Travel Notes | My trip to Hoh Xil (Part 1)

Everyone has his own Hoh Xil in his heart!

Regarding Hoh Xil, even if you have never been there, you have seen it in movies and TV shows; even if you have not seen it, you have at least heard of it; even if you have not heard of it, in your long life, you will always actively or passively Get in touch with information about there…

If all this really didn't happen. That's not important, after all, Hoh Xil is right there, not far or near!

The imaginary Hoh Xil is a wild virgin land, a paradise for Tibetan antelopes, Tibetan wild donkeys, wild yaks, plateau wolves, vultures and other wild animals. It is also a forbidden area and hell for human activities.

The wind there has been blowing for millions of years, the snow there has been falling for millions of years, and the topography there has not changed for millions of years, as if the vicissitudes of the sea have stopped there and the years have frozen there. As the real third pole of the world, the original appearance of the earth is written there!

Don’t forget your original intention and keep moving forward

Whenever I think of Hoh Xil, whenever I see Hoh Xil in the movie, there is always hot blood boiling in my chest, and there is always a roar brewing in my throat; every time I think of Hoh Xil, water from all over the world swells in my eyes, All the love in the world blooms in my heart.

The Hoh Xil area covers a total area of ​​235,000 square kilometers, which is different from the (Qinghai) Hoh Xil Nature Reserve (84,000 square kilometers). These are two different geographical concepts.

The Hoh Xil Nature Reserve is only a part of the Hoh Xil region, which refers to the Hoh Xil Mountains and its nearby basins and hilly areas, mainly distributed in northern Tibet and Qinghai Province, with a small part in Xinjiang. Therefore, it can also be understood that the Qinghai-Tibet Highway and Railway pass through the Hoh Xil area along the eastern edge of the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve.

Today, for the first time, I will travel through the long-awaited legendary Hoh Xil!

It was around seven o'clock in the morning on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and we set off at dawn on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

In one day today, we have to cross the Tanggula Mountains, the Hoh Xil No Man's Land, and the Kunlun Mountains, all the way to Golmud. This is a 700-kilometer-long plateau road trip. The big cars cannot go too fast, so we have to start early!

The weather was a bit gloomy, and the wind from the plateau made people shiver all over. The vast, thick and solid clouds covered the earth, as if they were trying to incubate all life beneath them. The cart drove forward on the empty and straight road, everything around it was silent, and the earth had not yet woken up from its deep sleep.

Kind-hearted fat guy from Baoding

I stared hard, and the fat man from Baoding was also wiping the eye mucus from the corners of his eyes sleepily. It was not easy for the driver of the big truck. They had to complete the journey from Lhasa to Golmud in 2 days. In order to refresh ourselves, and because we are all fellow Hebei fellows, we opened up the conversation and became less tired. The fat guy from Baoding is very talkative, and once he opens his voluble chatter, it is like a torrent of river water.

Fat Brother Baoding left home at the age of 16 to make a living, and left behind his youthful footsteps in the southwest and northwest of China. The hard life and the tempering of life gave Baoding Fat Brother a strong sense of the world and a generous sense of humor. After many years of experience, Baoding Fat Brother finally chose to take root in Golmud and run transportation and delivery services. , living a life of driving on the road on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Baoding talked about the three most unforgettable stories he had during these years on the road:

①Horse bandits in Hongyuan Grassland

That was a story in the 1990s. At a time when the legal system was imperfect and criminal cases of various underworld natures emerged in an endless stream in the mainland, the situation was even worse in the distant Hongyuan Grassland of Aba Prefecture, Sichuan.

In that no-man's land where the Red Army climbed over snow-capped mountains and past grassland, a distant place where even the Kuomintang army had never set foot, the rule of law was far less convincing and deterrent than swords, guns and sticks.

One autumn, it was the season when water and grass were abundant in the Hongyuan grassland. The bus was driving on the dilapidated road. The surrounding grasslands were quiet and lyrical under the blue sky and white clouds. People were either admiring the scenery or closing their eyes on the bus in the sunshine. repose. The slow-moving bus on the grassland shuttles along the rugged and dilapidated road in the picturesque scenery. It is a completely pastoral and peaceful scene.

No one expected that from behind the hills in the distance, a group of Tibetans wearing red hero knots, Tibetan robes, dancing Tibetan knives, and riding tall horses suddenly rushed out. The scene was very much like Zhanshan in the ancient costume TV series The heroes of Liangshan who are kings.

Yes, these are really a group of strong men. But he is not a hero, but a Tibetan horse bandit!

This group of horse bandits walked on the grassland as if they were on the ground, and the dilapidated bus could not outrun them. The horse bandits, with their fat horses and strong horses, waved their long knives and whistled, and forced the bus to stop with a clatter. This gang of more than a dozen people, in addition to a sharp hidden knife, also has four or five long guns.

The big brother who took the lead gave the order, and the two younger brothers came up. Holding a big cloth bag in his hand, he started walking from the driver to the back of the carriage. All the passengers he passed could only obediently throw their watches, gestures, and RMB into it. The horse bandits don't bother to search you. As long as the jewelry and money thrown in by the passengers probably match your wearing status, they usually won't embarrass everyone.

However, there are always accidents. A neatly dressed Han tourist wearing a felt hat did not throw all the money in his pocket at the first time. He was accidentally discovered by two horse bandits, and they directly raised the knife and chopped it off with the hidden knife. He took half of the passenger's arm. Everything happened in an instant. The Tibetan bandits, who barely understood Chinese, averted a murder after the beheaded passenger knelt down and begged for mercy.

After the robbery was completed, the horse bandits took their harvest and rode away on their tall horses. They even fired a few shots into the sky. Their excitement was palpable.

When the horse bandits disappeared, the frightened people came to their senses and quickly helped the injured person to simply bandage his wounds. Fat Brother accelerated and drove ahead. It took two hours to arrive at the nearest township clinic. , the man whose arm was cut off did not die from excessive blood loss.

These scenes that I thought I could only see on TV, Fat Brother experienced once in person, which made me dumbfounded. It was really an era of blood and fire, and it was also an era of fighting for life on the edge of a knife.

②The night surrounded by wolves

In early 2000, Fat Brother was driving his car to the Yili region of Xinjiang. One night the car broke down and it was already late. We were repairing the car in the mountains of Yili area. While we were repairing the car, we suddenly noticed a group of small lanterns surrounding us.

When Fat Brother and his companions came to their senses, their legs and feet were trembling with fear and unable to move. It turned out that they were surrounded by wolves.

Since the repair location was at the rear of the large truck, it was no longer possible to hide in the truck. About seven or eight wolves had already surrounded them.

At this time, his companion took out a lighter and started smoking non-stop. Fat Brother, who was not a smoker, also started smoking. He lit a lot of cigarettes with the faint light of the cigarette butts, flicked the cigarette butts out, and lit the greasy cigarette. Gloves, the wolves gradually dispersed.

Fat Brother said that they quickly ran into the cockpit while the wolves were not far away, and did not dare to get out of the car all night. I pee directly in the car, not daring to move at all.

"That time in Xinjiang, I was so damn scared to death! I'm not even afraid of the horse bandits in the Hongyuan Grassland, because they won't kill people as long as I give you money. Those wolves were the only ones that scared me to death in my entire life. Pants once..."

Thinking back to this day, Fat Brother still has lingering fears.

③Blizzard in Tanggula Mountains

Fat Brother also talked about a blizzard in Tanggula Mountain.

A few years ago, Fat Brother and his companions drove to Lhasa. As a result, they encountered a blizzard in Tanggula Mountain. The road was blocked for three days and three nights. His companion was in poor health and almost froze to death at that time.

The fat guy closed the car windows tightly and emptied out the box of mineral water he brought with him. Every time when the guy was about to pass out, he would light gasoline and drink bottles to survive until the rescue team arrived. That buddy will never travel on the Qinghai-Tibet line again.

"Once bitten by a snake, I'm afraid of well ropes in ten years. It's true. It's been so many fucking years now that I have never been to Yili, Xinjiang. I tremble all over when I think of that night when I was surrounded by wolves. !”

Fat Brother understands that companion very well. So far, he has been driving long distances alone and has never found a companion in the same cockpit.

Fat Brother also told me that there were brown bears in the urban area of ​​Golmud. They appeared in the urban river beaches, stalked pedestrians, and even killed two of them, which made the news.

On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, this wild and primitive place, anything can happen. He also advised me to try not to go to uninhabited areas or set up tents outside casually in the future. If an accident occurs, it only takes a moment and my life may be lost.

I nodded yes.

It has been more than an hour since we set off. We saw Tanggula Mountain in the distance in front of us. This mountain appears in primary school geography textbooks. Here we are.