Hiking in Kalajun (08): Kazakh old man’s yurt

We have entered the fourth day of hiking, and we are already halfway through the hiking trip. In addition, everyone had a good rest the day before. Everyone took a shower, most people also washed their clothes, and my shoes were dried. There are cars in Tarim that can reach the county seat and then go where you want to go. Although Guanzi communicated one by one, Yu'er and other 6 people decided to terminate this hike due to physical factors. From here to Yining, we can travel freely. From 25 people to 19 people.
The blisters on my feet are now very big, the largest one is 4*5 centimeters, and they are bulging. Long Long specially emphasized to me not to pop them by myself to avoid infection. Long Long, who is a military doctor, He claimed to be a Mongolian doctor all the way, but he was not particular about it. We often joked that he was a fake doctor. It was rare that I could sleep in, so the boy ran out early again. After a while, I bought some pastries and waited for him to come back. I said, I wonder if there are any eggs for sale. The ones we brought with us in Yining were all broken on the first night of hiking. , had to throw it away, he ran out again, and after a while, he really came back with eggs.
The weather was a bit cloudy and stuffy. At about 9 o'clock, the team set off. In order to avoid walking, we gave up the plan of walking about 2 or 3 miles in the opposite direction and then onto the main road, and chose the shortcut to go straight. The Tarim River, let me call it that, is flowing quietly. The river bed is not very obvious. It is a natural transition formed by the slopes on both sides. The areas without water flow are covered with grass. The river bed is pebbles. It should be a long-term There are many big trees left behind by the flood. There are a lot more people here than the previous two days, but the quality of the grassland is much worse. There are a lot of grasses that we think of as weeds. They grow very tall and in clumps, making the grass slopes look a bit like leprous. Among them There is a plant that looks like a nettle. When the leaves touch the skin, it will give people a burning sting. Even if they are separated by thin clothes, they will feel that way. Lao Bai walked in the front, the first One person experienced this feeling and quickly told everyone not to mess with it, but almost everyone still experienced this feeling, and the more you scratched, the more serious the injury was. I have been stung by similar grass before, so, I I also quickly told everyone to hold back and not scratch.

Starting from Tarim, we entered the mountainous area. It was not as majestic as the prairie of the previous few days. The light was not good today and it felt a bit dull. The team climbed up the hillside in a fan shape. After a while, everyone was dripping with sweat, and almost everyone started drinking water early. After more than an hour of hard work, including resting on a flat spot halfway up the hillside, everyone reached the main road and breathed a sigh of relief.
The road is relatively wide, but not very smooth. There are many grooves washed out by water in the middle of the road. It will be difficult for a car to walk, but trucks, tractors and even off-road vehicles can walk on it. There is a lot of loose soil on the road. In many places, people can pick it up when they walk there. When a car passes by, it will definitely be all over the place. The road climbed up the mountain a little more, and then cut across the mountainside, so that we could see the scenery of the valley and the distant mountains. We followed this road throughout the day.

The biggest advantage of cloudy days is that there is no sun exposure. The road that cuts across the mountainside allows us to easily appreciate the scenery of one valley after another. The small hills from time to time also bring visual enjoyment. After walking not far, I heard a motorcycle coming from behind. I asked Yangyang, do you want to ride on it? She said she wanted to, and when she looked back, there were two people on the motorcycle, so she said, "It's no longer possible." Long Long, who was walking behind her, still waved to block her, and the motorcycle actually stopped beside him. She saw Long Long communicating there, and I I didn’t wait because I thought it was impossible. After 2-3 minutes, the motorcycle passed by me. Hehe, Yangyang and Longlong were both sitting on the motorcycle. It turned out that the person sitting in the back seat was walking.
From time to time, there are free-range cattle and sheep on the road and on the hillside. They turn around a small ridge and there are two horses galloping high on the top of the ridge. I like this kind of free walking at high altitudes. While still immersed in it, a group of horses roared over from the slope on the other side of the mountain ridge. Behind them was a man riding on horse, dancing with a whip, riding on horse On his back, there was a teenage boy behind him, riding another taller horse. The reins of this horse were pulled by a man. It turned out that the group of horses running over were driven over by this man. The boy Apparently learning horse riding and herding skills. This reminds me of "Hu'er can ride a horse at the age of ten." The toughness of the grassland people is developed since childhood, and "not drunk for a thousand minutes" is a portrayal of their heroic spirit.

The road goes around the ridges and ridges. The distribution of vegetation is bounded by the road, and the difference is relatively large up and down. From the road up to the top of the mountain, it is dominated by tall trees, and there are some sloping grasslands in the lower areas. Below the road, regardless of the ridge It's still a valley, it's all grassland, and the view is very broad.
On the mountains in the distance, there are horses and cows grazing there from time to time. It is very leisurely. There are also occasional houses, white, dotted on the green grass, forming beautiful patterns.
There are several flowers on the side of the road, like some kind of orchids, that happen to grow on the top of a valley. If you lean down and observe from a suitable angle, you will feel like a "orchid in a deep valley", maybe more Many people think that orchids in deep valleys should be hidden at the bottom of the ditch. Why do I think this is more in line with the artistic conception?
After a while, a low-riding truck passed by us, and the motorcycle turned back to pick up his companion. I and two other friends walking behind took a shortcut to where Guanzi and others were. We went to the front, but the rear team came and became the front team. When taking a shortcut, we first went down a slope from the path, then went uphill to the main road. At the bottom of the slope, we met a young man in his 20s who was fixing the fence. He could speak Chinese, so I pointed I asked him whether cows, horses and sheep would eat that kind of large-leaf grass that looked like wild grass. He politely told me that he would eat it too, and he would only eat the leaves of that grass if there was no other grass.

When I met Guanzi, I realized why the team was moving so fast today. The 8 people took the low-riding truck I met in front and left. The only people actually walking on the road were 11 of us. Among them, there was also a man who was deceived by his classmates. It was his first time to walk such a long route. He also had several blisters on his feet. He was limping when he walked. I told him that I also had blisters on my feet. He said he didn't believe it and that my walking looked no different from normal. It was impossible and if it was, it was very small. In fact, my blisters have broken, and they are being squeezed by the soles of my feet. They are already broken, and it hurts when I walk. If I try to move away from them, it looks like I am limping, but the pain is still the same, and it is even more awkward. Just endure it like that and stride forward. The pain will pass and there will be no special feeling anymore.
At 12:30, I came to a valley. The fir trees broke through the scope of the road along the valley and extended downwards. There was a piece of grass among the trees. All the friends in front of me were there, strolling, clouds, etc. There are all there, and there are quite a few streams in the valley, forming small waterfalls or other scenes on the rocks. Yangyang is modeling, and people are taking pictures. As soon as I walked into the grass, I met Wandering, and he told me , the meal was ready, they had already eaten it, and left it for me. Yun Dan and Long Long also greeted me and asked me to come over.
I sat down where they were, took off my shoes and socks, and dried them in the sun. After all, I covered the sweat from my feet, and at the same time I wanted to relax my feet, both on the way here and on the way down. , all rely on it and must be taken good care of. Wan Wan smiled and said that Xiaocao was not hygienic at all. He took off his shoes every time he sat down. Indeed, in the past four days, I took off my shoes every day during my lunch break.
I washed my face, started eating and drinking water. It was all warm and comfortable. When Yangyang saw me arriving, she stopped being her model and came over. She said, "You guys are very fast." As soon as she and Longlong got off the motorcycle, they found that Guanzi had stopped the truck. She continued riding the truck and strolling. Finding that she was not feeling well, he gave her the seat in the driver's cab and strolled up to the carriage. There was no charge for the motorcycle. When the truck arrived, it was also where they were doing their work. They said it was just on the way and could not be collected. Money. They thought we would arrive 2 hours late, but in the end, we arrived in just an hour. We boiled water and made delicious food. She had already slept, and she had taken a lot of photos with Longlong and others. Close-up of the water, I arrived just after being asked by other friends to take pictures.

At 1:15, the team continued to move forward. 20 minutes later, we arrived at the top of an open valley. After confirming the route, we left the main road and went from the path on the slope to the main road on the opposite side. Analyzing from the direction, which road, Not the path we are on now. There is a big bend at the junction of the main road and the small road, and the small road is also relatively steep. I just turned the corner, and Yangyang just came to the main road. Longlong was between me and Yangyang. Suddenly, several horses ran towards us. Yangyang The position was facing the direction of the running horses. As a result, she happily took pictures of the running horses. They were not frightened by the horses. Instead, they were so frightened that they passed around her. One of them almost ran to the slope outside the road boundary. Went down.
Walking down the road, the road surface gradually changed from grass to sand, and the valley turned into a river valley. The road when crossing the river was destroyed by the flood. Fortunately, there were 2 trees that were washed down by the water. The big tree spanned the river. Although it was difficult to walk, it was still passable. However, when I was taking pictures, I wanted to get a better lens. The stone under my feet slipped into the water, which made me drink a lot. The water in the shoes, the shoes that had just been dried were now completely wet.
After crossing the river, the team began to climb up. Later, they simply left the road and walked straight through the weeds along the mountain ridge. This time, everyone was so tired that they walked straight. At about 2:40, everyone arrived again When I'm on the road, I find that it's not worth it, because it takes a lot of effort, but saves not much distance, and the road is very easy to walk. Walking along the road may save both effort and time.

This is another endless prairie. After walking for a long time, the grassland has always been accompanied by the mountains. Although the curves of the grassland are beautiful, it always feels lack of boldness. Now it suddenly becomes clearer, the sky is slightly blue, and I am in a good mood.
The grass on the grassland seems to be getting better, at least there are not many weeds. The herds are wandering on the grassland from a distance. The herdsman family on the opposite hillside has fenced in a heart shape, which is also a sign of success. Everyone captured the object.
Another hillside was climbed, followed by a long and gentle descent. Grasslands and forests appeared alternately. The changing scenery made the distance between the team wider and wider. Lao Bai shortened the two crutches and stuck them on the ground. , and then sat on it, which was his unique skill. Now he sat on the cane at the intersection to show the way to people coming from behind. Lao Bai told me to take the path directly from the bottom of the valley to the hill with the red house on the opposite side, where the team rested.

The red house is on the top of a mountain more than 100 meters high, and there is a watchtower more than 10 or 20 meters high next to it. It is very eye-catching. The valley is also a grassland, and there is a small river at the bottom of the valley with fir trees scattered among it. The scenery is good. On the left, there is a patch of yellow flowers on the opposite hillside. It is very beautiful when paired with green grass, red houses, blue sky, and watchtowers. I want to cut across it a little bit from the lower reaches of the river, and climb halfway up the slope to take pictures. , but before we reached the river bed, there was a swamp. I used a cane to explore it a few times, but I couldn't get through, so I had to turn back. I lost interest in taking pictures.
When we reached the top of the mountain, there was a larger grassland on this side. The slopes at our feet stretched to the river valley. There was also beautiful grassland on the other side of the river, until it was blocked by the mountains. The slopes of the mountains on the opposite side were somewhat undulating, which made it even more moving. a feeling of. Facing the river valley, there are blue sky and white clouds on the left hand side, high mountains with rolling dark clouds on the right hand side, and high mountains with snow on the top of the right front. There is a village and town in the valley below the slope, which is our campsite tonight - Qiaxi.
I put down my bag and said I wanted to go to the top of the observation tower to take a look. When I got to the top, what I saw was not much different from the one below, except that I could see a little further. The surroundings of the tower could be seen directly, so I didn’t have to look back and forth. You can see more fully, but the tower is still a little swaying. The platform is not big in the first place, and most of the space is taken up by the house, leaving very small space for walking. Perhaps this is the difference between being aloof and down to earth.

As soon as I returned to the ground, the team set off again. The Qiaxi grassland brought beautiful enjoyment to everyone, but the dark clouds behind it seemed a bit unfriendly and were getting closer and closer to us. Not far away, I found a pool in the fence, and then I went in with Longlong. Then Yundan, Yangyang, Youlan and others also got in with our help and went to the pool to take pictures. Longlong and I were acting as photographers, commanding several beautiful models to the point where we didn’t know who to listen to. When we got angry, we simply stopped playing and left.
Longlong and others followed the hillside and walked directly down the fence. I took a few more pictures of the scenery before I got up and left. At this time, several people came over, including a 4-5 year old child. I saw that the host was seeing off guests, so I said hello in a friendly way. They are Kazakh herdsmen, and they welcomed us as uninvited guests from Xi'an. I followed them and came out of the gate of the fence. It was large and open, and a toddler could walk out smoothly without any trouble, and the gate was only ajar. It turned out that after a long time of effort, we couldn't get through it at all. It's not needed. I told Longlong and others to come back and come out of the gate. They didn't want to go back, so they continued walking down.
The grassland is beautiful and everyone is enjoying this wonderful time. I also took some photos with my mobile phone and sent them to my friends. Everyone was shocked by the beauty. After a while, it started to rain lightly, and Longlong and others also came over from the fence. The thunder was far behind us, and the dark clouds were also far away. I was still taking pictures and walking leisurely. He had no intention of looking for a poncho or putting away his camera. Yangyang was so anxious that he shouted that it was going to rain and asked me to take measures.

After a while, the light rain stopped, the thunder stopped for the time being, and everyone started taking various beautiful photos again. Suddenly, there were several muffled thunders from behind my head. I looked around and saw, good guys, dark clouds were coming from behind and from the left, and the left one was already in front of us. Lao Bai and I both exclaimed that something bad was going to happen, a heavy rain was coming. I quickly called Longlong, Yangyang, Yundan and others to stop taking pictures and run. There was a house at the bottom of the mountain. Let’s see if we could get there before the rain came. Well, they still didn’t believe it. When they saw Lao Bai and I walking down the mountain quickly, they followed us.
There are several houses at the foot of the hillside. Now we can see clearly. The closest one to us is a brick house with white walls and red roof. Next to the brick house there is a white yurt, which is made of felt and surrounded by A flat, grassy floodplain.
When I arrived, there were already many bags placed under the eaves, and many people were crowded in the room that was not the bedroom. Guanzi was talking to an old man. The raindrops were already falling, although they were not heavy. I walked into the bedroom and put the camera on the cabinet. After a while, Long Long and others came jogging, and after a while the last few people also arrived.
The rain began to get heavier, and the caravan finally arrived. Although there were rainproof measures on the outside of the bags, they certainly couldn’t withstand the rain. The old man asked us to unload the bags and put them in the yurt. There were The wooden floor is more than ten centimeters higher than the outside, so it will definitely not be flooded. The men all went out, handing things over here and picking them up there. In the wind and rain, they quickly put their bags into the yurt. Yangyang waited for the lady to come to help, but the men ran away with the words "Don't make trouble."
The wind wrapped the rain, coming like a mountain. The sky was pitch black and the rain was so dense that it seemed like a white bead curtain. The yurts a few meters away could not be seen clearly. The bags under the eaves were also moved to indoor. The uncle and his two grandsons were also squeezed by everyone and had no place to go. The two grandsons had to huddle in the corner.
Looking at the pouring rain, we were all lucky to have arrived here before the rain. The old man gave us his house to shelter from the rain. Otherwise, it would have been miserable. It was not ordinary. We dared to be caught in the rain for 1-2 minutes. , the whole body must be soaked, and the consequences will be really serious. Lao Bai and I chatted and said that if it rained in Xi'an, the whole city would be flooded in a short while. I said that the rain would stop for an hour at most. A friend said, you are the Dragon King. I can tell you how long it will rain. , I said, this kind of rain usually comes and goes quickly, and it cannot last long. If it lasts for a long time, the water flow in front and behind will gather in one place, and then we can't even think of leaving. I turned around and asked the uncle, can the rain stop in one hour? The uncle said, almost.

After 40 minutes, the rain lightened up and soon stopped. The air was fresher and the grassland was more charming. Longlong and I were looking forward to the rainbow after the rain, but unfortunately it never came. Small puddles formed one after another on the grass. Long Long said, teach me to take reflections. Not to mention, I really learned a lot. To take reflections, you really don’t need a big puddle, as long as it can meet the camera’s viewing angle range. , small pools, and grass beside the water can actually increase the visual effect. It's hard to find a large water pool, but when I found it, the photo showed only the water surface, without the background, it looked dry and lacked charm.
In the evening, we stayed in tents at a farmhouse on the other side of the river. There was one tent for the men and one for the women. When I said goodbye to the uncle, I asked for a group photo. I wanted to remember this person who helped us selflessly.
There were 2 tables outside the tent. It happened that the 5 of us moved to one, and then we found 5 more stools and started cooking dinner. I went to the shop in Qiaotou and bought a bottle of beer for each man and a bottle of beer for each woman. A bottle of fruit vinegar, tomatoes, cucumbers and so on. Later, I went on another trip and bought a large watermelon, cantaloupe, and a zucchini. I said I was going to put it in my camel bag to eat tomorrow.
The dishes were cut by Yun Dan and copied by Wan Xian. The three of us helped. Of course, we had to give some pointers and comment on them.

While eating, the mountains in the distance revealed Wei Ran's face from the clouds. The weather should still be good tomorrow.
After dinner, I packed up my things and took a walk in the night. It was very pleasant, but some starlight was missing.