Memories of Journey to the West (2): Mirror of the Sky - Chaka Salt Lake

Chaka Salt Lake is called China's "Mirror of the Sky" by travelers. Together with Kumbum Monastery, Qinghai Lake, and Mengda Tianchi, it is also known as the "Four Great Scenes of Qinghai" and was rated by the National Tourism Geography Magazine. It is one of the "55 places you must visit in your lifetime".

I know that Chaka Salt Lake is a suitable place for taking pictures, firstly from the circle of friends, and secondly because Qianjin and I talked about it. For some time, the girl has fallen in love with photography. She said that you can take photos of reflections on the Chaka Salt Lake.

The first night, we stayed in Chaka Town. The tour guide told us to leave early the next day and specifically told us to wear brightly colored clothes.

"Mo Daojun left early, and there were even more early travelers." When we arrived at the scenic spot the next day, a large number of more enthusiastic tourists arrived at the door.

To enter the scenic spot, you can choose to take a small train for 50 yuan/person one way. The train is narrow gauge, only 60 centimeters wide, and was built for salt mining in the last century. It is now abandoned and developed into a small tourist train, which is quite charming.

There are quite a few people queuing up to wait for the train. Temperatures are cooler in the morning. Looking around, I, wearing short sleeves and shorts, felt out of place among the tightly packed tourists. The tour guide asked us to sit until the end before getting off the bus. This later proved to be a very wise reminder. Because there are fewer people as you go inward, and the scenery becomes more open.

The little train made a loud noise all the way, meandering slowly and leisurely. For tourists walking into the scenic spot along the way, hats and sunglasses are standard equipment. Most of the women wore bright long skirts, long shawls and various colored scarves, fluttering in the wind, showing their gracefulness. Some were fully armed and took extremely good sun protection measures, with no skin or flesh exposed on their bodies. If we were in the Middle East, wouldn't there be terrorists there?

Upon entering the scenic spot, there are salt ponds on the left, varying in size, with extremely shallow water. However, the background is a very close hill and jagged telegraph poles, so the depth of field is too shallow, so there were only a few photographers. The lakes on the right are connected into a large area, showing the vastness and vastness. Every once in a while, a plank road made of wooden boards stretches into the lake, and tourists can go down to the lake from here to take pictures. Along the plank road, there were so many tourists descending into the water that they finally understood the tour guide's joking words - "Chaka Lake".

We didn’t get off the bus until the end. Without thinking, I put on my own slippers and went into the lake. We went straight to a small salt island in the middle of the lake because there were fewer people there.

The water depth of the salt lake is about 20 centimeters. Walking through the water was actually not easy. The rough salt grains got into the slippers, which made the feet very painful. Taking off the shoes to walk was also painful, as if being tortured. There are still methods. Every time you lift your feet, rinse the salt particles in the water before putting your feet up. It's just troublesome.

There are caves in the lake, which should be avoided.

Walking to the lake, the scenery is beautiful. The blue sky, the white lake, the lake and the sky are one and the same. The sun poured down from the sky without any obstruction, but because of the gentle wind, I couldn't feel the heat at all.

The sky is empty, and large clouds are floating above the head, as if you can reach out and touch them. The mountain peaks in the distance are covered with white mist, and the mist flows lightly, vaguely like a dream. Being there is like a dream, and time seems to stand still. Silence, the hustle and bustle gradually fade away, allowing people to temporarily forget the troubles of the world.

The idea is still not finished, so I got to the shore. After putting on our shoes, we decided to walk back and enjoy the scenery along the way. The roadbed is also made of rough salt grains, making you feel like walking on the vast snow.

To go to Chaka Salt Lake, you need good weather. It was rainy and the scenery was greatly reduced. It's raining and you can't see the caves in the lake clearly, so you can't go into the lake.

In August, I meet you - Chaka Salt Lake. The natural and pure beauty is breathtaking.

It seems that we are lucky!