Guide to free travel on the Great Northwest Link

The Great Northwest Link is full of humanistic temperament and charm for many travelers, and everyone can find their own infinite charm and passion here. It is an ideal place for young people to work hard, and a series of beautiful scenery are really amazing.

Arrival and Departure According to our experience in buying air tickets, if the price of air tickets to Xining is relatively high, it is suggested to fly to Lanzhou first and then take the train to Xining. It is said that Lanzhou has many more scenic spots to play than Xining. If you have enough time, you can visit Lanzhou first.

There are enough train tickets from Lanzhou to Xining, but there is a certain distance from the airport to the railway station. Friends who return to Lanzhou from Xining to catch a plane should pay attention to leaving enough time!

The first day of the route of the Great Northwest Link: Ta 'er Temple in Xining

The next day: Ebao, Qilian Zhuo'er Mountain (289 kilometers, 5 hours)

Day 3: Aru Temple and Shandan Military Racecourse (203km, 4.5h, 3000m above sea level).

Day 4: Shandan Army Racecourse, Luanniao Lake, Colorful Danxia in Zhangye and Ganzhou Night Market (23 1km, 4.5h).

Day 5: Jiayuguan and Guazhou in Gansu (570 km, 7 hours)

Day 6: Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and Mingsha Mountain Crescent Spring (30km, 0.5h) Day 7: Water Oil City and Ya Dan (474km, 7.5h).

Day 8: Water Ya Dan, Emerald Lake and Delingha (450km, 7 hours).

Day 9: Chaka Salt Lake and Qinghai Lake (286 kilometers, 5 hours, 3,200 meters above sea level)

Day 10: Riding Qinghai Lake and Xiaobo Lake; Day 1 1 day: Hiking Hu Xiaobo Wetland in Xining (277 km, 5 hours).

Day 1 Xining, as the transportation hub of Qinghai Great Ring Road and Qinghai-Tibet Line, is bound to be an important transit point for our trip, but as a tourist destination, you don't need to spend too much time here. One day is enough. Use this time to go to the most famous Ta 'er Temple and order something delicious.

Ta 'er Temple is still a little far from downtown Xining. Fortunately, taxis in Xining are really cheap, 80-90 yuan for one way, and it's not much money for several friends to share.

Ta 'er Temple is one of the six monasteries of Gelug Sect (Yellow Sect) of Tibetan Buddhism in China. The temple architecture covers the Han Palace and Tibetan flat-topped styles, and creatively combines the China three-eaves style with the whip-hemp wall under the Tibetan eaves to form the architectural complex with the Han-Tibetan artistic style.

Butter sculpture, mural painting and pile embroidery are known as "three wonders of art in Ta 'er Temple", and the largest large-scale sutra hall in Ta 'er Temple, with 168 columns, is the place where lamas concentrate on chanting.

Butter sculpture in the frame

White Pagoda of Ta 'er Temple: Built in 1776, praising the eight great merits of Sakyamuni's life.

(from east to west)

Lotus Pagoda: To commemorate the birth of Sakyamuni, he took seven steps and opened a lotus flower step by step.

Bodhi pagoda: in memory of Sakyamuni's enlightenment.

Four pagodas: in memory of Sakyamuni's first four dharma rounds.

God turned into a tower: in memory of various miracles when Sakyamuni surrendered to heresy.

Descent Tower: In memory of Sakyamuni's falling from the sky.

Rest Tower: Commemorating the dispute between Sakyamuni and other monks.

Victory Tower: To commemorate Sakyamuni's victory over all demons.

Nirvana _ Tower: In memory of Sakyamuni's entering nirvana _, he will never die.

Religious culture is extensive and profound, and what we can understand is limited. If you are particularly interested in Tibetan Buddhism, you can make an appointment to explain it at the entrance of the scenic spot.

Recommended restaurant: The top barbecue restaurant in Xining, Dexiaokang Butcher Shop in Xiao Xin Street, has a small storefront, but there are many places in front of it. Their kang pot is really good.

Day2 set off from Xining in the morning and crossed Qilian Mountain all the way. There are familiar yaks and sheep on the alpine pasture, and there are only a few cars on the empty asphalt road. You can also see patches of rape fields, but the flowering period has passed and it is not so lush. It is said that some local residents deliberately extend the flowering period in order to attract tourists.

Tips: I want to go to the northwest to see rape flowers everywhere, remember to go in July, and we can only see the residual flowers when we go in August.

We live only a few minutes away from the "Tianjing Qilian" Zall Mountain Scenic Area. After 20 minutes of climbing the plank road, we can feel what a window is at a glance.

Desktop, keep shooting. At the Xixia beacon tower on the top of the mountain, you can overlook the whole snow mountain canyon, Tibetan, Hui and Salar villages in 360 degrees, and you can also look up at the majestic and sacred Amidongso Snow Mountain opposite.

Red Danxia landform

The highest elevation of the developed Zall Scenic Area is 3 100 meters.

On the third day, there was a temple on the vast grassland deep in Qilian Mountain-Arou Temple. It stands here quietly, with few tourists passing by and no noise of the city. Just like its name, it is gentle and firm.

After leaving Arou Temple, we came to oberlin Pass at an altitude of 3685 meters. The wind on the pass is very strong, and the temperature in August can make people tremble. Remember to bring down jackets even if you travel around the northwest in summer! In addition, don't do strenuous exercise above 3500m at first to avoid altitude sickness.

After oberlin Pass, we soon came to Biandukou, where we officially left Qinghai and entered Gansu. Hexi corridor is coming towards us. It has beautiful scenery and a long history. Huo Qubing, Zhang Qian and many other names have been lingering in my mind.

Our destination today: Shandan Military Racecourse, a resounding name in Hexi Corridor. More than 2,000 years ago, Huo Qubing drove the Huns to Mobei, and the horse farm built at the northern foot of Qilian Mountain was famous. Now the military horse farm is open to everyone as a tourist attraction, and we also have the opportunity to feel the changes in 2000 at close range.

The last 20 kilometers into the racecourse is height-limited, and the ultra-high car may have to pay attention.

The accommodation and catering facilities in the military horse farm are still a bit rudimentary. There's a restaurant diagonally opposite to our military horse hotel. Dinner and breakfast were settled there the next day. The mushrooms picked up by friends on the grassland were also processed by our boss, but these mushrooms need to be soaked for two hours, so they can only be used as breakfast the next day. It is said that the boss here is from Shanghai. No wonder fish-flavored eggplant is so to our taste.

We live in a small village in a military stable.

There are two times a day to let the horse drink, morning and afternoon. If you can't catch up with the arrival time on the first day, you can catch up with us on the second day.

So we got up early, expecting the shepherd to have a cup of morning tea with a group of horses.

Near the military horse farm is a green meadow, and there is a clear Luan Bird Lake in the distance.

As soon as the bus arrived at Luan Bird Lake, we were deeply attracted by the beautiful scenery. The weather is fine, and the blue mountains are reflected in the lake, which is intoxicating.

If you have time, you can also go for a walk in the canyon by the lake. There is the ruins of the old city of Luan bird, touching the dust thousands of years ago, looking at Qilian Mountain in the distance and feeling the great achievements of ancient generals.

Leaving the military horse farm, we came to another important destination, the colorful Danxia in Zhangye and the palette of the earth. This land is like being covered with gorgeous silks and satins, which makes the originally endless yellow land look so charming.

It is recommended to enter from the east gate, because there are fewer people here than other entrances. You can take the shuttle bus all the way to observation deck No.2 (Colorful Fairy Terrace), then to observation deck 1 (Colorful Sea of Clouds Terrace), then to observation deck No.5 (Colorful Splendid Terrace), and finally to the most beautiful observation deck No.4 (Colorful Sunset Terrace).

Dietary recommendation: Although I don't eat mutton, there are still challenges when I come. After all, people who love mutton recommend the mutton here to me, saying it's not delicious at all. If you don't eat, you always feel something is missing. Lamb chops, hand-grabbed mutton and kebabs have all been tasted. As they say, I don't need too much cumin to cover them up. I can eat mutton with my hands. Therefore, I recommend those friends who don't eat mutton like me to try it when they come to the northwest. Maybe you will love it.

Day5 departs from Zhangye in the morning, along the Hexi Corridor all the way to the west, runs on the longest Lianhuo Expressway, crosses the Gobi Desert, and is in front of the continuous Qilian Mountain Snow Mountain. Since the man named Zhang Qian opened the Silk Road two thousand years ago, whether Wei Qing and Huo Qubing attacked Xiongnu in the north or Xuanzang and Lin Zexu left the Great Wall alone, countless people traveled along this road to the western regions, the Middle East and Europe.

At noon, I arrived at Jiayuguan, the throat town of "the first male pass in the world", which is located at the foot of the majestic snow-capped mountains in Qilian Mountain and the end of the Great Wall in Wan Li. Walking in the footsteps of Lin Zexu and Zuo, I walked out of Jiayuguan Tower and looked back at Xiongguan on the vast Gobi Desert. The majestic atmosphere in the northwest came to my face.

In addition to Lin Zexu and Zuo, there is another person who has to say-Shengfeng, you can see his statue as soon as you enter Jiayuguan. In order to prevent the Mongolian remnants of the Yuan Dynasty from expanding to the northwest, Zhu Yuanzhang sent a prosperous expedition to the west and returned home triumphantly through the Hexi Corridor. He found that the distance between Montenegro and Qilian Mountain was very narrow, only 15km. As long as the customs were built here, the stability of the Ming frontier could be ensured, so he declared to the court to start building the Jiayuguan Great Wall here.

Personally, I don't like this scenic spot. The biggest reason is that the export areas are too commercialized.

Continue along the "Lonely Highway" Lianhuo Expressway, plunge into the vast Gobi and go all the way to Guazhou.

The highlight of the sixth day today is the Mogao Grottoes, so we set off at an emergency in the morning because the time has been arranged. It is said that tickets for the Mogao Grottoes are not easy to buy, so you need to plan your trip in advance and register your tickets. 6,000 A-level tickets are distributed every day at 238 yuan/ticket, and you can visit 8 caves and watch two more theme movies. Class b tickets 12000 yuan/day, 100 yuan/piece, only to visit four caves. During the peak season, it is relatively safe for everyone to grab tickets one month in advance. In addition, it should be noted that tickets for Mogao Grottoes should not be trusted by third-party platforms. At present, there are only official purchase channels.

The Mogao Grottoes was founded in the pre-Qin period of sixteen countries, and has formed a huge scale after several dynasties. With 735 caves, 45,000 square meters of murals and 24 15 clay sculptures, it is the largest and richest Buddhist art site in the world.

There are still many caves that are not allowed to visit.

1900, the cave of sutra storage was first discovered here. Unfortunately, under the historical background of the incompetence of the government in the late Qing Dynasty and the invasion of China by western powers, western explorers such as Stein in Britain and pelliot in France defrauded a large number of cultural relics in the Tibetan Sutra Cave by unfair means, which were collected by public and private collection institutions in various countries, which was a catastrophe in the cultural history of China.

Photography is not allowed in the cave, but only on location.

In addition to the Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang also has an important scenic spot, the Crescent Moon Spring in Mingsha Mountain. Sand dunes are seamlessly connected with the city. I wonder, when the wind is strong, won't the sand flood the city?

At dusk, we climbed the Mingsha Mountain, where we could see the curved crescent spring and the sunset we expected in the desert. It is said that sand dunes are really difficult to climb. It is ok to have a wooden ladder in the first section. In the second paragraph, we climbed one step and slipped half a step. The trekking stick given by my friend didn't help much either. It's really manual work, and climbing to the top of the mountain is a bit awkward.

Crescent Spring is surrounded by Mingsha Mountain, with a length of about 150m and a width of about 50m. It is named because the water is like a crescent moon.

The footprints on the ground will disappear the next day. Look at the stars after sunset.

Day7 bid farewell to Dunhuang, and we continue to gallop in the no-man's land, which is the junction of Gansu, New Zealand and Qinghai provinces and is full of the vastness and vastness of the northwest. Although it is a no-man's land, it is not quite what we expected. The road is well built, but the cell phone doesn't get a signal from time to time.

Today's first destination is Aksai Oil Town, which used to be Kazak County, and there are location shooting of West Wind and Nine-story Demon Tower. There are many fictional and artificial temporary venues where we can shoot our own blockbusters in this abandoned town.

After that, we galloped all the way into the hinterland of Qaidam Basin, passed through a large area of spectacular Ya Dan landform, namely the Ya Dan Group of Nanbaxian, and finally arrived at our destination-Ya Dan on the water in Usute. Ya Dan landform generally refers to wind erosion landform, which is formed by weathering and wind erosion, and is a landform combination with alternating mounds and depressions.

In the no-man's land, there is no sign of Fiona Fang people for dozens to hundreds of kilometers, so we have to go to the toilet in the wild.

The hotel we stayed in today is the only water hotel in Ya Dan Scenic Area, with a good environment. It's getting late after dinner, so I rushed to watch the sunset by bus at the last minute. At that time, the flaming cloud was really beautiful, but the last bus was at 8: 30 and I was kicked out.

On the eighth day, I spent half a day wandering around this unique water scenic spot in Ya Dan. I was lucky to see a group of camels drinking water. It's the first time to see them running so happily. After drinking the water, they went to the endless desert deep in the scenic spot.

After bidding farewell to Ya Dan on the water, we came to Dachaidan Town to explore a jade lake in the Qaidam Basin. It is like a gem on the earth, dotted with colorful colors. When we went there, it was still a wilderness scenic spot. It is said that there is a charge for enclosure now, and it is understandable that the lake is easily polluted when there are many people, and it still needs human intervention to manage it.

This used to be the mining area of the Salt Lake Mining Team of Dachaidan Chemical Plant. After years of salt lake exploitation, it has formed the beautiful appearance we see today. Jade Lake is not a complete lake, but consists of many lakes of different sizes. Due to the different minerals in the salt pond, the color of the lake changes with the direction of sunlight, including green, yellow or blue. Looking down from the sky with a drone is like an agate jade, magical and beautiful.

Leaving Emerald Lake, I arrived at my destination Delingha today, a poetic city because of Haizi (sister, I am in Delingha tonight). After visiting his poetry exhibition hall, I was a little sighed. Why can a person who is about to commit suicide write the poem "Facing the sea, spring blossoms"? This is the contrast. Maybe it's just something he wants to do but can't do. ...

"May you have a lover, and jack shall have Jill, and may you be happy in the world", but he himself fell in love with a girl who didn't love him, and lying on the railroad track was too cruel to himself or the other party.

In addition, if you have enough time, you can also visit a scenic spot that just caught fire in 2002, "China's Maldives"-Dongtai Jinaier Lake. I have never been to this scenic spot personally, so I don't recommend it here.

Dietary recommendation: The first time you eat "boneless beef", as the name implies, you will return the bones after eating, and then count how much beef you have eaten, and the taste is still good.

The name of Day9 Chaka Salt Lake can be regarded as "thunderous" to me. As the saying goes, "The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment". There may have been a Jade Lake before, but seeing this "celestial realm" has lost some new ideas.

If you want to see some tea cards, you can go to its newly developed tea card No.1, where the water is clearer and the artistic conception of the sky is more. The aerial photography in the video below is here.

Due to plate movement, the boundary between the Eurasian plate and the Indian Ocean plate, which was originally covered by seawater, gradually rose to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In the process of its formation, a part of seawater was left in low-lying areas, forming many salt lakes, and tea card is one of them.

Actually, another reason why I don't like tea cards, like Jiayuguan, is too commercial.

Everyone should wear slippers when going to the salt pond, or their feet will be pricked by salt. If you go into the water with a shoe cover, please don't leave the shoe cover under the water, or it will be even more ugly here. It is said that shoe covers are no longer sold in scenic spots. In addition, when walking in the salt lake, you should pay attention to those black holes to avoid stepping on them by mistake. I don't know how deep it is, but it looks scary.

Last night, we finally arrived at Qinghai Lake, the largest lake in China. Living by the lake in Qinghai, you can walk to the lake quickly. In front of you, Qinghai Lake will be like a huge sapphire embedded in the earth, and like an old man full of wisdom, he will communicate with you gently with the sound of patting the lake.

If the weather permits, you might as well get up early to watch the sunrise by the lake and see the wonderful changes in the color of the lake before sunrise. If you have enough time, you can rent a bicycle to ride along the lake and hang prayer flags by the lake to pray for your family. ...

When we were around Qinghai Lake, we found that many places around the lake were blocked by barbed wire. It doesn't seem to be a government act. Some "gatekeepers" charge you a certain fee to get close to the lake, as if they were collecting money in the name of environmental protection. According to some local people, some animals will get caught when they try to cross these barbed wires, and even bleed to death.

Today, our final destination is Baoxiaohu NGO Environmental Protection Base, which is a wetland protection center led by Nanjia teacher. Qinghai Lake, which is slowly desertified, is now lush, thanks to Nanjia.

Day 1 1 Today is the day when we return to Xining. In the morning, under the leadership of Nanjia teachers and daughters, we went hiking in the wetland protected by them. For me, the scenery here is better than the sky of tea cards.

The wetland area of Xiaobo Lake is about 2000 mu, mostly sand dunes undulating along the river. In the 1990s, it was developed into a tourist attraction in Qinghai Lake. Due to over-exploitation, the ecological environment here has been destroyed. After 20 years' management by Nanjia teachers' team, Xiaobo Lake has recovered its original vitality, and the local Xiaobo Lake Protection Station has also been built. We also found the trail of a rare local creature, the black-necked crane, on foot, saying that its trail had disappeared for a long time.