Xinjiang Travel Notes 04 – From Guozigou to Horgos

The car was parked in the small parking lot at the entrance of the scenic spot. As soon as we walked out of the gate, we saw Xiaoxia. Xiaoxia asked us if there were not many people in the scenic spot. We said not many. He said that he knew from the cars in the parking lot that there were not many people. When there are many people, The car had to be parked far away. He called his colleagues and friends and found that almost none of them were on the same day as us. There were several cars the day before and the day after, but there was only one car on our day. Until the end of our entire trip, there were not many tourists in the scenic spots we visited, and they were all crowded one day later and one day earlier. It seemed that we had accidentally taken a tourist break.
Turn right before entering the highway, follow National Highway 312, head towards Yining and enter Guozigou. When I came here 2 years ago, it was so foggy that I could barely see anything. This time, I had a panoramic view of snow-capped mountains, spruce trees, ravines, pastures, bridges, and yurts, from far to near.
Guozigou, also known as "Talqida Ban", is known as "the first scenic spot in Ili". It is located 40 kilometers northeast of Huocheng County and is the only passage of the 312 National Highway Urumqi-Ili Highway. A famous canyon tunnel that goes north to Sailimu Lake and south to the Ili River Valley, with a total length of 28 kilometers. In 1218, during Genghis Khan's western expedition, he ordered his second son, Chagatai, to lead the army. He carved stone roads and used wood as bridges to form a driveway. The ditch is the throat of Beixin Road, my country's Silk Road leading to Central Asia and Europe, and is known as the "Iron Pass". Guozigou is named after its abundant wild fruits. In the valley, there are towering peaks, rolling canyons, luxuriant pines and birches, fruit trees, wild flowers blooming, waterfalls and springs, and beautiful scenery. Guozigou is a natural treasure house endowed by nature. It is famous for its wide distribution of wild fruits and rich medicinal resources. From spring to autumn, the fragrant herbs and wild flowers are gorgeous and colorful, bringing visitors imagination and beauty.
The full name of Guozigou Bridge is Guozigou Twin Towers and Double Cable Planes Steel Truss Girder Cable-stayed Bridge. The above-ground construction of the bridge started pouring on August 22, 2007, and it was opened to traffic on September 30, 2011. The completion of the Guozigou Bridge and the opening of the expressway have greatly improved the safe traffic speed from Sailimu Lake to the entrance of Guozigou on the Xinjiang tourist route. The total length of the bridge is 700 meters, the net height of the bridge deck from the valley bottom is 200 meters, the heights of the main towers are 209 meters and 215.5 meters respectively, the span is 330 meters, and the bridge has four lanes in both directions. The main bridge of the bridge all adopts a steel truss structure, using 17,000 tons of domestic special bridge steel, and is connected with high-strength bolts, with the installation accuracy controlled within two millimeters. The bridge is the first cable-stayed bridge on the highway in the autonomous region and the first steel truss cable-stayed bridge on the highway with twin towers and double cable planes in China. Tourists going to Sailimu Lake, especially most of them, deliberately choose to take the national highway to appreciate the beauty of the bridge. Looking from a distance, the Guozigou Bridge is a "flying bridge" crossing the blue sky and white clouds, passing through the mountains and grand canyons, like a giant dragon. Soaring into the sky and passing through the mountains, it is beautiful, slender and spectacular.
The mountain in Guozigou is so steep that the highway cannot go directly up the mountain. There is a big "and" here. If you take the highway to Sailimu Lake, you can pass under the huge bridge pier first. Looking up, circling upward, coming out of the tunnel, and then passing through the main cable-stayed bridge deck, it is an absolute shock to the soul. This time, we took the national highway, without passing the bridge deck, and went straight to the bridge pier. The bridge stood tall...






We had lunch in Huocheng. It was already past 3 pm when we ate. We were already hungry, so Xiaoxia took us to a roadside restaurant. He said they often eat here, and we simply ordered some food. The boss was very kind and as per our request, the food had a little less salt than normal. The boss told us that the best fish here is Sailimu Lake fish, which is available in almost every household. After we said that we were in a hurry and would not eat fish, he did not bother us to eat fish, and then went to work. No fish survived in Sailimu Lake in the early years. From 1998 to 2003, whitefish and sunken whitefish fry were introduced from Russia for six consecutive years. In 2002, they entered the commercial market. Fish fishing season. Tall whitefish is particularly suitable for some low water temperature environments. It has delicious meat, no intermuscular spines, and grows rapidly. The whitefish in Sailimu Lake mainly feed on natural food - gammarids and Tibetan squid, and the lake water is not polluted (the water entering the lake is mainly ice and snow melt water, mountain precipitation, and spring water), and is known as one of the most popular fish species. of organic food.
If you don’t go to Xinjiang, you don’t know how big China is, and if you don’t go to Ili, you don’t know the beauty of Xinjiang. We have already had a taste of the vastness of Xinjiang, and now we will discover the beauty of Ili. The first stop is the lavender tour in Huocheng.
Lavender, also known as spiritual herb, vanilla, yellow vanilla, is a small shrub of the family Lamiaceae. The stems are upright, covered with star-like hairs, and the leaves are strip-shaped or lanceolate-shaped, with sparse or dense leaves. Gray star-shaped villi, off-white or olive green when dry, entire edge curled outward. The calyx is ovate and cylindrical or nearly cylindrical; the corolla is about twice as long as the calyx, the tube is straight, and the throat is covered with glandular hairs. It is native to the Mediterranean coast, various parts of Europe and the Oceania Islands.

Some people say that Provence in France is a completely romantic place. Many places use this name to create romantic attractions. They say that Provence is a romantic place because of its endless lavender. In fact, China's Huocheng, a small city on the northwest border, is another romantic and charming city. It borders the Tianshan Mountains to the north, the Ili River to the south, Kazakhstan to the west, and Yining, the capital of the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, to the east. The mild valley climate makes this place become Jiangnan beyond the Great Wall, where 29 ethnic minorities thrive and multiculturalism complements each other and continues to flourish. Huocheng County is at the same latitude as Provence, France, and Hokkaido, Japan. Huocheng County introduced three varieties from Provence, France, as early as 1964, and now the planting area in Ili has reached more than 20,000 acres. It is one of the three largest lavender planting bases in the world. The largest and densest lavender field in mainland China is planted here. Every June to August, purple lavender will bloom quietly in this place, quietly waiting for one love story after another, very romantic... …

Huocheng County has developed a variety of products such as dried lavender flowers, essential oils, sachets, and insoles. The production of essential oils accounts for 96% of the total domestic production.

When the lavender flowering season comes, the corners of the fields at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang are filled with purple and dreamy lavender. The fragrant lavender sways in the wind, and the sea of ​​purple-blue flowers undulates with the wind, like a flower stretching on the earth. Dreamland, extremely romantic, not only many photography enthusiasts come here, but also capture the hearts of countless girls, making this place a veritable lavender hometown in China. For dozens of miles around, the fragrant fragrance of lavender is enveloped, as if it can seep into the blood and penetrate the soul. Anyone who has been to Yili Huocheng at this time will be shocked by the pastoral scenery of lavender in front of them! At this time, whether it is a family trip, a couple traveling, a gathering of relatives and friends, or a corporate event, we stay away from the hustle and bustle of the city, walk along the fields amidst the blue sky and white clouds and the fragrance of the fields, and slowly feel this breathtakingly beautiful scenery. The sea of ​​purple flowers is like a vast expanse of lavender with deep purple waves. Such pure colors can make everyone find memories of their childhood hometown! You can feel comfortable even if you don’t do anything or think about anything!

Lavender flowers can be harvested twice a year, one season from June to July, and one season in September. The main flowering period of lavender is about one week, and the flowering period in large flower fields will be staggered, which can greatly extend the viewing period and harvesting period. When we arrived, it was the season when the flowers were in full bloom. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and there were only some white clouds floating on the top of the mountain in the distance. The Princess Jieyou Lavender Garden we are going to is located in Qingshuihe Town, Ili, Xinjiang, an important town on the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. It is located in the Ili Valley at the northern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. It is the third largest lavender planting base in the world after Provence, France, and Furano, Japan. , has the reputation of "the hometown of lavender in China".
In just a few minutes, we arrived at the flower field. Along the way, we could see endless purple carpets and some occasional green spaces. The sun at noon was very strong, and Xiaoxia also entered the lavender field with us. The sun was too strong, which somewhat affected our interest in playing and taking photos in the sea of ​​flowers. In the flower field a few hundred meters away on the left, there were about ten people working there, both men and women. There was also a tractor beside them. The one in front of them was purple and the one behind them was green. It took them a few seconds to understand. It’s harvesting lavender, that’s the real industry. We walked through the flowers, and the working people were filled with joy. A man next to him, who might be the person in charge, jokingly said to the people harvesting, someone took a picture of you, use the tools in your hands... a joke , another large area of ​​purple turned into green.
When Xiaoxia found us, she told us that there was a large sea of ​​flowers over there that was even better than this one, but the ultraviolet rays were too strong, and she thought we had to rush to Horgos Port, so we only took a few pictures in the sea of ​​flowers. I took a photo, bought some products and set off again.

If the morning sun rises or the sun sets, and the warm sun shines slanting, the sea of ​​flowers will be more charming. However, the time of our trip does not allow it. If we have the chance, we should really stay at the lavender manor for one night, smell the fragrance of the flowers, and fall asleep deeply Go and wash off the dust...









Heading to Horgos, the inspection on the road was much simpler than we expected, and it was basically not much different from the general road inspection. Xiaoxia asked us if we had brought our passports. We said we couldn’t go abroad, so why should we bring them with us? He told us that if we have passports, we can go directly to the boundary monument and market. If we don’t have passports, we can also use our ID cards to go through border procedures, but we need to go through a lot of signature procedures. We may not have enough time, and we have no interest in going to these two places. I have been to three border ports before. At Ceke Port, you can easily go to the boundary marker with your ID card. At Detian Waterfall, you can go directly to the Vietnamese side. It seems that port policies vary greatly in different regions.
Horgos City is affiliated to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and is a county-level city managed by the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. It is located at the mouth of the Ili River Valley in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, facing Kazakhstan across the Horgos River. It is located at the western end of National Highway 312 and the Longhai-Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway, where the China-Central Asia natural gas pipeline passes. Horgos is 670 kilometers away from Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 4,825 kilometers away from Shanghai, 90 kilometers away from Yining, the capital of Ili, 378 kilometers away from Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, and 35 kilometers away from Yarkent, the nearest city in Kazakhstan. kilometer. In 2006, China and Kazakhstan jointly established the China-Kazakhstan Horgos International Border Cooperation Center, becoming the world's first cross-border free trade zone.

Horgos is the name of the Mongolian people (Mossy Mongolia) who have lived in this area since the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. In Mongolian, Horgos is "the place where the camel team passes" (meaning the camel station), and it can also be called "the best nomadic people". "Earth" solution. During the Republic of China, due to the strength of Tsarist Russia and later the Soviet Union, the Kazakh word "Nikanka" used by the Russian side was once adopted, and later the customary name of the Chinese side was restored.

Horgos Port is the longest national first-class land highway port in the history of western China, with the largest comprehensive transportation volume, the best natural environment and the most complete functions. The Horgos Port is an important port for trade between Xinjiang and Central Asian countries. The Horgos Port is an important window for Xinjiang to open up to the outside world. It is the same as the Khunjerab Port on the China-Pakistan border in southern Xinjiang and the Alashankou Port in northern Xinjiang. Xinjiang is currently one of the three ports open to third countries. It integrates business and tourism, import and export trade, and transit goods. It has complete external connection functions and relatively complete infrastructure. It has all-weather import and export capabilities, and has great support for third country transportation and transportation. , tourism, and commerce are fully open, and it is a window for economic and cultural exchanges with the five CIS Central Asian countries and Europe, and for expanding foreign economic and technological cooperation. It is an international channel and bridgehead for economic and cultural exchanges between China and Kazakhstan and other Central Asian countries. It plays an important role in promoting regional economic cooperation and cultural exchanges between China and Central Asian countries. It has an important strategic position and Location Advantage.

With the construction of Yining Airport Port, Horgos will become a "four-in-one" international comprehensive transportation hub integrating highways, railways, aviation, and pipelines, with a good foreign trade foundation and superior external development conditions.
Horgos is an emerging city that is undergoing large-scale construction. There are not many pedestrians on the streets, and the streets are relatively neat. There are various architectural styles, including Islamic style, modern style, and some that cannot be explained. , most of them have lost their regional and national characteristics, and are almost the same as the architectural styles of inland cities.
We arrived at the old port first. There were many cars parked in the parking lot. There were railings blocking the entrance of the port. We reluctantly took a photo and were walking to the parking lot. Xiaoxia came over and asked where we were on the road. No, it was the street blocked by cars and horses. We said we didn’t go there. He took us there. Haha, this street is opposite the port building. There are no other tourists yet, so it’s perfect for taking pictures.
After coming out of the old port, we headed to the new port. The new port is majestic and consists of 2-3 building groups. I don’t know if it has not been fully opened yet. There are very few vehicles and tourists. We are here at this time. , only we tour. To go to the new port, you need to take a section of the border road. On the left (east) side of the road is China, where many standard factories are built. On the right are two barbed wire fences. The barbed wire fences are more than 10 meters apart. Beyond the barbed wire fence is Kazakhstan. , I didn’t see any buildings, only the vast wilderness, and the grass didn’t grow high.

There are tall street lights on both sides of the road, with Chinese knots hanging on the light poles. On the way back to Horgos, Xiaoxia told me that the snow-capped mountains in front of me were from Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, I didn’t remember the name and the height.
Driving out of the Horgos area from the 88-house border checkpoint, we came and went in a hurry.