Plateau Secret: Yuqi Tower Stone, a photographer's paradise.

You can drink koumiss cross-legged in Kirgiz herdsmen's yurts, taste the fragrant milk and meat, listen to the sweet Ku Mu Zi music a

Plateau Secret: Yuqi Tower Stone, a photographer's paradise.

You can drink koumiss cross-legged in Kirgiz herdsmen's yurts, taste the fragrant milk and meat, listen to the sweet Ku Mu Zi music and the profound and ancient pastoral heroic epic Manas, where you can taste ethnic customs, watch ethnic songs and dances, watch sheep racing, experience ethnic crafts and enjoy the beautiful scenery of alpine grasslands. This is the greatest happiness in life.

There is a picturesque summer pasture on the northwest border plateau of the motherland, which is the secret of the western plateau of Xinjiang and a paradise for photographers-Yuqitashi.

In Kirgiz, "Yuqitashi" means "three stones". According to the explanation of local herders, Yuqitashi is a grassland between three snow-capped mountains, all of which are above 4,500 meters above sea level. It is towering into the sky and covered with snow all year round, like three white reservoirs, gestating more than 6,543,800 mu of summer pasture. This natural pasture is more than 200 kilometers away from Wuqia County, Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang, with an average elevation of more than 3,000 meters and grassland coverage rate of 80%. It is the highest summer pasture in southern Xinjiang and the biggest summer resort for people in Kashgar and Zhou Ke.

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Yuqitashi in the morning light

Every summer, herders from all towns and villages bring their cattle here to graze. On the hillside and in the valley, yurts are scattered all over the place. The white one is a sheep, the black one is a yak and the red one is a horse. Shepherds waved whips among the cattle, and rough songs floated on the grassland. In the yurts of Kirgiz herdsmen, the fragrance of milk and meat welcomes guests from afar and attracts photographers from all over the world. I come once a year in different months.

July is the golden season for grazing in Uctas. It was a minibus when I first came here. After I passed Wuqia County, I obviously felt the temperature drop. Entering the Tashi area, the narrow mountain road twists and turns along the way, the rocky road is slippery, and the car tires are punctured by sharp stones, so we have to stop at the border checkpoint to change tires.

The night in July is still very cold. We are enjoying the cool breeze blowing in the valley, listening to the gurgling river sound, greedily breathing the air mixed with the fragrance of grass, eating sweet watermelon with border guards and looking up at the stars and the bright galaxy. ...

In the early morning, before it was fully bright, we were awakened by the sound of yak grazing beside the tent. The whole pasture is shrouded in milky mist, and the grass leaves are covered with crystal dew. The air is fresh and humid, and walking on the grassland in the morning is fascinating.

My friend and I climbed the mountain with a camera tripod to find our own perfect angle and seat. With a religious piety, we greet the rising sun in the orange morning light in the east, let it light up the sky and make the clouds red. Soon, Wan Daoxia's light shone on the grassland. Red gauze curtains, green carpets, white smoke from Kirgiz yurts and winding streams flowing down from distant snow-capped mountains and glaciers decorated the grassland more beautifully.

The Kirgiz shepherds in the distance have driven the sheep to the hillside. The shepherd's cry is as deep and long as a song, and the sound of the sheep grazing is like a wonderful accompaniment. Golden light shines on the sheep, penetrates the fluff and emits golden light; Cattle and sheep pull out long shadows on the grass, like dancing elves on the grassland. We greedily patted and enjoyed the beautiful scenery given by nature until we were hungry and grumbled before returning to the camp, and then made ourselves a hearty breakfast.

At this time, the clear sky in Wan Li is full of cattle and sheep, which makes people feel relaxed and happy. The surrounding peaks are snowy, and the white clouds in the sky are connected with the sheep on the grassland. It's really hard to tell whether it's the sky, the earth, the clouds, the snow or the sheep.

Infinite scenery with dangerous peaks

After eating and drinking enough, some people choose to lie in tents and rest, feeling the breath of nature and leisure; Someone started playing cards and chatting; Children began to chase each other on the grassland, and some even flew kites.

Two friends and I chose to climb the mountain, but the farther we went, the farther we looked. We passed the yurt settlement of Kirgiz herdsmen and visited their homes. The first time I saw them cooking traditional food-yogurt bumps. The hospitable herdsmen invited us to taste this delicious food. For the first time, I saw herders making wool felt by hand, and they piled up cow dung as fuel for hills in pastoral areas. We also communicate with herder's children in Chinese, and bilingual teaching adds a way for these Kirgiz children to communicate with the outside world.

When you climb a mountain in Yuqitashi, you can really appreciate the meaning of "infinite scenery with dangerous peaks". When you climb around this hillside on a narrow path, you can observe all kinds of strange shapes and postures of peaks and strange stones around you from different angles, and you will really marvel at the ingenuity of nature.

Some are like an ink painting, some are like portraits of a couple of men and women, some are like the Sphinx of Egypt, some are like frogs, some are like crocodiles, and some are like castles bearing a thousand years of history ... The green grass on the distant mountains is dotted with black and white cattle and sheep, like a colorful green cloak, draped over the rugged peaks.

As I approached the top of the mountain, I found a flock of birds in the crevice. They made a nest in a crevice, and were disturbed by us. They kept singing, as if to expel us "intruders". I took photos of them in a friendly way and made a detour to find my companions who had reached the summit.

Standing on this mountain peak, the camping ground at the foot of the mountain looks so small. Tents are like colorful flowers, blooming on the green grassland. The herdsmen's yurts have emitted smoke, drawing blue clouds in the sky and being slowly blown away by the cool wind.

Standing on the top of the mountain, enjoying the beautiful scenery that others can't see, we can't help shouting at the campsite heroically. Unfortunately, no matter how loud it was, it was blown away by the wind, leaving no reply.

Just now, the sky was clear in Wan Li, and it was overcast and drizzling in a blink of an eye. We had to run down the hill, and we had to prevent the road from slipping and slipping. When we got back to the tent, we were all soaked, but the sun jumped out of the clouds and it cleared up again.

Plateau secret land

When the sun is about to set, it is the time when the cows are intoxicated by the smell of milk. Cattle and sheep are in the circle, and women and girls coming out of yurts are everywhere calling for their own cows to milk.

Before you come to your senses, those horses roll along the green grassland like colorful deep clouds, leaving you in the same place. And flocks of sheep, like soldiers in charge, flock with the world of mortals.

At that moment, you will understand why many lost pastoral songs can be picked up on this grassland.

The mountains in the distance have been covered with dusk, and the sun shines through the clouds on the mountains and grass slopes not far away, emitting golden light, and the red land is particularly bright at this time. At sunset, even the last ray of light was wrapped in clouds, and night began to fall.

According to the past, the valley should have been quiet and covered with black, and even the light just lit in the yurt will soon go out with the rest of the owner. But our arrival has made this quiet and peaceful valley as noisy as the night market.

Our speakers echoed with popular songs in the valley, and our own generator began to work to supply power and set up light bulbs. Friends danced happily on the grassland, and the lively party attracted the surrounding herdsmen to join in the joyful song and dance scene. Even a few Kirgiz children crowded into the crowd and kept twisting, which was funny and lovely. It was not until one o'clock in the morning that everyone began to disperse slowly.

You can drink koumiss cross-legged in Kirgiz herdsmen's yurts, taste the fragrant milk and meat, listen to the sweet Ku Mu Zi music and the profound and ancient pastoral heroic epic Manas, where you can taste ethnic customs, watch ethnic songs and dances, watch sheep racing, experience ethnic crafts and enjoy the beautiful scenery of alpine grasslands. This is the greatest happiness in life.