The feelings of traveling to the northwest in travel notes

On this trip to the northwest, we started from Lanzhou, went through the people, went to Xining, went through folk music, went along Qilian Mountain to Zhangye, passed through Jiuquan and Jiayuguan, passed through Yumen and Guazhou, all the way to Dunhuang in the northwest, then started from Dunhuang, crossed Mount Aksai, crossed Dangjinshan, entered the Qaidam Basin, then went southeast, passed Golmud to Delingha, visited the Ta 'er Temple in Qinghai Lake, and finally returned to Lanzhou. In just a few days, we went in and out of Gansu and Qinghai provinces twice, with a journey of more than 2,700 kilometers. Although I have long heard of the desolation in the northwest, the harsh natural conditions are unexpected.

Along the way, we experienced the desolation of the vast Gobi, the desert of vast expanse and the colorful Danxia, and marveled at the grotesque landforms of Ya Dan, the Southern Eight Immortals.

From Zhangye to Dunhuang, our car has been driving on Lianhuo Expressway. On both sides of Lianhuo Expressway are the vast Gobi, and in the distance are snow-capped mountains wrapped in silver. The vast Gobi desert is covered with rough gravel, and patches of gray-green plants grow sparsely. There are no animals here. It's really "birds don't shit". Cars drive for dozens or even hundreds of kilometers without seeing villages and people, but they can see power facilities and running trains. In the distance, snow-capped mountains appear in our sight from time to time, and one or two graves occasionally appear on the Gobi desert next to the highway. I guess the construction workers who died here must be buried here.

On the fifth day of our trip, we passed the Eight Immortals in the south of Qinghai. Ya Dan landform is a magical land. The divine power of nature has formed round or long mounds on this khaki Yuan Ye, some like wheat stacks, some like giant steamed buns, and some like pyramids. It is said that the mysterious wind generated by the strange terrain of Nanbaxian, coupled with the local iron-rich rocks and strong geomagnetism, often makes the compass fail, leading to disorientation and getting lost, and is regarded as a ghost town by the world.

Here, I heard a legend: in the 1950s, eight female geologists from the south came here to look for oil, got lost on the way back to the camp because of the bad weather, and finally died here. In memory of these eight female geologists, people call the place where they died "the Southern Eight Immortals".

From Delingha to Xining, take the Chad Expressway. Except that the warning signs along the road are green, both sides are either desert Gobi or saline-alkali land. Inadvertently, I found something silver at the foot of the mountain in the distance. After careful observation, I found that a high-voltage power tower was being set up. Some are lying horizontally on the ground, some are half erected, and some are erected but not connected. These shiny new power towers can be seen hundreds of kilometers away, which shows the vastness of this project.

? In the car, I marveled at the cruelty of nature and the tenacity of human beings. The vast desert Gobi, with large temperature difference, little rainfall and extremely bad living environment. The working conditions of builders can be imagined. Under such conditions, the petroleum development in the northwest of China has developed rapidly, and the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the plateau railway with the highest altitude and the longest route in the world, and the Jingxin Expressway, the longest highway crossing the desert in the world, have been built. After the expressway was completed, Beijing and Xinjiang realized the whole expressway, and the mileage was shortened by 1.3 million. It is hard for us to imagine the hardships in the construction process, but we do realize the convenience and quickness brought to our lives by the completion of oil industry, railways, highways, electric power and water conservancy facilities. While enjoying a better life, we should not forget the builders in the northwest. They slept in the wind, bled and sweated, and dedicated their beautiful youth and even their lives to the vast Gobi Desert. It is because of their selfless dedication that Dunhuang City prospered and Delingha was brightly lit.

The car is driving fast on the highway, and the silver light reflected by the power tower in the distance is still flashing. I am silent and silently pay tribute to the builders in the northwest!