Travel Notes | Xinjiang Winter Love Song 1: Sailimu Lake

In January 2019 and January 2021, Lao Gu went to Xinjiang twice to see the winter scenery. I always thought that the beauty of Xinjiang lies in spring and autumn. But ever since I saw some beautiful photos of rime swans taken in Ili, Xinjiang from a photography friend, I have been thinking about them. So at the end of 2018, a friend happened to invite me, and Lao Gu hit it off immediately and made the trip immediately. But this trip actually made me addicted. I fell in love with Xinjiang and the winter in Xinjiang. At the beginning of this year, I heard that there was an opportunity to make up for some minor regrets left over from the last winter, so I simply went there again. Starting from this issue, I will share with you the images of these two winter trips to Xinjiang.

The winter scenery of Xinjiang is mainly concentrated in Hemu in the Altay region of northern Xinjiang, Kanas and Zhaosu (Tekes) in the Ili region, as well as the now famous Swan Spring, in Dushanzi, Shihezi and Hami in eastern Xinjiang. There are also some unique scenery. If you want to cover it all in one trip, except by driving, it is usually a bit difficult. Nowadays, Xinjiang photography tour groups generally divide their routes into at least three, and I took advantage of our sentimental tour leader, Mr. Ma (who I introduced before during the Xinjiang autumn trip). The two trips to Xinjiang basically completed many of them. Beautiful scenery, some of which may never be seen again.

Highlights of this issue: Sailimu Lake

Sailimu Lake is the only way to go from Urumqi to the Ili area in winter, because another road that can go to Ili needs to travel through the mountains first, which is the famous Duku Highway, which is generally only available from early June to early October every year. To be open. Starting from Urumqi, just walk along the Lianhuo Expressway (G30), all the way to Sailimu Lake.

Tianshan in the morning

Passing by a large petrochemical company

On the hillside near the Sai Limu Lake scenic spot, there are a large number of windmills that generate electricity.

Although there are few tourists in Sailimu Lake in winter, the silver-covered ink landscape has another unique attraction.

The entrance to the scenic spot overlooks the mountains.

Petrified wood engraved with the iconic words of the scenic spot

island by lake

Several pavilions are more like summer beach facilities

The surging lake water freezes instantly

Camels relaxing by the lake

When January came in 2019, the center of the lake was not completely frozen.

This year, the huge lake (453 square kilometers) is almost completely frozen, and some small vehicles such as motorcycles can even play on the lake. Of course, this is risky. There was a cool SUV that was washing pots on the lake, and then..., and then it fell in. Fortunately, the person was fine.

A girl from Xinjiang who specially dressed up to take photos

winter hole fisher

Sailimu Lake is surrounded by groups of mountains .

Lianhuo Expressway passes by the lake.

And every morning and dusk, these mountains show their most beautiful highlights.

In addition to seeing snow, the main attractions here in winter are swans and blue ice.

Swans often hang out at the edge of the lake in the western part of the Lake District. Probably because there are hot springs nearby, the entire Sailimu Lake is frozen even in the middle of the lake, but it does not freeze all year round, providing a good natural habitat for swans to spend the winter.

Probably knowing that tourists can provide food, they will come to tourists from time to time.

Go ashore to look for food

All the swans will not leave until March-April of the following year. The time of our visit was not coincidental enough, and we did not take a more beautiful picture of the swans under the blue sky and white clouds. But near the swan habitat, I happened to encounter a fox looking for food.

Look at humans warily

Evacuate

Jump and jump fiercely to catch small animals moving under the snow

The lonely figure shows the difficulty of survival

Blue ice is a major feature of the winter scenery of Sailimu Lake.

The most peculiar thing about blue ice is the ice bubble phenomenon, which is caused by the extremely low temperature when the underwater bubbles rise and quickly freeze in the lake water. But unlike Lake Baikal, you need a lot of luck to see ice bubbles in Sailimu Lake, because firstly, the formation of ice bubbles requires certain weather conditions, and secondly, ice bubbles often occur during a night when strong winds blow away all the floating snow on the lake. You can only see it after it's clean, but you can't see it after it snows or snows. This is normal. The old winter trip to Xinjiang did not have such good luck. But even if no ice bubbles can be seen, the lake surface expands, squeezes and accumulates against each other during the repeated freezing and thawing process, forming many raised ice cubes. They are various and very beautiful.

Ice phenomenon

Crystal clear and beautiful.

In addition to the G30 Lianhuo Expressway passing through Sailimu Lake, there is also a road around the lake along the lake in the scenic area, which is now fully connected. You can go around the lake to enjoy the beautiful scenery of Sailimu Lake.

Across G30, on the other side of Sailimu Lake, is a pasture at the foot of the mountains. Although the weather was hazy when we went, it was still difficult to conceal its special beauty in winter.

The sheep live in the beautiful scenery of Saihu Lake

Just like a Chinese ink painting

Next to the south gate of Sailimu Lake to the north, there is a famous landscape in Xinjiang - Guozigou Bridge (Guozigou Scenic Area).

Guozigou Bridge is located in Guozigou, a 28-kilometer-long canyon that runs through the North Tianshan Mountains. It is the first long-span highway steel girder cable-stayed bridge in China. It is known as the first bridge in Xinjiang and is the tallest bridge in Xinjiang. The bridge deck is 200 meters from the bottom of the ditch. , the bridge is 700 meters long and is an important livelihood project in Xinjiang. The completion of the bridge has completely ended the problem of difficult travel in Xinjiang's Ili Valley, allowing Yili Prefecture to travel to Urumqi all-weather. It is also a famous scenic transportation project.

The Guozigou ink painting in winter is full of colors, and the Guozigou Bridge runs through it, organically integrating with the Guozigou scenic spot and complementing each other, highlighting the beauty of the mountains and canyons and the majesty of the bridge.