Journey to the Northwest Thirteen | Zhuoer Mountain

There is a Tibetan legend circulating in Babao Town, Qilian County. Zongmu Majama, a beautiful princess of the dragon world, accidentally met the heroic mountain god Ami Dongsu, and the two quickly fell in love. Regardless of violating the rules of heaven, Zongmu Mamama broke through many barriers and lived a happy life with Ami Dongsu without shame. However, the good times did not last long. The Dragon King and his wife firmly opposed their marriage and must take the princess away, otherwise the princess will be severely punished. But the princess Zongmu Majama still insisted on staying in the world, facing Ami Dongsu across the river, and eventually turned into a stone mountain, which is today's Zhuoer Mountain. Ami Dongsu across the river is the Tibetan sacred mountain Niuxin Mountain.

After having the worst breakfast in the most unsatisfactory hotel in the morning, we drove to the scenic spot of Zhuoer Mountain. The scenery here is definitely the style outside the Great Wall. There is no Xiaojiabiyu, no tenderness and sweetness. At first glance, it sounds like Huang Zhong Dalu, and at first glance, it is majestic. In Zhuoer Mountain, you can see the blooming rapeseed flowers, the endless prairie, the pines and cypresses all over the mountains and plains, the sunset-like Danxia landform, and the holy snow-capped mountains. Looking at the endless grassland scenery, I think of Teacher Dedema's song: "A horse galloping on the vast grassland"! When I climbed up to the ruins of the beacon tower of the Western Xia Dynasty in Zhuoer Mountain, I started to feel sour and rotten in my stomach, so I wrote a limerick: "Ascending towards Zhuoer Road to the beams, I can see the Niuxin Mountain across the river. Green pines and green trees The cypresses and mushrooms stand tall, the meadows with green waves are filled with yellow cauliflowers. The beacon fire is strong on the beacon tower, and the danxia rocks reflect the light. I admire Qilian Babao Town and never want to return home."

After leaving Zhuoer Mountain, the next trip is to cross Zhuoer Mountain to Xining, Qinghai. Of course, on the way, we will not forget to visit the famous Menyuan Baili Rapeseed Flower Sea. Chinese people like to talk about imaginary numbers, such as the Yellow River with thousands of miles of sand; such as the rapids falling three thousand feet; such as cloth shoes with thousand-layer soles, thousand-layer cakes, and thousand-layer cakes; and for example, when I reprimand my son, I often say: "Say I’ve told you a hundred times, but I just won’t listen” and so on. So when I heard about Baili Rapeseed Flower Sea, I thought it was an imaginary number. It felt like it should be big, but it was definitely not a hundred miles away. But the reality is such a slap in the face. When you think there is no such thing, others just have it. In Menyuan, Baili Flower Sea is a real number. Especially when the car drives to the top of Daban Mountain with an altitude of 3792 meters, the view of the Menyuan rapeseed flower sea in the distance is unique and spectacular!

Rapeseed flowers are not uncommon. We have seen large tracts of rape flowers in Qinghai Lake, Zhuoer Mountain, and Inner Mongolia along the way. But such spectacular and majestic rape flowers as here in Menyuan, this place is definitely worthy of the title. Ranked first in the country. When you reach the top of Daban Mountain, you can barely see the whole picture of Menyuan rapeseed flowers. You can see that it stretches from Yong'an City in the west to Yulong Beach in the east, with Qilian Mountain in the north and Daban Mountain in the south. It stretches for hundreds of miles, forming a vast area. The golden sea. This golden sea of ​​flowers, along the Haomen River, under the deep blue sky of the plateau, echoes the snowy mountains in the distance. The black river, the white snowy mountains, the blue sky, the golden sea of ​​flowers, this scenery Absolutely unique and spectacular.

Our original plan was to go from Zhuoer Mountain to the Baili Rapeseed Flower Sea in Menyuan, and then go straight to Xining. Then we went from Xining to Yan'an, to Hukou Waterfall, and then back to Beijing. To be honest, the last part of the itinerary was not planned very well before departure, and I did not understand the many irrationalities in it. The more I thought about it, the more inappropriate it became, so I discussed with my wife to change the route to Lanzhou, so that it would be easier to go to Yan'an from Lanzhou. It's a long way to go, and we don't have anything in particular we want to go to in Xining. The main part of our itinerary was actually on the Qinggan-Gansu Ring Road. The way back to Beijing was originally planned as a casual stroll, so we thought it would be a more convenient choice to go to Yan'an. Since we arrived in Yan'an, we stopped by to see the Hukou Waterfall, but this Both places are really not places I really want to go.

The distance from Zhuoer Mountain to Lanzhou is not very far, that is, about 520 kilometers, including about 280 kilometers of high-speed distance. But the remaining 240 kilometers, called the Zhangmeng Line, is definitely a classic route on our trip. The scenery along the way is no less than that of the 315 National Highway in the Qinghai-Gansu Ring Road. But the excitement of driving is far higher than that of National Highway 315. These 240 kilometers are basically winding mountain roads. Along the way, you first have to climb the Jingyangling Pass with an altitude of 3767 meters, then pass through the Baili Rapeseed Flower Sea in Menyuan, and then cross the Daban Mountain Pass with an altitude of 3792 meters. After that, it goes downhill all the way. winding mountain road. The sharp turns and U-turns along the way finally put my sports car to use. I felt that it was easy to control. However, when going down the mountain, there were steep cliffs. Every time the car leaned against the outside, I felt I was afraid of heights, my heart was spinning, and my hands were sweating. Just when we were about to climb up to the Daban Mountain pass, a cow jumped from the mountain onto the road and blocked our way. At that time, I was really worried that it would hit the roof of my car.

At about seven o'clock in the evening, we finally arrived in Lanzhou. If you are not staying in a scenic spot or enjoying a B&B, but just sleep for one night before continuing your journey, then the Mercure Hotel under Huazhu is really a good choice. We booked a family room, and the two large beds slept the four of us without any problems. It later proved that we made the right choice. This was the best day I slept in recently. We ordered takeout as we were approaching the hotel and had it delivered directly to the hotel. It was because of this that I almost made a big mistake. When the hotel was still three kilometers away, the delivery boy had already arrived at the hotel, but he couldn't figure out how to deliver it. I was a little anxious when I heard it, and I drove a little impatiently. I almost hit a pedestrian who ran a red light to cross the road. Fortunately, I was more focused on driving and avoided them in time, but it also made me break out in a cold sweat.