Journey to the Northwest-Impression of the Gansu-Qinghai Small Loop Line

May Day finally ushered in this year’s trip to the Northwest.

The Great Northwest is a place that is no stranger to me. It has vast grasslands, deep land, and snow-capped mountains that can never be seen. Driving on the roadside, there are herds of cattle and sheep... When you watch this scene unfold before your eyes As I fly, my body relaxes, as if my soul is out of body, just integrating with nature.

I think this is the attractive part of the Northwest, it is barren yet rich.

Due to the short time of May Day, we decisively abandoned the large loop and chose the small loop. Starting from Xining, although there are many "attractions" arranged in various sizes, the only ones I can remember are: Laji Mountain, Riyue Mountain, Qinghai Lake, Chaka Salt Lake, Dadongshu Pass, Qilian Zhuoer Mountain, Arou Temple, Colorful Danxia, ​​Gangshika Snow Peak, and Daban Mountain.

Seagulls above Qinghai Lake

Next, I will describe my encounters on this beautiful loop one by one.

At 7 o'clock in the morning, we set off from Xining and walked all the way through the reinforced concrete of the city. Unconsciously, we entered a picture of only snow-capped mountains, loess, grasslands, and cattle and sheep.

Laji Mountain, when I first heard the name, I was a bit hard to pronounce it. After all, Laji is a homophone for “garbage”. But in fact, it is because it is a branch of the Qilian Mountains, and its bulge resembles a pulled-up spine, hence its name.

Looking out through the car window

Buy a ticket to climb the mountain

When you are here, you will be immediately infected by the strong atmosphere of Buddhism - colorful prayer flags can be seen flying everywhere. They are not only a unique landscape on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, but also a medium for the spiritual world of monks and believers to communicate with the gods.

"The place where the eagle cannot fly" is what it is talking about.

It is covered with snow most of the year, and the southern slope is gentle, suitable for the growth of pasture. It is a famous alpine pasture in Hainan. Laji Mountain will be more vivid in summer, but for me, having a broad field of vision is already the best place I yearn for.

Going up the stairs step by step, the picture scrolls looking into the distance are changing at every point, and the camera in hand naturally keeps moving. The sense of composition weakened at this moment, and all I wanted to do was retain everything I saw.

Visitors sprinkle ronda to pray for blessings as they walk. My heart also changed from impetuous to calm, and I silently recited some longing wishes in my heart.

When the prayer flags on the top of the mountain are getting closer and closer to us, I seem to feel that the beauty is approaching. I think this is the appeal of the environment.

The ultraviolet rays are too strong. You still need to protect yourself from the sun.

Cute yak, furry, photo 10 yuan/person

Since the altitude is more than 4,000 meters, it is better to go slowly. If you jump too much and get high altitude sickness, you will not be able to make it.

After coming down from Laji Mountain, I was glad that I didn’t have high altitude sickness. The driver said that there is no need to worry about the next scenic spots because we have already gone to the highest altitude place on this loop line.

If you touch a circle around this, you will be blessed.

Then there is Riyue Mountain, which is very historical and cultural. There are attractions such as Riyue Pavilion, Chinese Geographic Boundary Stone, Princess Wencheng Temple, sightseeing plank road and ancient road museum. I stayed for a long time in the Ancient Road Museum, which is the cultural soul of the scenic spot. Under the lecturer's narration, I once again reviewed my middle school history and geography knowledge.

I can't help but sigh that it was not easy for Princess Wencheng to marry in the Western Regions. No wonder her tears of homesickness turned into a flowing river.

Riyue Mountain is an important natural dividing line in my country. Since ancient times, it has been a must-pass mountain pass for the Qinghai Road, the Tang-Tibo Ancient Road and the Ancient Tea-Horse Road on the Silk Road.

Some scenery with more ethnic characteristics on the roadside

The Sun and Moon Mountains are also of great significance to my country's natural geography. The boundary between the monsoon area and the non-monsoon area is the boundary between the outflow area and the inflow area, the boundary between the Loess Plateau and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the boundary between the agricultural area and the pastoral area. .

It’s a very familiar passage. My junior high school geography teacher said it repeatedly. If I had come here to experience it at that time, I would have remembered this test point more deeply.

In a huge prayer flag, a wish was made.

The yaks here have almost become tools used by businessmen to make money, but they are really cute. I couldn't help but spend 10 yuan to take a photo with it~

Qinghai Lake, a dreamy lake. This sentence appeared repeatedly in my mind on the way to Qinghai Lake. After thinking about it carefully, I realized that it was a text I had studied in a Chinese textbook.

First, let’s take a short-sighted perspective, a blurry distant view.

The endless blue is the first impression that Qinghai Lake gave me. Qinghai Lake is the largest inland lake and saltwater lake in China. Where the water and the sky meet, there is a blue sky and white clouds, and the clouds are rolling and changing.

Walking along the lake, you can feel how big Qinghai Lake is. This place is different from the coldness of Sailimu Lake. It is more like a paradise, not only for humans, but also for animals.

On this plateau lake with an altitude of 3196 meters, there are seagulls flying with wings.

These seagulls flew here to spend the winter, and it was here that I felt their vitality for the first time.

Click to view larger image

Looking at this scroll, I forget all my worries. It can be regarded as a holy place to relieve worries.

Chaka Salt Lake is one of the four major salt lakes in the Qaidam Basin and one of the "55 Places You Must Visit in Your Lifetime" by the National Tourism Geography Magazine.

I didn’t want to write about this part, but after all, it is a famous internet attraction, and tickets are free if you have a Zhejiang household registration, so let’s talk about it and how bad it was at this attraction.

Maybe it was unlucky, but the wind was extremely strong on the day we went, with a speed of 8 meters per second. Even the locals said it was a strong wind that is rare to encounter in a year.

The moment I got off the bus, I was blown away.

For the first time in my life, I felt that I was petite. Under the strong push of the wind, my legs could no longer walk normally. I felt that my whole body was being pushed by the wind.

I stumbled into the door of a clothing store and rented a military coat.

The style of the paintings that followed is a bit hard to describe. God was not in favor of it, so I didn’t think it was too amazing, but I still took a few pictures with my life.

It can only be said that coming here depends on the season and the weather. Of course, the shadow left behind is too deep, and there probably won’t be a next time.

People are often like this. Sometimes the first impression is quite important. Even if you know in your heart that there are beautiful moments in it, but you haven't seen it, you can only leave a general impression in your heart.

As for beautiful skirts and fluttering silk scarves, they probably only appear in midsummer.

The food at the nearby restaurant is also very salty. Is it because there is too much salt in the Salt Lake?

The faceless monster in Salt Lake Train expresses my feelings

The amazing thing is that on the way to the next destination, I came across a small ice lake and clicked it to leave a souvenir.

This may be a little surprise given to me by God seeing how pitiful I am today.

After driving for several hours, we arrived in Qilian County. I walked more than 20,000 steps in the Zhuoer Mountain Scenic Area, and I marveled at the beauty of the Danxia landform along the way.

Zhuoer Mountain Scenic Area is across the river from Ami Dongsuo (Niuxin Mountain), the sacred mountain in Tibetan areas. There are many observation decks here, and you can see a different Zhuoer Mountain every time you climb up to one.

The Babao River at the foot of the mountain is like a white hada winding around the county. We bought two cups of local yak milk tea during the climb. The milk taste is very pure and it is worth trying. It is mainly for keeping warm and replenishing food. energy.

This is the Thousand Soldiers Cliff, which belongs to the Danxia landform landscape. It has both majestic beauty and deep beauty. It rises from the flat ground to the Babao River. The southern slope is almost vertical. It is extraordinary in appearance. It is like the Cliff of Thousand Soldiers. It stands thousands of feet tall and graceful. It is cut into a red color, so it is called Qianbing Cliff.

Finally, we climbed to the beacon tower, where we can see the entire Zhuoer Mountain 360 degrees without blind spots. Standing on the top of the mountain, you can experience the pleasure of seeing all the mountains at a glance.

If you come here in July or August, the place will be green, but even if you don’t see much green, it’s still beautiful.

Coming down from the beacon tower and walking a little further is the Xianghe Pagoda, which is a Tibetan Buddhist pagoda.

The last thing I want to say is to experience the best Zhangye - Colorful Danxia.

I chose the in-depth tour, which was more expensive but really different.

Since the scenic spots visited by the in-depth tour need to be protected, the daily limit is 200 people, and tickets need to be booked two hours in advance. The in-depth tour channel is a separate commercial vehicle, and each person is given a small gift box, which contains a bottle of wolfberry and red date tea and snacks. At this moment, I already feel the superiority of VIP.

There are three stops in the in-depth tour: Crouching Tiger Gorge, Colorful Aohe Terrace, and Wanxiang Tulin Valley.

I was completely impressed by the colorful danxia tones. The mountains turned into colors and the colors decorated the terrain. Between the changes of light and shadow, the light and dark are intertwined, and the light is overflowing.

Viewing every stone here requires you to have enough imagination and creativity.

The Rainbow Mountain will be even brighter after the rain. Just look at the pictures, Colorful Fairy Terrace, Colorful Cloud Sea Terrace and Colorful Splendid Terrace. The hot air balloon is particularly "Turkish" against the colorful colors.

If you have enough imagination, you will definitely give more meaning to the stones here.

"Thumbs up for you"

"The monkey looks back"

"The Sphinx

"Jin Chan asked"

"Thousand Years of Love"

"Dragon and tiger perch"

"The Secret Land of Buddhism"

If you look carefully, you can't help but marvel at the magic of nature.

The in-depth tour ends here.

Also checked in the special ice cream.

It's a pity that the sunset doesn't happen until 8:15 in the evening. I can't wait that late~

Of course, there are also many small attractions, such as Arou Temple, Gangshika Snow Peak, Daban Mountain, etc.

No matter how busy life is, it needs to be paused. Every step a person takes is writing his or her own history.

The glory of the Gobi, desert, oasis, and "Silk Road" a few years ago... Now we are here, feeling the colorful desolation, welcoming the baptism of the soul, and accepting the healing of nature.

How lucky.