Walking in Tibet (4) - Qinghai-Tibet Line
Compilation time 2022.1.11~24
After resting in the holy city for two days, that is, on the last day of June, the car drove slowly past the Potala Palace Square. I looked up at the highest and largest palace in the world, thinking about a cycle year, the second time Stepping into Lhasa was something I had never thought of. I was sitting by the computer recalling these things. We have already entered Tibet three times, so I never thought about it. That's why Mei Li wrote "Tibet Is a Poison and an Antidote". What are you doing in the Holy Land? I often ask myself. Is it understanding impermanence? All things are impermanent, just like the epidemic in Wuhan at the beginning of the year, in an instant, people looked directly at life and death. Facing impermanence directly is indeed painful, but it also forces people to grow. If you know something about impermanence, then you can also gain something from going to the Holy Land.
Put aside impermanence for now. Today is the 16th day of our trip. From now on, we will leave Lhasa and head north along the G109 National Highway. This is a "sky road" that crosses the entire Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and has the highest altitude and the longest route in the world. Is this route dangerous! The Yunnan-Tibet line that looks like ravines, or the southern Sichuan-Tibet line that has mudslides and landslides at any time?
Route: Lhasa → Nagqu → Tanggula Mountain Town → Golmud.
Mileage: 1155km
Fee: 300 yuan per person
Main attractions: Nyainqentanglha Mountain, Tanglha Pass, Tuotuo River, Hoh Xil Tibetan Antelope Observation Deck, Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve Sonanda Protection Station, Kunlun Pass
1Lhasa→Naqu
Depart Lhasa at 8:40, cross Dangqu River and enter G109 National Highway at 9:30. Wow, wow, the sky in Tibet, the clouds in Tibet, you will never be able to describe what the cloud looks like, it changes and envelops you or you follow it, watching it float in front of and behind your car; the land is boundless. Today, when we have run seven lines into Tibet, the Qinghai-Tibet line is the most expansive, and it is indeed China's No.1. Think about it: on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as the "third level" of the "roof of the world", how vast it is. It starts from the western section of the Qinling Mountains in the east, extends to the Himalayas in the south, extends to the Pamirs in the west, and extends to the Kunlun Mountains in the north. Jinqilian Mountains covers an area of 2.5 million square kilometers. On the roof of the world with an average altitude of more than 4,500 meters, an asphalt road from Xining, Qinghai to Lhasa is built. However, this secondary road is all built on the alpine permafrost. , so it has also become the first road in the world to be paved with black asphalt grade in the alpine permafrost region. Han Hong's song "Heavenly Road" interprets the magic of this road. At this time, the car played non-stop: "I stood in the Qingqing pasture in the early morning, and saw the eagle wearing the glow... It is a magical road to the sky, sending the warmth of the world to the frontier..." I listened to the song Taking photos, the altitude of 4,500 meters did not pose any threat to me. At this time, my head was not dizzy and my ears were not ringing. Haha, the full-screen magical road winds under the blue sky and white clouds.
The road is good, and I ran forward happily. Look at the cars parked in front of you, oh, the Nyainqentanglha Observation Deck is here, pull over and park your car, and look at this sacred mountain from afar: In Tibetan areas, especially on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, I especially love those continuous The undulating mountains, which are connected and surrounded by numerous deserts, basins, valleys and lakes, are majestic and arrogant, so Tibetans regard them as the incarnation of gods for blessing. The Nyainqentanglha Mountains are all located in Tibet. The mountains start from Namtso Lake in the west to Bomi County in the east. They are about 1,400 kilometers long from east to west, with an average altitude of about 6,000 meters. Its main peak, Nyainqentanglha Mountain, is 7,162 meters above sea level. Prairie God".
Leaving the viewing platform, the car ran forward again like a wild horse. But don't be complacent, just as the travel writer Hongchen warned in "Cross-Roading and Crossing Tibet", the Qinghai-Tibet line with the safest and best road conditions is the "death line" with the most car accidents. Vigilance, vigilance, this is another story. Just like: a good road makes people paralyzed; a good life often makes people discouraged. Look at the road surface in the picture below. It is undulating, sometimes uplifted and sometimes sunken. This is unique to the alpine permafrost. The car here needs to float up and down according to the radius of curvature, which is a bit like a roller coaster. Otherwise, it will bump up and down. I feel uncomfortable. The car ran for another three hours, I was hungry, and the car needed to take a break, so I pulled over quickly, drank some hot tea, ate a piece of bread, and took a beautiful photo on the famous Qinghai-Tibet Railway!
The road was very good today, and the weather was strong. I arrived at Naqu Sanyi Hotel at 16:23 in the afternoon. After settling in, I walked out of the hotel and found an elegant shop. I don’t know what the name of the shop means. I only know that it is Muslim cuisine, with a piece of bread on top. It's not easy until now. Let's have a grilled lamb chops and a plate of fried noodles to spoil the tired body and mind.
2. Nagqu→Tanggula Mountain Town
A bell rang, oh, it’s 6:30, look at the phone, oh, 7.1, the first day of July, the party’s birthday, interesting, just take this opportunity to cross the Tanggula Pass, the highest point on the Qinghai-Tibet line, which is 5231 meters above sea level, for inspection Check your tolerance.
The breakfast at the hotel was good. I sat down in the co-pilot seat at 7:40 after eating and drinking. I looked at Mr. H's face and it seemed to be normal. He said that the headache subsided in the middle of the night after he slept well last night. In Nagqu at an altitude of 4,500 meters, everyone's high reaction is different: he has a headache and lethargy, but I sleep less and become hyperactive.
The road is still the continuation of yesterday's road; the sky is still blue sky and white clouds. Han Hong's "Heavenly Road" is still playing in the car, Tianlu walks the sky, looking at the vast land, the road is under your feet, if you don't advance, you will retreat, life can only move forward!
The car ran for three hours, oh, ahead, the snow-capped mountains should be the famous Tanggula Mountains. I don’t know how many times I have drawn this mountain range in sketches, imagining its majesty and majesty. When standing on the Qinghai-Tibet Line at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters and looking at Tanggula Mountain at an altitude of 6,000 meters, it is still magnificent, so Tibetan It is called "the mountain on the plateau". This magical mountain range across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the birthplace of the Yangtze River that I have seen in textbooks since I was a child. It develops into the Yangtze River and Lancang River in the north, and the Nu River in the south. It can be seen that The name of this mountain range is that it runs from east to west, and its western end goes deep into Qiangtang, which is the boundary mountain between Tibet and Qinghai Province. After crossing the mountain, it is the boundary of Qinghai Province.
The car continued to move forward, and arrived at Tanggula Mountain Pass 1 hour later. It is 5231 meters above sea level, which is the highest point since our trip and the highest point on the Qinghai-Tibet Line. The altitude is 5,231 meters, and it is easy to challenge 5,231 meters. There is no tiredness but excitement. Let’s start to go crazy: for a while, scissors hands, for a while for throwing hats, for a while, raising hands and stretching legs. Invincible heroism.
With a heroic mood, I still listened to Han Hong's more heroic "Road to Heaven" and continued to move forward. At 16:17, I arrived at the junction of Qinghai and Tibet. Well, I have passed through the Tanggula Mountains and entered Qinghai Province. Get off the bus and take a photo with this iconic archway! "Welcome to Tibet again" will be true. In a few days, we will step into Tibet again and walk on the ancient Tang-Tibet road. This is the content of the later chapters. Arrive at Tanggula Mountain Town at 16:56 and check into Golmud Anya Boutique Hotel.
When I came to Tanggula Mountain Town, I realized how busy this Qinghai-Tibet line was built in 1954. There are many large trucks coming and going. This is also a distribution center. The trucks parked on the side of the road even squeezed the 109 National Highway, which is being expanded. It's leaking. The Tuotuo River, the source of the Yangtze River, is just one kilometer away from where we live. After seeing the dusty road, let’s go, let’s not go. Hurry up to the small restaurant next to the hotel. He has beef noodles and I have egg noodles. Finished the day's meal.
3. Tanggula Mountain Town → Golmud
Whoa, whoa, it's so cold! Wearing a down jacket with head folded and arms folded, I rushed to the breakfast shop next to the hotel. The shop was so warm, and the briquettes stove was burning. Just like what Hongchen mentioned above said, winter clothes should be prepared even in summer. It is very warm and enjoyable to eat hot noodles without wearing a cotton-padded jacket and roasting on the fire. It also stores a lot of energy for rushing to the Qinghai-Tibet line again.
Start the engine at 7:15, turn right out of the hotel and come to the gas station. Today, you enter the no-man’s land in Hoh Xil. If you want to eat enough, the car needs to refuel. He Daqiao, why come to Tanggula Mountain Town, isn’t it just to see the Tuotuo River? I saw that the sky is blue, the water is blue, and the Tuotuo River flows quietly, gently and windingly towards the Yangtze River in the distance. This is really "a trickle of water converges into the sea, and a little bit of dust accumulates into a mountain".
Just look at the Tuotuo River, the road is still the same as yesterday, the car continued to bump along the Qinghai-Tibet line, only a few minutes before the camera was taken out, three Tibetan antelopes ran across the road, this is the treasure of Hoh Xil , Don’t you just want to see it here! Unfortunately, even the Tibetan antelope ran past it without seeing its most striking white buttocks. Fortunately, I snapped a photo with my mobile phone, and when I came back to take a closer look, the Tibetan antelope really had two striking white buttocks.
The name "Kekexil" is very romantic. Even if you have crossed the Tanggula Mountains and entered the Hoh Xil area, the greenery is getting less and less, the wind and sand are getting bigger and bigger, and the barrenness is everywhere. This "Kehexil" can't be compared with the Tibetan word "beautiful green mountains" and Mongolian. The phrase "beautiful girl" is associated! Because of the high altitude and harsh living environment here, it has not been polluted and destroyed by humans, so people may be lucky enough to see Tibetan antelopes when passing through the Hoh Xil no-man's land. I was holding the camera and holding the phone with my eyes wide open looking for the prey. Hey, I saw Tibetan wild donkeys from a distance. Wild donkeys are very alert to humans. Cars need to slide slowly to see them clearly, but not all cars They all have such patience, like a car whizzing by, they kicked and ran into the distance, so we have never been able to photograph their tall, tall and fit bodies.
The car continued to move forward, and there were always gray mountains and degraded grasslands in front of it. There were no people, and occasionally there were one or two cars. It was really no man's land. Those living creatures, after passing this village, there is no such shop anymore, no matter how wide I open my eyes, I still haven't seen them. Oh, after more than an hour, I saw some popular places. I took a closer look at the viewing platform of "Hoh Xil Tibetan Antelope". See, not everyone gets to see this baby, we're lucky. People should be content.
Since I haven't seen the sheep's hooves, I won't bother here. According to Gaode's map, it takes 8 hours to run 411 kilometers today, and we still need to cross the Kunlun Mountain Pass ahead. The task is heavy! Forward.
Opened the "Western Self-Driving Strategy Map" that I bought yesterday and checked the strategy again. Hey, we have almost arrived at "Wudaoliang". Why haven't we seen a place that can provide accommodation and food? Let's just keep driving. After an hour I came to the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve next to the road, that is, the Sonam Dajie Protection Station. Well, you can park here, so quickly find a shelter from the wind, lift the rear cover, and make a self-heating meal. This self-heating meal is very convenient , in this wilderness, hungry and cold, it is a blessing to be able to eat hot food. At this time, with the back against the wall, blocking the wind, I buried myself in a quick meal. Looking at my watch, it is already 13:00 in the afternoon, and I have only run halfway, and there are still more than 200 kilometers left. Don't dawdle, drive quickly and run again.
After eating, I feel a little drowsy. Outside the window is still barren and not a single blade of grass grows, and I feel drowsy. I vaguely go uphill and downhill, turn a corner and go uphill again. Oh, the heavy rain is coming, and the surroundings are noisy, the sound of rumbling trucks The visibility was extremely low, and I woke up suddenly. Oh, this is one of the road sections marked in red letters on the map as "there are many trucks, hidden dangers". Who is not afraid of death, so I nervously posted I opened my eyes wide open and wished I could see through the layers of rain and fog. Hey, it's snowing outside one after another. It is said that Kunlun Mountain is severely cold in four seasons. It is true that there are still snowflakes in July at this time.
The two of them stared at the front with all four eyes, let the truck avoid this one, and finally dawdled to the Kunlun Mountain pass, which is 4,767 meters above sea level and is a major pass on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, named after the valley pass. I have been writing here for a long time: when visiting the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, whether to write or not to write what I have seen and heard is always swaying. If you don't write, you will be relaxed and comfortable, and you can play OK; if you write, you can think again and again, which is an opportunity to accumulate knowledge or tutoring. For example, the picture below: Why is there a statue and monument standing on the pass of Kunlun Mountain, which is the "ancestor of Wanshan" and "ancestor of dragon veins". At that time, I didn’t have time to take a closer look, so I sat by the computer and looked at the scene below. I searched Baidu with doubts: Oh, it happened in the 1990s. The martyr under the gun: It was a night in January 1994. Sonam Dajie, then Secretary of the Party Committee of Suojia Township, led four team members to capture 20 poachers in Hoh Xil, and seized 7 vehicles and 1,800 Tibetan antelopes Pi, was attacked by gangsters while escorting gangsters to Taiyang Lake (Tibetan antelopes cross the Qinghai-Tibet line every June to July to give birth to Taiyang Lake, Hoh Xil Lake, and Zhuonai Lake), and his life will always be fixed at 40 years old, in Hoh Xil . After his death, his ashes were scattered on the shore of Sun Lake in Hoh Xil and on the Kunlun Mountain Pass where I was standing. Seeing this, more than a thousand bloody Tibetan antelope skins appeared in front of my eyes again. Who would not be moved by this statue holding a Tibetan antelope cub with its head held high at the Kunlun Mountain Pass? Just imagine, if you just finish swimming and don't think about it, then the meaning of travel will be lost. As far as I am concerned, I am still used to tutoring this knowledge, otherwise January 21, 2022 will be another day of confusion for me. After all, our era should be an era of advocating heroes.
The last wish of the hero Sonam Dajie has been fulfilled: the country has established the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve, and the Kunlun Mountains have also been included in the World Geopark. (2020.7.02-14:40)
From the warm car to the snowy pass, it was cold, and I didn’t see the vast Kunlun clearly, so I took a few photos with a check-in mentality and fled back to the car. At this point, there is only regret.
Kunlun Mountains Global Geopark (2020.7.02-14:40 taken by mobile phone)
After passing the Kunlun Mountain Pass, the snow stopped, the rain stopped, and I woke up. I didn’t have any impression of the vast Kunlun, but, on the tens of kilometers that will enter the city of Golmud, the unknown I am impressed by the mountains: the gray sky, the bare, reddish-brown continuous mountains, no grass grows, no matter how you look at it, it looks like a human body, either facing the sky, or lying on your side.
We entered the Nanshan Pass checkpoint in a long line. Mr.H’s strategy said that there was a serious traffic jam, which is true. Thank God, we walked for more than 11 hours today, and finally arrived at today’s accommodation at 18:30—Hanting Hotel .
It's time to hunt for food after leaving the hotel. Oh, that gray sky and earth. "Golmud" is a Mongolian phonetic translation, which means a place with dense rivers, where there are no rivers, but only bare mountains and deserts. Yes, the city of Golmud is located in the west of Qinghai Province, in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and on the alluvial plain of the Golmud River in the south-central Qaidam Basin. Isn’t it just a barren mountain and a desert? Sitting down in a small shop in the wind, order a bowl of wontons and a bowl of noodles for a Roujiamo to settle the battle.
About 50 kilometers away from the hotel is the Chaerhan Salt Lake Scenic Spot, which is known as the largest salt lake in China. To go, not to go, entangled. Go, at this time, affected by the epidemic, the Salt Lake Museum is closed, and the most wonderful "Wanzhang Salt Bridge" can only be viewed from a distance but not in person; if you don't go, it is close at hand. Hey, I spent the whole night in entanglement.
Early in the morning, I woke up again between going and not going. After breakfast, we went out to look at the sky again. It was cloudy, and the sky helped us make up our final decision—not to go. This kind of weather, the green salt water and the white land cannot show its beauty.
The bare mountains around Golmud (2020.7.03-13:13 Take photos with the mobile phone)
4. Golmud → Maduo County
Once I gave up the idea of going to the Chaerhan Salt Lake Scenic Area, I became more relaxed, and started the engine at 9 o'clock, and set off!
The Qinghai-Tibet line generally takes Golmud as the coordinate point, the section from Golmud to Lhasa is the southern section of the Qinghai-Tibet line, and the section from the north of Golmud to Xining is the eastern section of the Qinghai-Tibet line. Along the east section, we can reach the Chaka Salt Lake, which is known as the "mirror of the sky". We have traveled many times in this section, and then turned the steering wheel to the right to leave the G109 Qinghai-Tibet Line. So far, our Qinghai-Tibet Line has been completed.
Travel Information:
D16 Tuesday, June 30, 2020, sunny day Lhasa→Yangbajing→Dangxiong→Naqu 329km 7.5h 8:40~16:23
Depart Lhasa at 8:40, and have dinner at Yiliang Temple in Jiayuguan, fried noodles with barbecued meat and covered bowl of tea at 170 yuan.
16:23 Stay in Naqu Sanyi Hotel 298 yuan / standard room (including two breakfasts)
D17 Wednesday, July 1, 2020 Sunny day Naqu → Amdo → Tanggula Pass → Tanggula Mountain Town 411km 9h16m 7:40~16:56
Breakfast at the hotel, departure at 7:40, refueling 322 yuan, arrival at Tanggula Mountain Town at 16:56, dinner (beef noodles and egg noodles) 45 yuan
Stay in Golmud Anya Boutique Hotel 160 yuan per standard room
D18 Thursday, July 2, 2020, sunny, rainy and snowy Tanggula Town → Tuotuo River → Kunlun Mountain Pass → Golmud 415km 11h15m
After breakfast, depart at 7:15 and arrive at Golmud Hanting Hotel (West Bayi Road) at 18:30. Dinner (roujiamo, noodles, wonton) 44 yuan
Stay in Hanting Hotel (West Bayi Road Branch) Anya Boutique Hotel 149 yuan / standard room (including early morning)
D19 Golmud on a cloudy day on Friday, July 3, 2020 → Maduo 576km 7h50m
After breakfast, depart at 9:00 and arrive at Maduoling Inn at 16:50. Dinner (Jiuding beef noodles) 94 yuan
CNY 200 for staying at Maduoling Inn
