do nucleic acid testing.
We did the first nucleic acid test in Alar.
Nucleic acid testing was done, and our car was sealed. And was told: before the next checkpoint Shaya County, not allowed to open!
At 18:00 on October 25, we arrived in Shaya County. There are already large cotton fields on both sides of the road. There were friends in Shaya County who wanted to receive us, but now the city is also closed, and we can't get in or get out!
I met a grilled fish seller on the side of the road in Shaya County, and I took the opportunity of getting out of the car (living people can’t be suffocated by urine, I ignored the driver’s dissuasion, and removed the seal on the car door) and sold two grilled fish .
There are still naan and eggs in the car, so there is no problem for dinner.
In the evening, we arrived at the Kuqa service area. The driver has not rested for two days and one night, so we decided to rest in the car in the service area for one night.
At 14:30 on October 26, I went to a service area in Toksun County and found that although the restaurant here does not allow dine-in, it does take away lunch boxes. Finally had my first hot meal in two days here.
At 15:44 on October 26, we arrived at the Xiaocaohu checkpoint near Urumqi. I didn't expect that the order here is in order, and the traffic speed is much faster than the previous day.
We did a second nucleic acid test at the Xiaocaohu checkpoint.
Those who had been to Kashgar were taken by police cars to the distribution station in Dabancheng.
In a gymnasium at the distribution station in Dabancheng, we did a third nucleic acid test. All are shunted. Foreign tourists who have recent air tickets can go to a hotel near the airport to wait for their flight. The local people in Urumqi distributed lunch boxes and waited for centralized isolation.
At midnight on October 26, we finally ended our three-day, two-night escape, returned to Urumqi, and checked into a hotel arranged by our friends. Witnessing the initial panic and fear of the Kashgar epidemic, I truly understood this sentence: A grain of dust falling on an individual's head is like a mountain. Adding such a special experience makes this trip even more thrilling and unforgettable!
