The length from Minfeng to Luntai is 565.66 kilometers, and the speed limit is 80%. Do you punch in?

In the Taklimakan Desert, which has been uninhabited for thousands of years, smart people built the first desert highway from Luntai to Minfeng, passing through 1995, which is now G2 16 National Highway.

In the desert, the yellow sand is all over the sky, and there are people all the way. Miss every street sign and say to yourself: Lop, Cele, Yutian, it's too monotonous.

In the muddy sand and dust, one of the most common things that southern Xinjiang patrolmen do is to lead a big truck with a small car to run on the road with narrow eyes.

The original black asphalt road is often changed into a dress, from dark black to khaki light color, and this layer of clothes is dust. As soon as the wheels pass, countless dust particles fly all over the sky.

In the air, the sand has changed from an invisible to another visible to the naked eye, as if the ions in the space filled the land of southern Xinjiang, and the blue sky that occasionally appeared above the sky was like foggy glasses that could not be seen clearly.

The car has to drive carefully most of the time when scraping sand, and the yellow fog wraps the world.

Fortunately, vehicles like cars can still travel between heaven and earth. I can't imagine how long it will take to change a donkey's head and how much sand I eat in my mouth and narrow my eyes.

My heart began to swell, and my eyes looked anxiously at the roadside or ahead through the yellow sand. Yutian, a place name famous for its roses, began to bloom in the middle and late May. At that time, I always wanted to book a plane ticket to Hotan and go to Yutian to see roses, but I had no resistance to flowers.

It was early July, so it was open, and there were two rows of rose growing areas on the roadside. I'm really excited. It turns out it's always been here.

Yutian rose is also called desert rose.

An oval pink-purple bud, one or one flower, or several flowers stand among the green leaves at the top of the branch. Rose red flowers can't see any difference from roses. Look for a small piece of flower, still lush, and you can smell the fragrance coming from your face. Flower farmers in the distance occasionally wear hats to cover their cheeks, just to stop sandstorms. It's really harder than usual to struggle to pick yellow sand.

These rose teas, which are painstakingly brewed by dust, are yellow-green after brewing, and the petals seem to be reborn and blooming in the new nature under the moisture of water. The rich aroma comes to the nose, and the taste is mellow, sweet but not greasy, and the aftertaste is long.

Outside the county seat, take the desert highway and pass the gas station, fill it up with oil, and finally chat with the staff: "Is the weather here like this every day?" There are eight days in ten days. What should I do? If you are not used to it, you will get used to it, and you will still live. I thought to myself, didn't I ever want to leave here, but I didn't ask. How many people will choose to stay in such a difficult environment if conditions permit?

Soon after, reeds began to appear in bits and pieces on the roadside. Dark green leaves are thick and full, swaying in the wind, welcoming guests from afar with gestures, and then more and more amazed at such a desert. There is such a nourishing oasis on the edge of the sea of death, with white cranes flying in the distance and cattle and sheep grazing by the muddy Yellow River, which is more leisurely than others.

The asphalt road twists and turns until it reaches the entrance to the desert road. Big stone tablets and high plaques all tell us that an important purpose of this trip has arrived.

There are actually four highways in Taklimakan Desert, namely, luntai county to Minfeng County, Alar City to Hotan City, Alar City to Tazhong Town of Qiemo County, and Yuli County to Qiemo County. These roads are undoubtedly the road to happiness for people in southern Xinjiang. After all, as the old saying goes, to get rich, build roads first. Besides, these roads that have to get rich in the desert have shortened the distance between people everywhere to the maximum extent.

Standing at the starting point of the desert highway, the most anticipated stop in the trip to southern Xinjiang, it is great to imagine driving through the longest desert that runs through the flowing sea of death.

It is also the earliest desert highway in China, starting from luntai county in the north, passing through four wells in Lunnan Oilfield, Tarim River, Xiaotang and Tazhong, and reaching Minfeng County in Xinjiang in the south, with a total length of 565.66 kilometers. It is a must-see place for many self-driving in southern Xinjiang. This time it is a retrograde route, from Minfeng to Reversing Platform, then to Kuqa, and the southern section of Duku returns to Yili.

The first section of the road was terrible because of the occasional flooding of the river and the loss of tire pressure afterwards, and the speed was not too fast. A little faster is like a roller coaster, ups and downs.

After several bumps, the road began to become flat and straight. At first, there were tall reeds on the roadside. Later, I gradually saw the red willows, which were dense and tightly clustered together, resisting the invasion of foreign enemies like soldiers. This is a construction technology with strong foundation and thin surface. Nowadays, many places with deserts in Xinjiang can see sand fixation technologies such as reed fences and reed squares.

Plants have grown several people tall, thanks to the uniform cement houses on the roadside, all of which are well houses for drawing water. There are 108 wells every 4 kilometers on the desert highway, and every room is taken care of. They took out groundwater to water the red willows on the roadside, and reeds guarded this desert highway with Guinness World Records, day after day, year after year.

The desert is flowing. Like waves, quicksand will slowly cover the road over time. Without the protection of these plants, the desert highway will disappear in the vast sand sea.

Along the way, I always mistakenly thought that there was a large area of red willow on the roadside. As I walked forward, my vision gradually widened. When I met a primitive sand dune, there was no protection on the roadside, only to find that it was completely different from my imagination, and there was no vegetation on the roadside. It turns out that there is a vast desert outside the red willow, with endless yellow sand, the real sand sea.

The sand is very fine, shining in the occasional sunshine, and the sand sea fluctuates, and one sand dune after another can be seen. Other than that, there is nothing. If you have been walking more than 500 kilometers in such a sand sea without obstructions, you will feel great fear and feel the smallness of human beings and the grandeur of nature involuntarily.

In the past, the speed limit of desert highway was 60 yards, and the road of more than 500 kilometers needed 10 hour even without rest. Later, it was changed to 80 yards.

In half of the local towers, there will be a rest area for passers-by to eat and rest, and there will be a place to stay if they go out late. There is a small village in the middle of the desert. You may wonder why you have to spend so much money to overhaul a road in such a sparsely populated place where no animals live.

First, this desert highway has greatly shortened the distance between Urumqi and Hotan. Second, we should know that the hinterland of Taklimakan Desert contains vast and rich oil and natural gas. In order to transport these resources out, a special passage was opened at 1990, which has been the center of the ancient Silk Road since ancient times. Now it is not only the main battlefield for oil exploration and development, but also greatly promotes the local economic development and attracts many tourists to enjoy its beautiful scenery.

Arriving at the tower, the sun has slowly set and the sky is getting dark. Find a roadside restaurant, actually there are only a few. The food is one third more expensive than outside. Eat in a hurry, there is still half of the trip to catch up.

Shortly after leaving the tower, there will be a checkpoint to record the time passing through here with a small piece of paper. Fortunately, at the next place, the staff will check whether they have crossed over, and there are not many speed-measuring photos all the way, maintaining a constant speed of 80 yards.

As night fell, the desert disappeared, and the vegetation on the roadside became a black shadow in the thick night. Looking up, there is no starlight and no moon, only car lights are left all the way, and occasionally on both sides of the red willow, mice are seen crossing the road to find food.

In the middle of the night, huge plants gradually appeared on the roadside, and then gradually increased. The place where the light passed turned out to be Populus euphratica, so the turntable arrived.