Zhangye / Qinghai Lake / Five days and four nights self-driving tour (Mama chapter)

Itinerary

07 31 Fly from Shanghai to Zhangye, pick up the car at Ganzhou Airport

08 01 Zhangye – Horseshoe Temple – Zhuoer Mountain

08 02 Qilian – Gangcha – Black Horse River – Ulan Chaka

08 03 Chaka Salt Lake – Qinghai Lake – Xining

08 04 Xining – Menyuan – Zhangye Danxia Landform, fly to Shanghai at night, return the car at Ganzhou Airport

Weather: Pure luck. Cloudy or sunny weather will greatly affect the scenery and mood, but the weather forecast is uncontrollable and can be ignored. The temperature ranges from 15 to 35 degrees Celsius, with a large temperature difference between morning and evening. In particular, Chaka in Ulan County is very cold, only 10-18 degrees Celsius, so thin jackets are required. UV rays are very strong, so sun protection is a must at all times. Big scarf + floral skirt are a must!

Diet: Mainly halal beef and mutton

Average altitude: 3000 meters to 3500 meters

Normal people don't have high blood pressure. Some of my older companions have high blood pressure. They don't feel any discomfort. The only symptom is that they have difficulty falling asleep at night. It is recommended to prepare some gummies and chew them to supplement sugar. Chewing can also help self-regulation of ear pressure.

The entire self-driving journey is 1519KM, which takes more than 30 hours.

The cost of refueling the entire journey is 500 yuan, and the toll is 96 yuan. Most national and provincial highways will start tolling on the second day of our journey. I feel like I’ve made a hundred million!

Average cost per person for four people: 3,600 yuan (all included)

first night

Light rain, 25 degrees

Arrive in Zhangye on Friday night (China Eastern Airlines only has one flight to and from Zhangye every day, and there are many flights to and from Xining). Ganzhou Airport is very small and does not require a corridor bridge. You can get off the plane by stairs and walk out of the lobby to the parking lot. I met the driver who delivered the car to the car in the parking lot. I was so lucky. I got a brand new Hyundai ix35 that had just come out of the 4S store and had traveled 30 kilometers. The trunk was very spacious. Four 20-inch boxes were placed side by side and it was very rich. . Temporary license plates are a problem for me, but the driver brother said: We have national highways, provincial highways and county roads here. There is only a short section of the highway that you can get on, and temporary license plates are allowed. He repeatedly told me to drive slowly and pay attention to safety on the road. Later I understood: there are two lanes in both directions. Vehicles traveling on the opposite side of the road are going in the opposite direction to occupy your lane to overtake. This is the barbaric driving habit of the locals.

It was still bright in Zhangye at 20:30, a light rain had just stopped, and the air was exceptionally fresh, with the smell of grass. We stepped into the sunset and checked into the Ibis Hotel in downtown Zhangye (255 yuan/room).

Zhangye is located in Gansu Province, in the middle section of the Hexi Corridor. Danxia landform is particularly famous. The local temperature is 25-33 degrees Celsius. It's quite cool at night. Zhangye is a small city, and almost everything closes at around 9pm.

the next day

Sunny, 33 degrees

The hotel's breakfast room is small and rich. The waiter brings you a bowl of freshly cooked hot noodles from the kitchen.

Horseshoe Temple

It takes 1.5 hours to drive from downtown Zhangye to Matisi Temple. The scenic area is very large and can be driven in. The grottoes are composed of Shengguo Temple, Puguang Temple, Thousand Buddha Cave, Jinta Temple, Upper, Middle and Lower Guanyin Cave, with a total of more than 70 cave niches. They were first built in Beiliang. Horseshoe Temple is named after the legendary horse's hoof prints left when drinking water here. The legendary horseshoe imprints exist in the Horseshoe Hall of Puguang Temple and have become a treasure of the temple. For southerners who have never seen the grottoes, Horseshoe Temple is very impressive. But if you come to Zhangye from the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Gansu Province, the Matisi Temple is probably nothing. This is why there are mixed reviews about Matisi Temple. We went to three scenic spots: Thousand Buddha Cave, Thirty-three-day Grottoes and King Gesar Palace.

When I first walked into Thousand Buddhas Temple, I felt it was an eye-opener. When I arrived at Thirty-three Grottoes, I realized that Thousand Buddhas Cave was just a prologue. It was very dark inside the grotto, and it took me a few seconds to close my eyes to calm down. The cave is very small, so you basically have to dig around or crawl around the walls. Before entering, you must shout loudly: Is anyone coming out? I'm ready to come in. Because there is only one lane for entry and exit, and it is the width of one person, you cannot cross traffic and must give way. If there are too many people inside, you have to wait until they come out before entering again.

There were no decent restaurants near Matisi Temple, so we found a very good farmhouse, Renjia Courtyard, in Minle County, which we passed through on the way. Then continue on your way to Qilian Zhuoer Mountain.

I don’t know how many mountains I climbed over, but I drove 3.5 hours to Zhuoer Mountain in Qilian County.

Zhuoer Mountain

Zhuoer Mountain is located in Babao Town, Qilian County, Qinghai Province. Qilian is basically at the junction of Qinghai and Gansu. Zhuoer Mountain belongs to the Danxia landform and is composed of red sandstone and conglomerate. In Tibetan, it is called "Zong Muma Gama", which means the beautiful ruddy queen. Standing on the top of Zhuoer Mountain, the view is extremely wide, with no obstructions around. On the opposite side of the mountain is Niuxin Mountain, which offers a panoramic view of the four seasons. On the left and right sides are the Ladong Gorge and Baiyanggou Scenic Areas. On the back is the rolling Qilian Mountains, with the rolling waves at the foot of the mountain. The Babao River is like a white hada surrounding the county. The scenic area is very large. There is a minibus that connects you to the foot of the mountain. Then you have to climb the mountain on your own. The mountain is not high and the plank road is very well repaired. The round trip takes about 2 to 3 hours.

I climbed 1/3 of the plank road, found a shady place to sit down, and quietly looked at the colorful Danxia landform in front of me. I could feel the movement of the mountains, and I breathed with the ups and downs of the mountains. It was like a fairyland, which was refreshing. , very healing.

In the evening, we stayed at the Qilian Tianyu Jingdu Resort (340 yuan/room), a few hundred meters away from the Zhuoer Mountain Scenic Area. I heard thunder at around 7 o'clock in the evening, and it rained for 5 minutes. I opened the window and saw a double rainbow outside my house. I ran out in my slippers. It was the first time I saw such a bright and thick rainbow light beam at such a close distance. Within reach.

It gets dark at 9 o'clock every day, so dinner is naturally late, so every day is a long day. Babao Town is a very lively town, especially lively for dinner and late night snacks.

The third day

Cloudy, 25 degrees

There was a bit of coolness in the mountains early in the morning. I got ready early in the morning and drove from Qilian to Qinghai Lake. I had to drive 400 kilometers today and I was basically in the car all day. Just 20 kilometers after setting off, we encountered National Highway 213 being under construction. The road construction continued for more than 80 kilometers. The mountain road and the road surface were full of potholes. The ride was bumpy and the feeling was even higher than riding a horse.

*It’s September soon, so this national highway will not be repaired next year. Be careful to avoid it, otherwise it will be too HIGH!

We drove 4.5 hours from Zhuoer Mountain to Gangcha County (north of Qinghai Lake) and had lunch at the Gesang Tibetan Restaurant in Gangcha County. Along the way, it was cloudy without blue sky and white clouds, and the mountains were no longer green. Fortunately, there are many cows, cattle, sheep and sheep accompanying you on the road. They may cross you at any time and you have to let them go.

Qinghai Lake on a cloudy day is really just a lake. There is no blue sky and white clouds, no blue and green lake water, no reflection, and no charming legend. It's just a lake with many weeds growing around it.

Qinghai Lake is called "Cowenbu" in Tibetan (meaning "blue sea"). Located in the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and in Qinghai Province, it is the largest inland lake in China. It was formed by the collapse of faults between Datong Mountain, Riyue Mountain and Qinghai Nanshan in the Qilian Mountains.

Drive south along Huanhu West Road from Gangcha County to Heima River, 122 kilometers and about 2 hours' drive. Heima River is the starting point of the road around Qinghai Lake. From here, you can walk 70 kilometers along the road around the lake to reach the famous Bird Island. Many "bosozoku" travel enthusiasts or bicycle fans choose to start their tour around Heima River. Dream trip to the lake. Autumn is the best season to watch the sunrise, and the Heima River on the west bank of the lake is one of the best places to watch the sunrise over Qinghai Lake.

There are many wild lavender meadows along the lake, which are circled by locals and charge 5 yuan per person. You can enter and take photos as you like, and you can also walk to the lake to play. Or you can park for 10 yuan a time or walk to the lake.

Continue driving for more than 80 kilometers from Heima River to Chaka Town in Ulan County. Stay at the Chaka Salt Lake Tianyu Holiday Hotel (691 yuan/room) for the night. It is the most expensive hotel along the way and worth it.

In the evening, I went to Yi Fengyuan in the small town and tasted the famous local pot-pot mutton. It must be Meiyang Yang.

The fourth day

Cloudy, windy, 15 degrees

In the morning, drive 10 kilometers from the town to Chaka Salt Lake. The wind is very strong, carrying salt and blowing through your hair. The salt remains in your hair. It’s not too much to wear a thin down jacket in 15 degree weather. We put on all our clothes, including scarves, floor-length bohemian skirts and skinny jeans, which we could only drag down to the salt lake if we were warm enough.

Chaka Salt Lake

Also known as Chaka or Dabson Nur, it is a natural crystalline salt lake located in Chaka Town, Wulan County, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. It is one of the four major salt lakes in the Qaidam Basin. "Chaka" is Tibetan, which means salt pond, which is the salt of Qinghai; "Dabxunnur" is Mongolian, which also means salt lake. It is called China's "Mirror of the Sky" by travelers and is rated as one of the "55 Places You Must Visit in Your Lifetime" by National Tourism Geography Magazine. Compared with Qinghai Lake on a cloudy day, Chaka Salt Lake is also beautiful on a cloudy day.

There are two places to enter Chaka Salt Lake, Sky Realm and Sky One. After reading the guides and reviews from netizens, I decided to go to Sky One (a landscape center integrating accommodation, attractions, outdoor entertainment and sports).

Riding on a small train and blowing the salt wind, we stepped into the Chaka Salt Lake. The small train stops at four stations, and you can get on and off at will. The wind was too strong to form a mirror, and there were no blue sky and white clouds to reflect, which was a pity. I can only imagine the artistic conception of the sky.

After spending the whole morning blowing in the Chaka Salt Lake, I feel a bit like Jinhua ham, which has been cured to 7788%. Before leaving Chaka Town, I went to Yifengyuan and ate a large pot of pit-pot mutton before I was willing to leave. In the afternoon, we drove 290 kilometers and took 5 hours along the south bank of Qinghai Lake to Xining, passing by the Erlangjian Scenic Area and the Erhai Lake Scenic Area in the east of the lake. The scenery along the way was uneventful because the sun still refused to come out.

At night, we stayed at the Boliyabu Hotel in the center of Xining (508 yuan/room). It is a brand-new hotel with advanced guest room facilities and the grand style of a provincial capital city. The hotel is in a great location, at 637 Tangdao, surrounded by Wanda Plaza, Haihu Plaza, Qinghai Grand Theater and Xinhualian Shopping Center. . . Anyway, it is in the heart of the city center, within walking distance. We took a walk and found a halal hot mutton hotpot restaurant with delicious hotpot mutton.

Xining is located in the eastern part of Qinghai Province in northwest China and the upper reaches of Huangshui River Valley Basin. It is the eastern gateway of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the only place to pass through the ancient "Silk Road" South Road and the "Tang-Tibo Ancient Road". It has been an important transportation route and military center in the northwest since ancient times. , known as the "Key to the West Sea" and the Throat of the Sea, is one of the world's high-altitude cities.

fifth day

Light rain, then cloudy, then foggy, then sunny, with the temperature soaring from 20 degrees to 33 degrees

It’s another long day’s drive. Today we have to drive directly from Xining back to Zhangye. 450KM, about 7 hours, passing through the sea of rapeseed flowers in Menyuan.

After leaving Xining, we entered the rolling mountains, shrouded in clouds and mist. It didn't take long for us to enter this cloud. Winding around mountains and passing hairpin turns in the clouds and mist at an altitude of 3,800 meters, what a complete self-driving journey.

After driving out of the heavy fog and countless tunnels, we arrived at Menyuan, and the weather turned sunny. Menyuan County is the birthplace of rapeseed in the north and the largest rapeseed planting area in the country and even the world, with a planting area of 500,000 acres. The sea of rapeseed flowers in Menyuan Baili is indeed magnificent, and it is still different from the rapeseed flowers along the way. Fortunately, it was still in flowering period when we went there.

I rushed all the way slowly so that I could see the sunset at Zhangye’s colorful danxia before 4 o’clock, which was the perfect ending to the whole trip.

At 15:30 we entered the Danxia Landform on time. The average altitude is 1850 meters, it is about 45 kilometers long from east to west and about 10 kilometers wide from north to south. The Colorful Danxia Landform Group in Zhangye is amazing for its large area, concentration, staggered bedding, steep rock walls, majestic momentum, peculiar shape, and colorful colors, including red, yellow, white, green and blue, and the tones are along the mountain slope. The undulating waves are also inserted diagonally from the top of the mountain to the roots of the mountain, just like a diagonally spread colorful cloth. Under the sunlight, it seems to be covered with a layer of red gauze, shining, and the colors are extremely bright, which makes people amazed. It is the most typical Danxia landform in the arid areas of northern my country, and it is also another type of landform - colorful hills. Its colorful colors, strong ornamental value, and large area exceed the country's and are rare in the world.

There are buses connecting the scenic area, which stop at four stations. Everywhere you go, you can see the scenery in a dizzying way. It reminds me of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA. The Danxia here is more colorful.

It was a worthwhile trip, and the flight returned to Shanghai from Zhangye at 8:30 pm.

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Diet

Basically, in the northwest, there are cattle, sheep, and sheep, and there are many halal restaurants. Mutton basically has no odor, and the processing and cooking methods are different. It is a dish that is acceptable to Shanghainese. Kebabs, plain mutton, hot mutton hot pot, and so on. The best thing was the pit-pot mutton that Wulanchaka had. It was absolutely amazing. The dishes in Northwest China are very large. Three dishes are enough for four people, and those with bigger appetites can only have one dish per person. It may be due to the altitude that it cannot reach the boiling point of 100 degrees. The rice is very dry and slightly undercooked, and rice is not grown locally. A small bowl of white rice costs about 5 yuan on average.

Pot-pot mutton at Ulan Chaka's "Yifengyuan on the Tip of the Tongue" restaurant. 👇

"Gelsang Tibetan Restaurant Bar" in Gangcha County is a very Tibetan specialty restaurant from the restaurant style to the food. It is basically eaten by Tibetans, and the boss is very welcoming to other ethnic groups. Don't touch the hot water bottle on the table casually. It contains pots of butter tea ordered by others. Butter tea and fried buns (beef buns) are particularly delicious. Zanba is made from whole grains and is kneaded by hand. Mutton soup and beef soup are also recommended, they are extremely delicious.

But yogurt rice is really not recommended. There is half a bowl of white rice at the bottom, a thick layer of yogurt (very sour) in the middle, covered with sugar on top, mixed together, whoever eats it knows!

Tsampa 👆

Butter tea and fried buns👇

The Nongfu Spring clear soup pot at Xining Deshunxiang Copper Pot Brushed Mutton (Xinhualian Store) serves hot beef and mutton and highland barley cakes.

Zhangye Colorful Danxia Linze County's "Halal Xinyue Pavilion Restaurant" is highly recommended. Although I was completely confused when I ordered:

What dishes do you recommend?

Yes, spicy and sour with sand.

? ? ?

(Jiasha is beef wrapped in tofu skin. It is very delicious, but it does not have a spicy or sour taste)

Do you have any scrambled eggs?

Yes, scrambled eggs with green onions.

? ? ?

(Scallion is a vegetarian vegetable similar to chive flowers, which is thinner than chive flowers, has the same taste, and is delicious and refreshing).