Qinghai Gansu Tour-Day 2 Qinghai Lake-Chaka Salt Lake-Emerald Lake-Dachaidan _2000

At about 8 am on July 24th, we left Qinghai Lake from Heimahe Town and went to Chaka Salt Lake in Qaidam Basin.

Qaidam Basin is one of the three inland basins in China, located in the northwest of Qinghai Province and the northeast of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Arrive at Altun Mountain in the northwest; Southwest to Kunlun Mountain; There is Qilian Mountain in the northeast, covering an area of about 250,000 square kilometers. Inland is rich in iron ore, copper ore, tin ore, salt ore and other minerals, so it is called "cornucopia".

Sitting in the car, the roadside scenery gradually changed from a vast lake to a basin surrounded by mountains. At about 9 o'clock, I entered the Qaidam Basin, surrounded by mountains in the distance. On the flat land, there are countless lakes, large and small, which are basically salt lakes. There are many white salt crystals on the brown soil on the roadside, which shows how amazing the salt reserves here are.

After 1 hour (about 10), we arrived at Chaka Salt Lake.

Chaka Salt Lake is a natural crystalline salt lake located in the south of Chaka Town, Wulan County, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and one of the four major salt lakes in Qaidam Basin. Chaka Salt Lake, which is as famous as Ta 'er Temple, Qinghai Lake and Tianchi Lake in Mengda, is one of the "four scenic spots" in Qinghai, called "the mirror of the sky" in China by travelers, and one of the "55 places that must be visited in a lifetime" in National Tourism Geography magazine.

At this time, there are already many vehicles near Chaka Salt Lake, where the parking lot is very large, but it is basically full (after all, it is the peak season). After getting off the bus, we went to buy tickets near a building similar to a pavilion. Many people in the parking lot sell shoe covers, all of which are plastic (such shoe covers pollute the environment, so we won't sell them), but we don't sell them when we bring them ourselves. The radio in the parking lot said that the scenic spot provides shoe covers, which can be rented for 5 yuan.

After entering the scenic spot, I can choose to take a battery car, a small train or walk, because the small train and the battery car need to sell tickets separately and queue up for half a day, so I choose to walk. Today's weather is fine, but the unique ultraviolet rays in high altitude areas are still very strong, so I can't wear sun protection clothes, but fortunately, the temperature is not particularly high in the morning, and it is passable.

I walked about 1 km and came to a square. There are some shops and some huge salt sculptures in the square. One of them impressed me deeply, that is, the "salt" emperor, who came from the ancient Yan emperor.

If you go in, you can see the lake. The lake is very shallow, and you can see the salt particles at the bottom of the lake, reflecting the blue sky. Why doesn't the salt here melt in the lake? Because the salt in the lake has reached saturation. On the salt surface at the bottom of the lake, there are sometimes many holes, large and small, just like black holes in the universe. The deeper you go, the fewer holes there are (in order to ensure the safety of tourists, places with many holes are closed and you can't go down the lake). At this time, the road under your feet is full of salt, just like the sand by the sea.

In the middle of the road is a train track, and small trains pass by from time to time. The train was crowded with tourists. Walk a few kilometers on the path that goes deep into the lake and you can get down to the lake. Many people sitting on the roadside and standing in the water with shoe covers can see the reflection of the sky and their own. No wonder they are called "mirrors of the sky".

We walked all the way to the end of the path and got into the water. The water is not very deep, less than half of the calf. Many people even walk barefoot on the beach to listen to them. Very comfortable. The water was cold, but because the shoe covers bought online were a little short, I said I couldn't rain too deep, so I took a photo by the lake.

The lake is beautiful, but there are too many people. When we move, the ripples of water waves and the original beautiful water waves combine with the calm lake surface, and all the beauty is broken, as if the mirror in the sky is broken, and the effect of taking pictures is gone, so we will not stay any longer. Return along the path.

We can describe it as "on the spur of the moment, disappointed." In hot summer, we go back. At this time, the water has evaporated at the contact place, leaving only the crystallization of salt, which is very uncomfortable.

After walking out of the scenic spot, there is a commercial street with many shops, including selling Daqing salt (a specialty of Chaka Salt Lake, but at the end of the commercial street, that is, after leaving the scenic spot, there is a shop specializing in selling salt), salt carvings, watermelons and so on.

When we got on the bus, we complained to the driver that this place was crowded and hot. The driver told us that he would take us to a place called Emerald Lake in the afternoon, where there were not so many people and it was more beautiful. Besides, there are no tickets.

Tonight we are going to live in Dachaidan, which is far from the tea card, so we spent another afternoon in the car. However, around 3: 15, I woke up and found that we were already in Gobi.

There are yellow sand on both sides of the road, and there are some low grass, which can't be distinguished. This is my first time to see the Gobi, and I can't help feeling a little excited.

Dachaidan Committee is located in the north-central part of Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, adjacent to Gansu Province in the north and at the northern edge of the world-famous Qaidam Basin. It is one of the earliest developed areas in the Qaidam Basin and an important industrial base in Haixi Prefecture.

At about 6: 30, we arrived in Dachaidan Town, which was much more beautiful than Heimahe Town. We decided to go to Emerald Lake first and then go back to town.

There is a dirt road on the way to Emerald Lake, which shows that the government has not yet developed it. This place is on fire on the Internet, and there are many cars on the road.

Jade Lake is the general name of many colorful brine ponds around Dachaidan Lake in Qinghai Province, and it is still in the initial development and free opening state. The lake area is several kilometers away from Dachaidan Town. In large and small brine ponds, the lake water presents green, blue, yellow, brown and other colors due to the different mineral elements. Against the background of blue sky and white clouds, it is like a piece of beautiful jade scattered in the world.

At 7 o'clock, I arrived at Emerald Lake, which was already full of cars and many people, but it was still less than tea cards. The lakes here are not big, but there are many. People are usually concentrated in the largest lake, while others are less. Compared with tea cards, the lake here lacks the effect of "mirror of the sky", but it is greener, like flawless jade embedded in the Qaidam Basin. Compared with Chaka Salt Lake, which is full of tourists, it is as quiet as an alley in the middle of the night. Only the sound of the wind blowing over the hills looks like pieces of agate jade from the sky, magical and beautiful, just like God's masterpiece. The scenery here is beautiful, and the white clouds in the sky are reflected in the water. I have to say it's really suitable for reflection. So, we have the idea of waiting for the sunset here.

The sunset here is several hours later than that in Beijing. So, we took pictures to kill time. At about 8: 40, the sun finally began to set.

I have to say, the sunset here is different from usual. Although there are not many clouds, it has a unique flavor under the reflection of clear water.

So after watching the sunset, we returned to Dachaidan town. It's already past nine o'clock, and the restaurants in the street are already crowded. We walked around the town several times before we found a place to eat.

Today's dinner is the local specialty Kangguo mutton recommended by the driver's master. We ordered a kilo, and there were many people at night, so serving was particularly slow. When I came up, I found everything in the pot, all fried, mainly potatoes and mutton, which was particularly delicious.

Staying in a hot spring hotel at night is basically the best hotel in town, but in the mountains, you can soak in hot springs for free. The hotel was very good, so we spent the night in the mountains.

Hot recommendation: Emerald