Treasure Hunt Lop Nur 14-day Northwest Self-driving Tour

Hey! Here is Happy Planet~

The first peaks in the southwest at sunset, the broken clouds are thousands of miles away, and the red remains

The slender waist and jade belt dance to the sky, suspected to be a fairy coming down to earth~

From the city to the desert, the first dinner of the 15-person tour group in Lop Nur↓

Every night in the vast Gobi is a direct dialogue with the vast starry sky

written in front

"The world's magnificence, grotesqueness, and extraordinary views often lie in the danger and distance.

What is rare for people is so rare, so those who don't have aspirations can't get there. "——Song Wang Anshi's "You Bao Chan Mountain"

Yadan, Gobi, desert, sunrise, sunset, galaxy... The 4-day trip to Lop Nur perfectly interprets the above poem.

Lop Nur is the closest road from ancient China to the Western Regions, and it is the most colorful legend on the ancient Silk Road

Since the end of May 1 Alxa Badain Jaran trip, our seven-person travel team has put the discussion on the eleventh plan on the agenda, from Ali South Line to Nianbao Yuze, from Aba Seda to Nansha Islands ... until 8 On the 20th of May, classmate melo posted a message in the group, "How about walking a wave of sea roads + Lop Nur on National Day?" Then he threw out a few links to the public account of Xinjiang's scenery. No longer interested in work, the long-awaited route of self-driving is finally coming true! The group name was changed from "May 1st Badain Jilin Alxa" to "National Day Haidao Lop Nur", and the 7-member group quickly expanded to the final 15 members

Time flies, and it has been more than four months since I returned to the city from the Northwest, but I often miss the magical land 3,500 kilometers away~ During this period, I spent half a month on and off to sort out the materials, one month to make videos, and one month Select and adjust pictures, edit text in a month... Those spectacular, magical, incomparable, vibrant and powerful memory fragments during this trip are worth cherishing for a lifetime

A row from left: Amyran, Xiaorui, Tangmao, Xueying, melo (the man with pink sunglasses), Yuan, melo' mother, Uncle Ma, Yanzhe

Second row from left: Yatou, Emma, ​​Dave, x.lee, JACKIE, melo’ dad

melo, Yuan, Uncle Ma, Yatou, JACKIE, Emma and I drove Gansu & Alxa during May Day last year. This was the first time we traveled together. There were eight people in two cars. A good travel partner in the starry sky~

Bgm: star sky photography & post-production: yanzhe aerial photography: yanzhe & melo

About bgm: It is said that it took a month to make a short film, but in fact, I spent half a month choosing bgm... until I encountered this star sky in my favorites, my heart was shocked, it was it! At one time, I also suspected that the material I captured was not enough to support the momentum of this music, but I couldn't find anything more suitable than it. Why not give it a try? Watching the film again, there are still some unsatisfactory things, but I still hope that you will watch this video

After reading it, you are not far from here~ 

Itinerary TIPS/photographic equipment/route

✨Accommodation: hotel + inflatable tent sleeping bag

✨Clothing: Unlined clothing, short sleeves, light down jackets and thick trousers all need to be prepared, especially for camping or nighttime activities. Warm clothing is essential

✨Vehicles and road conditions: The Borgward BX5 booked half a month in advance costs about 4,000 for the 12-day journey across the eleventh day; most of the journey is high-speed, and there are many large trucks on some rural roads. There are enough gas station rest points along the way. Just prepare a few snacks and drinks in the car

✨Practical equipment: charging treasure, bright flashlight, sun hat, sunscreen, lipstick, headscarf, music suitable for driving

✨About electricity consumption: Generators and porous sockets are equipped throughout the no-man's land, and all devices can be charged in time every night

✨My photographic equipment: Sony 6400+16-55gm2.8+ Xingyao 12mm2.0+ DJI Yu2+ Zhipin electronically controlled slide rails + Yisifo 360 electronically controlled gimbal

✨Melo’s photographic equipment: DJI Mavic 2+Canon 5dsr with 11-24 2.8 Sigma 201.4+Nikon d850 with 14-24/2.8 70-200+DJI Mavic 2

✨Route: Jiayuguan - Guazhou - Dunhuang - Lenghu Town - Mangya City - Yuli - Hami - Lop Nur - Ejina Banner - Jiayuguan

DAY1 set off! The rental car broke down on the first day

✨09/25 Qingdao-Yinchuan-Jiayuguan Airport pick-up- Baowo BX5; drive to the Gobi Grand Canyon Geopark, 28 kilometers and 45 minutes; drive to Guazhou County, 258 kilometers and 3 hours. Live in Guazhou

I picked up the car and met with the melo family of 4 at the Gobi Grand Canyon in Jiayuguan. This trip to Lop Nur included 15 people and three cars. In the previous trip to Hami, there were only me and the girl in one car, and the melo family of four in one car. The sky was not beautiful, and I planned to wait for the sunset in the canyon. Unfortunately, when I arrived, the clouds were too thick, and there was no sign of a sunny day. Two drones took off, took a few photos, and decided to hurry up. It was planned to arrive before 9:30 Guazhou Sculpture Scenic Spot took pictures of the Milky Way, because the Milky Way will weaken when the moon rises around ten o'clock. These itineraries are carefully planned by melo in advance. Who knows that people are not as good as heaven, Melo's car broke down just after coming out of the canyon. Fortunately, the place where it broke down is not far from Jiayuguan. I called the car rental company to bring a new car to replace it. It seems that it is difficult to reach the destination before the moon rises. It's time to go, but Melo insisted on rushing to the sculpture garden to take pictures of the Milky Way even if he saved the dinner time. The girl and I first drove to Guazhou Town, had a leisurely supper, and brought some packed light meals for the Melo family. It was already half past nine, and we were still buying cantaloupe on the side of the road. ..The result is that because of the unfamiliar road conditions and the girl's insistence on buying Hami melons at the Guazhou Night Market, I missed the Milky Way perfectly~ By the time we drove to the sculpture garden, the moon had already risen, and melo had already taken pictures of the Milky Way and was ready to go back in town...

The Jiayuguan Gobi Grand Canyon is about 40km long and 30-80m high. It develops on the Gobi Plain in front of the Qilian Mountains, and its shape is changeable and magnificent.

Driving on the highway from Jiayuguan to Guazhou, the sunset in the sky made me feel the feeling of long-lost travel. Paraphrasing the copywriting of Sister Yatou’s circle of friends: “What travel really brings us, most people can’t tell you how deep it is. The scenery you walk through is either fragmentary or colorful; cities and strangers are similar or different. If the joy at that moment is real, it is enough."

D2 Sculpture Group + Nine-story Demon Tower, I lost my things on the first day after a bad start

✨09/26 Drive to Son of the Earth and Unbounded Sculpture to shoot sunrise, 19 kilometers and 25 minutes; drive to Mogao Grottoes, 121 kilometers and 1 hour and 30 minutes; drive to Dunhuang Optoelectronics Industrial Park, 48 kilometers and 1 hour; drive to Boluo Jing Film and Television Base 100 kilometers, 1 hour and 45 minutes; drive to Lenghu Town, 136 kilometers, 2 hours

In order to catch the sunrise, I set the alarm in advance to check out the luggage, followed the navigation in the moonlight and drove from the residence for about half an hour to enter the sculpture park. It probably wasn’t until November, so there were very few tourists waiting for the sunrise on that day. The baby sculpture is crouching in the arms of Mother Earth. Although the temperature in the Gobi is very low in the morning, the moment the sun rises, there is still a hot feeling of tears in the eyes. I feel the author's exquisite design, and the shock is beyond words~

"Son of the Earth" is a baby work with a length of 15 meters, a width of 9 meters and a height of 4.3 meters, lying prone on the Gobi Desert. The red sandstone material and the Gobi Desert are harmoniously integrated, as if growing on the Gobi Desert; the ancient Gobi and Gobi newborn baby

"Boundless" consists of a "main hall" and four "que towers", with a total length of 60m, a height of 21m, and a width of 40m. A total of about 6,300 steel pipe profiles and about 30,000 connecting fasteners were consumed. The creation of the work is inspired by the "Jingbian Painting" of the Tang Dynasty in Mogao Grottoes and Yulin Grottoes. The simple shape, pure color, and the special location in the Gobi make "Unbounded" seem like a secondary universe independent of the main universe, and it is also an unfinished world - the fastener-type scaffolding steel The combined molding method makes the work always present a visual impression that construction is in progress. The overall white hollow building looks like a dream from a distance, like a mirage floating on the Gobi. Both Boundless and Son of the Earth are large-scale public works of art created by Professor Dong Shubing of the Sculpture Department of Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts.

"Hanwu Xiongfeng" is the third art installation we visited in the sculpture garden. It is difficult to show the feeling of people in the scene in the pictures. It can only be said that standing in front of the sculpture, people are like ants.

The installations of "Son of the Earth" in 2016, "Boundless" in 2018 and "Hanwu Heroes" in 2020 are in the same line, and they all come from a plan called "Wildness Art Project". This Gobi sculpture art gallery will become a tourist attraction in Guazhou new business card.

After leaving the sculpture garden, we drove to Dunhuang. The three ladies pre-purchased tickets for the Mogao Grottoes. Melo and I chose the Optoelectronics Industrial Park on the outskirts of Dunhuang because we had been there before. I forgot the battery pack of the drone in the sculpture garden I just visited in the morning. I have driven more than 100 kilometers by now. I think it will be picked up by someone. There is no main entrance or security room in the sculpture garden area. Even if I picked it up, I had nowhere to hand it in, so I had to give up decisively.... It was a bad start. It was the first time that I lost things on the second day of the trip. Fortunately, I only lost the battery pack, and the body and remote control handle were still there. , because it uses the same Yu 2 drone as melo, and the battery charger can also be used universally, which is also a blessing

The Dunhuang 100 MW molten salt tower solar thermal power station was selected into the "first batch of solar thermal power generation demonstration projects" by the National Energy Administration of China in 2016, and is vividly known as the "super mirror power station". In the site covering an area of ​​7.8 square kilometers, more than 12,000 heliostats surround the 260-meter-high heat-absorbing tower in concentric circles, like a huge "sunflower" blooming on the Gobi. Energy heat exchange and other links convert sunlight into energy, delivering clean energy to millions of households. During the day, the bright spots of light formed on the top of the heat-absorbing towers of the power station can be seen dozens of kilometers away, becoming a local scene.

The car parked on the side of the road outside the photoelectric park, and flew to a height of 100 meters to overlook the entire park, full of sense of technology! The sci-fi works of Kubrick, Ridley Scott, Villeneuve and other movie masters instantly appeared in front of my eyes~ I woke up from the dream for a while, and the security guard of the garden came over and yelled, "I don't know that flying is not allowed here. Is it a human-machine..." (Later, my friend suggested not to fly a drone here, so as not to get into unnecessary trouble)

We drove into Boluo Zhuanjing Town, the old county town of Aksai, before dusk. This is the filming location of a series of familiar movies such as "West Wind", "Hongmen Banquet" and "Nine-story Demon Tower". According to online information: People came to live on this land in the late 1970s. The Altun Mountains around the county seat contain a lot of minerals and radioactive elements. There are many radioactive elements harmful to human body in people's daily drinking water. Since 1998, the county seat has gradually moved to the plains tens of kilometers away, and this small town has gradually become abandoned.

Knowing that I will come to this scenic spot that day, I deliberately stayed up late the night before and read "Nine-story Demon Tower". I was not disappointed when I walked into the scenic spot, and the scene in the movie was preserved intact. When we arrived, there were not many tourists, and it felt more substituting than the Westward Journey Film and Television City in Yinchuan. The electronic howls of these fake red jackals on the street kept coming and going. When I first arrived, I felt a little bit of a show. When the sky darkened, the whole street When it was just me and melo on the street, I felt even more terrifying... I didn't even dare to look at it directly--!

We greeted the management of the scenic spot in advance. We drove out of the scenic spot to have dinner, took a short rest and went into the scenic spot to take pictures of the stars. There were only six of us, Melo's mother and us, walking on the main road of the scenic spot and returning. to the car. There are no other tourists on the street except me and melo, the starry sky is full, and the Milky Way also emerges. The howls of Hongjiu still have no intention of stopping. Is this a 24-hour electronic accompaniment? ! It's not scary during the day, but at night, there is silence around, and there are a few roars from around from time to time, which makes me hesitate in choosing a seat... Maybe the scariest thing is, knowing that something is staring at you, you but dare not look back

"Why are they barking when no one comes at night?" I asked melo, "Why don't we come..."

D3 Heidushan + Russian Boliang 30,000 steps per day occupy the top of the WeChat list

✨09/27 Drive to Heidu Mountain to shoot sunrise 18 kilometers and 25 minutes; drive to the abandoned oil town of Lenghu old base, 7 kilometers and 10 minutes; drive to Mars camp, 96 kilometers and 3 hours and 20 minutes; walk to Erboliang Sulfur Lake, 11.5 kilometers round trip in 4 hours; drive to Mangya City, 296 kilometers, 4 hours and 30 minutes. Live in Mangya City

The funniest scene in the itinerary happened this morning: the entrance of Heidu Mountain is next to the national road, surrounded by long barbed wire fences. When we arrived before sunrise, there were already four or five off-road vehicles waiting at the gate , Seeing that there is still a long way to go all the way to the top of the mountain, we took advantage of parking time to open the small door next to it and walked in first. After walking 30 to 40 meters, we stopped and waited for melo. Carrying a huge camera bag and struggling to climb over the fence (demonstration of uncivilized behavior)... I laughed out loud and shouted: there is a door next to it! ! !

This is said to be the place on earth that most resembles the surface of the moon. As the name suggests, it is completely black at first glance. The mountains and hills are covered with black sand and gravel. There are signs on the roadside saying "Vehicles are prohibited from entering and destroying the ecology", but the road surface The rut marks on the road are still clearly visible, which must have been left before the sign was erected (protecting the ecology starts with us). Probably this place is located in a tuyere. We climbed up the hillside and the wind force was at least seven or eight. We found a place that was sheltered from the wind and flew downhill to fly the drone. We saw the strong wind resistance of Yu2. The height of tens of meters has gradually stabilized.

Leaving Heidu Mountain, continue along G215 about 10 kilometers northeast, and the destination is the site of Lenghu Oil Base on the left side of the road. This is located at the junction of Qinghai, Xinjiang and Gansu, on the northwest edge of the Qaidam Basin. The area is connected to Dachaidan Administrative Region in the east, Aksay Kazak Autonomous County in Gansu to the north, and Ruoqiang County in Bayingoleng Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Xinjiang to the northwest.

This is a small town that has witnessed oil extraction, from booming to declining to abandoned. The roadbed on the street is still there, there are rows of houses, factories, schools and even a movie theater. Walking in it, you can feel the prosperity of the year, but the roofs of all the buildings are basically gone, and many walls can still be seen from the past. slogan.

How prosperous it was in the past, how lonely it is now

Because the itinerary for this day is relatively full, there is not much time left for the oil town in the plan. After aerial photography for a while, I quickly pulled the girl to start portrait creation. There are many natural frames here to facilitate composition. If I can wait until sunset and dusk When the light, will get better shooting effect

Continue to drive along the G315 National Highway, and enter the Mars No. 1 Highway after seeing the "Russian Boliang Yadan Address Park". After about 30 kilometers, you will arrive at the Mars Camp. It is already past one in the afternoon when you drive from the oil town. From a distance, the camp has a sense of technology, as if it really came to the base built by humans on an alien planet in the movie. But in fact, this is a camp built like a space capsule to experience accommodation, including two functions of education, science popularization and travel accommodation.

Some policies about Mars Camp:

1. It is free to open to visit. The specific time depends on the season, and it is generally not open in winter;

2. You can stay in the camp. Space capsule hotels are about 800-1500. The difference between low and peak seasons is quite large. It is recommended to contact us in advance, especially in peak seasons, it is easy to find a room;

3. You can rent a space suit to take pictures, currently it is 500 yuan/half an hour; 800 yuan/1 hour; it is said that it has nearly doubled compared to previous years

4. If you don’t stay, you can’t enter the accommodation capsule area to take pictures, and you can visit in the public area and outdoors.

I still want to experience the feeling of wearing a real spacesuit when I have time, but it’s a bit of a disadvantage to check in and take a selfie. With the headgear around, how can you recognize who is inside?

After visiting the camp, we started to consult the route of hiking Erboliang. There are roughly two options, one is self-driving and the other is walking. Self-driving needs to use the electronic fence system that has just started to be used this year. Install the system equipment on the car to navigate various viewpoints. It is necessary to drive on the specified road. If the yaw device will give a warning to prevent tourists from getting lost, it is convenient for positioning and rescue. The price is 500 yuan per car. When we were hesitating whether the performance of our car could adapt to the road conditions inside, several rescue vehicles in the distance dragged the broken down car that had just been fished out of the scenic spot and drove over... We didn't hesitate in an instant- -!

The noon sun was very bright, and it was the hottest and driest time of the day. We brought simple shooting equipment and water to the hinterland of Erboliang. The camp staff reminded that there are small colorful flags as road signs along the route, as long as you don’t walk rashly You don't have to worry about getting lost.

Erboliang is a Yardang landform formed 75 million years ago. It is not only the largest wind-eroded soil forest group discovered in China so far, but also one of the largest and most typical Yardang landscapes in the world. It is known as the most Mars-like landscape on earth. The place. Walking into this "devil city", you can feel the uncanny craftsmanship of nature

After walking for more than an hour, a lot of glass-like crystals began to appear on the ground. I didn’t expect such a structure to exist in such a deserted place. Maybe this place used to be a vast ocean. These crystals should be the best evidence.

Who would have thought that in the depths of Erboliang, there is still a golden mysterious fairyland hidden? Walking along the landmarks all the way, it has been more than two hours on foot. In addition, if the weather is hot and dry, if you can’t reach your destination, you are really ready to return. Fortunately, melo flew the drone in time and told everyone that there is a sulfur lake within 200 meters ahead! Turning over this slope must be visible to the naked eye~ Everyone, stick to it! Since then, drones have added the practical function of pathfinding

From the perspective of aerial photography, Sulfur Lake is inlaid in this vast Gobi like a topaz. According to the data, Sulfur Lake is a salt lake. The reason why it is called Sulfur Lake may only be related to its unique color. The color changes due to the change of season and climate, but there is no picture to prove it. It is better to rely on yourself than to listen to others. I hope to have the opportunity to change the season and then verify it.

The return trip follows the original route completely, and I dare not take shortcuts rashly. It is no joke to get lost in the endless Gobi. It was almost five o'clock when we returned to the Mars camp, so we quickly picked up the car and went to the next stop - Mangya Town, where dinner was simply settled in the car

D4 Emerald Lake-Milan Ruins, almost retreated from a car accident

✨ 09/28 Sunrise at Emerald Lake, 24 kilometers and 30 minutes; Milan ruins, 308 kilometers, 6 hours and 20 minutes; drive to Yuli, 324 kilometers, 6 hours.

It is not far from Mangya Town to Emerald Lake, but for the moment of sunrise, we still got up early, packed breakfast and set off facing the moonlight. The first ray of sunlight in the morning reflects the clear blue water of the lake, but it looks like emeralds when viewed from above, like pieces of gems inlaid in the vast Gobi. Perhaps this is where the name "Emerald Lake" comes from.

Mangya Emerald Lake covers an area of ​​about 26 square kilometers, with an average depth of 0.5 meters. It is a magnesium sulfate subtype salt lake. There is a rock salt layer at the bottom, generally 5 meters thick, and the thickest part reaches 9.68 meters. The lake is rich in salts such as lithium, potash, and thenardite. compounds. The high-concentration brine in this salt pond of different sizes, shapes, and depths is called "brine" locally, and it is a mining pit formed after years of salt lake mining.

The color of the lake water and the concentration of minerals in the lake are related to the weather conditions. The color of the Emerald Lake will also be different in different time periods, forming a colorful and magical scene. The light green, emerald green, and dark green lakes add a touch of watery tenderness to Mangya, a post on the Silk Road.

The Emerald Lake at sunrise is so beautiful. After taking aerial photography for a while, I hurriedly asked the girl to change into a white dress. I imagined the beauty of blue and white, but I felt a little less artistic when I took the photo... Looking back at the photos and comparing them, God's perspective makes Under the refraction of light, the lake surface looks extremely pure and has distinct layers, but the flat shot on the ground can only get ordinary color and angle of view

Leaving Mangya Town and arriving at the Milan site is approaching dusk. The newly built operation hall and tickets (100/person) in the scenic spot made everyone somewhat lose interest in visiting. In addition, the previous day's hike to and from Erboliang had already seen the beautiful scenery. Today is a whole day We have been driving all day, and there are still 300 kilometers to go for nearly 5 hours. We finally gave up on this scenic spot and chose to go straight ahead.

There are especially many large trucks on the inter-provincial highway leading to Yuli. In addition, the highway is two-way, two-lane and there is no isolation belt in the middle, which virtually increases the difficulty of driving. Especially at night, there are few street lights on both sides of the road, and the brightness of the oncoming big car lights is very high, which makes us small car drivers miserable, and even very few big car drivers will turn on the high beam headlights instantly when they come head-on, which is extremely dangerous. I hope There are laws that can hold unscrupulous drivers accountable for such behavior. The sudden car accident occurred around ten o'clock in the evening. The melo car was in front of us and our car was following behind. We were driving at a speed of 80-100 mph. From time to time, there were large cars coming from the opposite lane on the left front. When passing an uphill, a white light Passing by the car window, I sat in the co-driver and clearly saw the space with half of the front window of the car. I was occupied by the front of a large truck and passed by for a moment. It wanted to drive into the reverse lane (our lane) and overtake it. The girl subconsciously slammed the steering wheel to the right and then slammed on the brakes. The big truck roared past, leaving us parked on the side of the road for a long time. After a few seconds, I saw the girl with tears in her eyes. I said: "Brother Zhe, it's okay, it's okay..." I was at a loss for words for a while, this kind of experience of escaping death is really terrible, what passes is a story, and what cannot pass is an accident... Afterwards, I always think, if I could have the foresight and know in advance that I will encounter such a scene during this trip, then even if there is a beautiful scenery ahead, I would not go there.

D6/7 Luobu village - Hami 15 people gathered and ready to go

✨09/29 Drive to the village of the Rob people, 100 kilometers and 2 hours; drive to the Lop Nur Grand Canyon, 70 kilometers, 1 hour and 50 minutes; drive to Korla, 58 kilometers, 1 hour and 30 minutes. Stay in Korla

✨09/30 Korla to Shanshan, 461 kilometers in 6 hours and 30 minutes. Drive to Hami, 321 kilometers and 4 hours to stay in Hami.

The Luobu village is located 35 kilometers southwest of Yuli County and 85 kilometers south of Korla City. The village covers an area of ​​72 square kilometers and has more than 20 families. It belongs to the Qiongkule Ranch and is a paradise where the Luobu people live. The village covers the Taklimakan Desert, wandering lakes, the Tarim River, primitive Populus euphratica forests, and grasslands. The largest desert, the longest inland river, the largest green corridor and the Silk Road meet here to form a natural landscape of golden quality.

There is a lake in the village called Goddess Lake. The origin of the name of the lake is said to be very magical: according to legend, the daughter of the tribal chief fell in love with a poor boy, but the patriarch despised the poor boy and firmly opposed the two being together. Later, the water sources around the tribe dried up, and the patriarch had no choice but to claim that whoever could find Haizi would marry his daughter. The poor boy set off to find water, and the water was found, but the poor boy never came back. The patriarch's daughter was remorseful and sad, tears flowed into a small lake, and she herself became the goddess lake. It is said that looking at the Goddess Lake from a high altitude, it looks like a girl. But drones really can't reach the height where you can see the panorama.

The Rob people are the oldest ethnic group in Xinjiang. They live by the Xiaohaizi on the banks of the Tarim River. Folklore, folk songs and stories all have unique artistic value. This is a nation that only eats fish, and the rich nutrition makes many people live forever. Eighty or ninety-year-olds are still good workers, and there is even a hundred-year-old bridegroom.

Arrived in Korla at noon, the local friends of melo entertained us with a feast, and invited us to eat authentic Xinjiang roast lamb, roast lamb chops, strips, naan pit meat...of course, the specialties here are indispensable, Korla pears, winter dates and yogurt

After lunch, I came to the Lop Nur Grand Canyon with the host of the banquet. Under normal circumstances, the scenic spot is closed for maintenance and does not receive tourists. I did not expect that this friend of melo turned out to be a member of the local geological agency who discovered the canyon. Let us have the honor to enter in another name visit. It is said that the main reason for the closure of the business is that there is still a certain risk of rockfall in the canyon, especially in windy weather, the soil layers on both sides of the rock wall are not firm, and the obstacle avoidance area designed to avoid rockfall can be seen during the visit.

Lop Nur Yadan Underground Grand Canyon is a canyon with a long Silk Road culture and a unique geological park. It is 5 kilometers long, 2-40 meters wide, and 10-30 meters deep. , narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. There are more than 10 side valleys on both sides of the canyon, and there are 7 larger ones. The canyon is deep and unpredictable, like an underground palace.

The weather was fine, with no wind and few clouds. The entire canyon was silent and only a few of us visited and walked forward. The strong sunlight illuminated the towering cliffs with sharp edges and corners. Being in the mottled light and shadow among the reddish-brown mountains is full of reverie. The sky is like a blue curtain, forming a beautiful minimalist picture with the canyon.

On the way to Hami, I came across a cotton field along the way. I couldn't help but ran out of the car and wanted to pick some cotton as a souvenir. I was just about to start, but I was bitten back into the car by mosquitoes. I didn't expect it to be October and winter is coming. In the winter season, the local mosquitoes can still be so ferocious.

From Yuli via Shanshan to Hami, basically driving on the highway all day, other friends from Shanghai, Beijing and other places transited through Urumqi to meet us in Hami that day. The accommodation was booked on Ctrip in advance. All the friends arrived in the evening. We met and met at the nearby restaurant downstairs. We also met the leader of the trip to Lop Nur - Brother Chao. Everyone had a good time talking and drinking. It was incomparable Looking forward to the trip to Lop Nur starting tomorrow~

D8 Go to Lop Nur! The team leader led everyone to pick up meteorites and make a fortune

✨10/01 We parked the rented car downstairs in the Hami Hotel, transferred to the off-road team of the local super brother, and started a four-day trip to Lop Nur's no-man's land.

Brother Chao is the Xinjiang tour leader who contacted one month in advance. He has many years of experience in leading Northwest tours. The team provides full board and lodging nanny-level services. There are four passenger vehicles and one pickup truck equipped with inflatable vehicles for this trip. The tent, sleeping bag, generator and full-time chef are responsible for all logistics support such as food and beverages. The cost of the group members is 4000+ yuan per person including all expenses for four days. At 8 o'clock in the morning, the trucks were loaded and refueled. At noon, the Chaoge team invited everyone to have a big plate of chicken, saying that this was the last home-cooked meal before entering the no-man's land. At first, I wondered whether I needed to bring some convenience food, but I found that this was completely unnecessary. The whole lamb baked naan noodles, various fruit drinks and other foods brought by the team were not finished until I left the no-man's land.

Me, Melo, Yatou, and Jacky were in Brother Chao's head car. As soon as we got in the car, we were attracted by this object. This is a car rocker armrest polished by a meteorite! Years of use have made this iron lump as smooth as paste. Brother Chao said that this stone was picked up on the Gobi Desert in Lop Nur. Some people offered hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy it but did not sell it. If you are lucky, maybe you can pick it up too. arrive! The news of picking up gems quickly spread among travel friends, which added a bit of anticipation to this trip.

China's four major uninhabited areas: Lop Nur, Altyn, Hoh Xil and Qiangtang, which are distributed in Qinghai, Tibet and Xinjiang respectively. Among them, Lop Nur is in the northeast of Ruoqiang County. This was once the second largest saltwater lake in China, with an altitude of 780 meters. With an area of ​​about 2400-3000 square kilometers, it is famous in the world because it is located in the ancient Silk Road in the east of the Tarim Basin. About Lop Nur, "Ci Hai" says this: In Mongolian, it is called Lop Nur, which means "into a lake with many waters". In the satellite image, Lop Nur is shaped like a human ear, and is also known as the "Earth's Ear"; because it is extremely dry and the natural environment is extremely harsh, it is also known as the "Sea of ​​Death".

Lop Nur, also known as Lop Nur, means "a lake with many waters" in Mongolian. Its birth date can be traced back to more than 2 million years. Loulan used to be a place where "the water is deep and the waves are deep", and the flood season is "eight or ninety miles long from east to west, and two or three miles wide from north to south". Lop Nur has left too many natural mysteries to the world: it used to be the second largest inland river in China, but now But it has become the "dry pole" of the earth; the ancient Loulan Kingdom with a large population and prosperity, and the throat gateway of the famous "Silk Road" at home and abroad, now only remains a desert composed of circles of salt crusts. Scientists believe that Lop Nur The basic drying up of the lake occurred around 1964. For a long time, the Lop Nur area was considered to be the driest area in the world, which shows how drastic changes in dryness and wetness it has experienced in the evolution of nearly 10,000 years. According to records, the lake has the largest area It can reach 12,000 square kilometers, but by 1942 it had shrunk to 3,006 square kilometers.

In 1964, with the approval of the State Council, China and Japan jointly filmed the film "Silk Road". The film crew hired Peng Jiamu and some other experts as consultants for the "advance team". Scientists had the opportunity to enter the core area of ​​Lop Nur. The Lop Nur Comprehensive Expedition Team was established three times into Lop Nur and conducted a multidisciplinary comprehensive investigation. In addition to searching for potassium salt resources, it also conducted in-depth research on the ecological environment of the area. From 1956 to 1959, the Xinjiang Comprehensive Expedition Team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences entered Lop Nur for the second large-scale investigation. Professionals in geography, hydrogeology, soil, plants, etc. gathered here. They once reached the last dry West Lake of Lop Nur. Once rafting in Lop Nur

There used to be a large-scale ancient city, Loulan, with a large population and a large number of business travelers. Loulan quietly withdrew from the stage of history. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Swedish explorer Sven Hedin had "entered" Lop Nur successively, and discovered the ruins of Loulan by chance. It is a pity that our itinerary does not include routes such as Loulan and Xiaohe Cemetery. It is reported that if you want to enter these areas, you need to pay additional fees. You can only visit with someone with a local government background. The specific cost is about an additional 8000rmb per person. about

After driving along the highway for several hours, the convoy drove from an inconspicuous embankment into the interior of the Gobi and followed the ruts. This is obviously a judgment made by an experienced convoy who knows the route well enough. Near noon we drove to the first resting place—Danan Lake. All the cars were parked in a place sheltered from the wind to rest. While the team leaders were setting up tents to make tea, I asked the girl to put on the white dress again and start shooting mode. Seeing this, Brother Chao took out his Canon Big White Cannon and started shooting. After a few days of getting to know each other, Brother Chao is not only a qualified tour guide, but also a photography enthusiast. Every time he leads a group, he will leave a lot of wonderful things for the members

After taking a nap, the convoy continued to drive deep, heading for the first night's camp: Bailongdui. As you go deeper, the surrounding landscape gradually becomes more spectacular. Crowds of slopes of different shapes look like ocean-going fleets and giant dragons pass behind the car window. Brother Chao told us that this is a typical Yadan landform, and we will camp here tonight. We flew the drone to the highest point we could reach before sunset, and everyone was shocked!

The word "Yadan" comes from the Uighur transliteration meaning "cliff". A large area of ​​Yadan landform is distributed in the north, east and west of Lop Nur, with a total area of ​​about 3,000 square kilometers. It is the second largest Yadan landform distribution area in my country after the northern Qaidam Basin. Regarding the cause of the Yardang landform, it has been considered to be formed under the action of wind erosion in the past, so it is classified as a wind-eroded landform type. However, during the field investigation, scientists found that this view is not complete. In addition to wind, the intermittent rainstorms and floods in the surrounding mountains are also important causes of the Yardang landform.

When the sun went down, we came back from shooting and returned to the convoy. The inflatable tents had been set up. Brother Chao and a few drivers were cooking dinner for everyone. The complete range of equipment allows us to see the professionalism of the Chaoge team. The fuel generator that can supply power to all charging equipment is something I never thought of before the trip. For dinner on the first day, the chef prepared lamb chop soup, naan meat, served with grilled naan, cold dishes, red wine, and various fruit soft drinks...

Drinking hot soup, tasting good wine, and talking happily with everyone, this scene is enough to make everyone forget the troubles in life.

Everyone had a good talk. The first night was very exciting. The dinner ended very late. It was not until the Milky Way rose that some of us photographers thought of rushing to set up a camera. The first drunken outdoor shooting, fortunately, there is no one around here, you can walk away, run away, the camera is set up, and you don’t have to worry about running tens of meters away to do other things, and you can collect it every hour or even tomorrow morning It will be all right

D9 33rd Wedding Anniversary Dinner at Bailongdui

✨10/02 Visit the Great South Lake and stay in Xiaonan Lake

I don’t know who yelled “The sun is coming out” and the zippers of the tents were opened rhythmically. I didn’t bother to wash my face, grabbed my camera and ran outside. I walked out of the tent camp and found that the site for camping last night was very good. Well, the horizon in the distance rises and falls one after another, and there is just a groove in the earth slope to hold the sun up. On the other side, the logistics team has already started to boil water for breakfast. The temperature difference in the morning here is a bit big, and you can even exhale when you open your mouth. After recording the morning scene on the first day of Lop Nur, you can immediately drink a bowl of hot mutton noodle soup. It is very happy one thing.

For breakfast time away from the hustle and bustle of the city, mutton noodle soup with baked naan is a perfect match! The masters were busy boiling water and filling thermos cups for everyone. After breakfast, we only need to pack our belongings. We don’t need to worry about other things like packing tableware and tents.

Coming out of Bailongdui, the convoy rushed onto the road again. On both sides of the endless road is the Gobi, which is connected to the sky. All this is a panoramic view, which is spectacular!

After the highway, the convoy plunged into the Gobi again. If you can find some mobile phone signals on the road from time to time on the first day, as the route deepens on the second day, this place has officially entered the no-signal area at this time, and the road begins to become blurred. In the vast and uninhabited Gobi, there are only ruts marking our trajectory.

The happy thing finally came. The convoy stopped at a sheltered place in the Gobi. Brother Chao told everyone that the meteorite handrail was picked up here. The eyes of the friends lit up instantly and everyone was gearing up. Under the guidance of the accompanying professionals, We quickly learned what kind of stones are valuable, what kind of Gobi jade, and which are just ordinary mudstones... Everyone showed the stones they picked up to the leaders, although most of them were thrown on the ground by the leaders , but they still refused to give up as if they had been beaten with blood, and they never tired of it

The morning sun in the Gobi is shining directly into the eyes, and the bumpy road makes people feel drowsy. There is almost no shade on this road, and occasionally clusters of dry red willows and dead wood will be seen. A small lizard is the only creature encountered during the entire trip these days.

Near dusk, we finally arrived at Xiaonan Lake, which also belongs to the Yadan Group in terms of landform, but it is not quite similar to the ocean-going fleet last night. The team leader chose a sheltered corner to camp, while we excitedly ran out to have fun and take pictures

I thought we were the only tourists here, but I didn’t expect to meet a big brother who was camping here, drinking tea alone in a tent.

The Yadan pillars here in Xiaonan Lake have been carved into various shapes by wind and sand, which are very ghostly. Some are like big mushroom heads, and some are like mummies... The circles of wind-eroded traces, I don’t know what happened How many years of vicissitudes, and how many people pass by to look up

I was looking for a place to take a rest, and I came across this black and mottled boulder, which was incompatible with other surrounding stones. The more it looked, the more it looked like the meteorite described by Brother Chao. I tried to push it with all my strength, but I couldn’t move it. I think it's better to solve the problem immediately and go back to move the rescuers. When I got back to the camp for dinner, the aroma of grilled lamb chops made me forget this discovery for a moment. I didn’t think of such an episode until I went back to the city and looked through the photos.

There are surprises every day during the trip, and this day is especially full of surprises. Before the dinner started, I felt a sense of mystery. Melo’s father told me to prepare the camera in advance, saying that today is a very meaningful day for their husband and wife and let me record the whole process; Prepared, I brought Wuliangye from home that has been brewed for many years, and I was very lucky to pick up a couple of stones when picking up stones. After a full meal, it is natural to sing and dance. Everyone takes turns singing, telling stories, chatting, and drinking. The Milky Way doesn’t even remember when it rose. All immersed in laughter and laughter without sleep~

D10 Crossing the sea lane, spreading wild between heaven and earth

Leaving Xiaonan Lake, today's destination is the highlight of the trip to Lop Nur - Haidao. According to the direction of the map, we went south from Hami two days ago, and today we started to go north from the hinterland, westward. The magical journey is still going on, and the mirage in the desert is waiting ahead

The Dahai Road that is generally said now actually refers to the group of ancient castles in the Dahai Road, which is about 200 kilometers west of Hami and belongs to no-man’s land. "The sea road. The right road goes out of Liuzhong County (now Lukeqin), 1,360 miles southeast to Shazhou (now Dunhuang). There are often quicksands, people go astray, there are springs and wells that are salty and bitter, and there is no grass. Traveling Carrying water and food, walking on sand and stones, traveling and suffering."

According to the records on the Internet: the sea channel was originally a sea. After hundreds of years of land changes, it has been deserted and turned into a Gobi desert. The original underwater world has experienced weathering and sand erosion, leaving a very spectacular Yadan landform. An excellent scene without any artificial carvings. Haidao is the shortest road between Dunhuang - Hami - Turpan in ancient times. Its opening and use began in the Han Dynasty. After the Tang Dynasty, the official use tended to stop, and the sea road gradually faded out of people's vision, becoming an ancient "Silk Road" that stayed in historical memory. Today's sea road is a travel route in Xinjiang that integrates cross-country and adventure

The convoy gradually enters the core area of ​​Haidao, and the Yardang group becomes taller and taller, and it is a hundreds of meters long Yardang group at every turn.

The convoy arrived at Haidao smoothly around 5 o'clock. Although it is already October, the sunset time will be much earlier than that in summer. Fortunately, there is a flat river here until after 7 o'clock in the evening. The sun has not completely set. The friends couldn't wait to fly the drones, and five drones were launched at the same time in an instant. Everyone greeted each other and informed each other of their flight altitudes to avoid mid-air collisions. When the drone rose to an altitude of 200 meters for 360-degree observation, the scene on the mobile phone screen completely conquered me.

The sea road in the lens fulfilled all my fantasies about Lop Nur before I came here. Vast, empty, and boundless, it looks like a vast seabed, and also like an infinite outer space planet in a movie... Thousands of columnar, cone-shaped, and castle-shaped cliffs are intertwined. Under the setting sun, these big guys of various shapes showed a dazzling crimson. The glow of the setting sun shaped these cliffs into golden trophies. The Yadan here is taller, more ghostly, and more majestic than the ones I saw in Erboliang before.

Brother Chao arranged for several masters to make fire and cook food, etc., and took us to climb the nearest Yadan. It took about ten minutes to reach the peak with hands and feet. The wind on the peak gradually increased. This is the situation. Can't help but remind me of the scene in the comic book Dragon Ball when I was a child. Monkey King and Vegeta fought wonderfully on this alien planet. It seemed that I was standing beside them in a trance.

The peak is relatively flat and easy to walk. Some people picked up rocks, and Brother Chao took the Seven Fairies to the other end and turned on the portrait mode. I searched for the best shooting position to shoot sunset time-lapse. I regretted that I was lazy and didn’t bring one more. camera

After taking several time-lapses, I rushed over immediately. At this moment, Emma has changed into the girl’s white dress and is dancing against the sunset. The strong backlight penetrates the black hair and the white gauze, giving the whole person a layer of golden yellow Outline

There is no need to repeat the starry sky of Haidao. You can find good-looking shapes as the foreground everywhere you drive an off-road vehicle. There is silence all around, and the stars all over the sky twinkle and twinkle, as if they are telling us about the history of thousands of years here. I don't want to leave for a long time

DAY11 leaves Lop Nur, the epidemic is coming, run!

✨10/04 Organize equipment and drive out of Lop Nur. Go back to Hami and change your car to Yiwu County.

Hami Drive to Symphony Lake, watch the Kallik Glacier along the way, 129 kilometers, 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Continue to Yiwu County, 41 kilometers and 40 minutes. Live in Yiwu County

After breakfast, while the masters were packing up the tents, Brother Chao mysteriously said that he would take everyone to visit a hidden scenic spot nearby. After turning around a few Yadans, there were two large and small potholes that towered into the sky. Appear in front of you

It is hard to imagine what kind of external force can excavate such a patio from the castle-like Yardang. The nearly 100-meter-high cliff has been eroded layer by layer, like the mille-feuille cakes sold in cake shops... I have also been to Yadan in Qaidam, Yadan in Dunhuang, and Eboliang Yadan... But if you talk about the tallness and majesty of Yadan, the Yadan of Haidao is the number one

As Brother Chao announced the end of the last stone-picking activity, the trip to Lop Nur is coming to an end. We are about to return to Hami and sail to Yiwu County, the junction of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia on the same day

On the way back, I encountered two flying saucer-shaped objects on the horizon. They looked very mysterious from a distance. Brother Chao said they were mirages, but I looked at them as if they were real. I pulled the camera to the longest focal length, and it was still the same. Reality is also fantasy, making it difficult to distinguish reality from reality, ah! Magical Lop Nur~

Before driving out of Lop Nur, the convoy lined up and took this last group photo. Throughout the trip to Lop Nur, it is hard to imagine the consequences of trespassing without the leadership of a professional team. Fortunately, as long as the love of traveling persists, we will always have the opportunity to meet again on the road. Before parting, I made an appointment with Brother Chao to travel together in 2022, the destination - to go deep into Altun Mountain ~ !

The future is promising, the years are light, and there are many beauties and wonderful things in the journey

Why don't you take advantage of the love, drink and talk together, and go to the mountains and seas together~!

Driving out of Hami, we headed north all the way to Yiwu County, from the Gobi desert to the snow-capped meadows. The half-day trip was a day of four seasons. It was so hot in the morning that we wore short sleeves, and we had to put on a sweater in the car at night. down jacket...

follow-up + preview

Just two days before leaving Xinjiang as planned, a new epidemic appeared at the Yili port. We were asked to do nucleic acid tests on the way to Yiwu County. Fortunately, this place is far away from the place where the epidemic occurred, so we entered as scheduled on the same day. After arriving in Inner Mongolia, I lived in Ejina Banner for another three days in the golden autumn of the 11th. I went to some local seasonal scenic spots such as Heicheng strange forest, Juyanhai, and National Populus euphratica Forest Park. I won’t repeat them in this travel note. When I have time in the future, I will open a separate travel report and share it~