preface
This is a travelogue that is three years overdue, in March 2023, today under the forest 雨️ of Wan Feng, sitting in the homestay "Far Home" where "Where Did Daddy Go", looking at the drizzle outside the floor-to-ceiling window, I finally finished writing this travelogue that was three years late.
The water grass is yellow, the maple leaves are red, and the autumn wind is beginning to stain the world. (Of course, this autumn leaf was picked up in the Xi'an Wetland Park, the city where I live.) ）
I had the urge to see Poplar Forest again, so I checked various strategies and transportation on the Internet, driving too far, not reaching the high-speed train, and chartering a car to the nearby airport, and finally decided to choose to travel with a group. (A travel blogger chooses to follow a group, isn't it a bit of a slap in the face, which is one of the reasons why I haven't written about this travelogue)
Let's go
On September 23, Xi'an North Railway Station departed early and took the high-speed train to Lanzhou to assemble. Looking at the scenery outside the window, I fell asleep for a while, faintly listened to the arrival station "safe" in front of the newspaper station, and woke up to see the original stop called Qin'an Station.
The car passed Qin An
Zhang Haiyun
Listen to the Yellow River ballad of "wild children" ...
As soon as I woke up, I had arrived in Gansu,
The train broadcast "Safe arrival station".
The aunts next to them are still "speaking",
Compare who has more luggage,
The content in Shaanxi repeats,
As if I were asleep,
Time also stopped.
The aunt in the same group next door continued to talk, listened to the topic of departure, and continued to put on headphones and listen to the song to sleep.
After arriving in Lanzhou, the tour guide arranged to change the bus, and saw the group members plus the tour guide, only me and a girl are young people, the girl is still to take care of the grandma to accompany me, how did I follow an elderly group.
As soon as the bus arrived, I saw these grandpas and aunts rushing up to grab seats first, and I was ashamed of this energy. I'm used to it, so let's wait until it's all over and finally go up, anyway, there will definitely be my seat.
The young lady of the local tour guide is a fat man of 150 pounds like me, I stood next to her and smiled at her, watching the Olympic Games of grandpa and aunt together. The tour guide's sister told me that it was okay, you can sit next to me in a while, so I, a person who did not participate in the sports meeting, actually sat in the first row "without hard work", or a window position where you can sleep on your stomach.
Then it's all the way north, and the destination Ejina Banner is driving at high speed for a long time...
Outside the window all the way to see the endless Qilian Mountains, the deserted Gobi Desert, endless desert, long time to see this same scenery is too hypnotic, these uncles and aunts have a group of retired old cadres from Baoji, all the way with the microphone roaring Qin cavity, I listened to the roar Qin cavity actually slept soundly. After driving past Jiuquan, we headed north and came to a barren place in front of you. Seeing that the desertification is serious, my heart is mixed.
The other day, I heard a folk singer from Inner Mongolia cry and say that the grassland where they grew up when they were children is gone, and now it is a desert, and the river has dried up and withered, replaced by gray sand. At that time, I didn't really feel anything, and I felt that she was too fragile and emotional, but now I feel it when I am in the scene.
Looking at the scenery outside the window, after a while, there is a feeling of sleepiness, hundreds of kilometers of the same next door, maybe can treat insomnia.
Before closing my eyes, I remembered that it was a "checkpoint in the big tree", and there was a military base not far away without any signs, and the eye-catching slogan read "Stealing secrets must be caught, catch and kill the head", I always felt that this slogan was too straightforward, even if it was changed to "stealing secrets must be investigated and severely punished", later I found that it was still necessary to catch and kill the head to make it easier to understand and come cheerfully.
Arrive at Alashan League
After a long journey, the next day finally reached the Ejina Banner of the Alxa League in Inner Mongolia.
The pony, thinking that there was no one on the road, was running on the boardwalk, and when it met me around the corner, it startled itself, cautiously slowed past me and sped away.
Ejina Poplar Forest Scenic Area has been listed as a Global Geopark, China National Geopark, China Alxa Desert Geopark and China National Forest Park.
Populus is the only tree species that can grow naturally in Xinjiang's deserts and sandy lands, mainly distributed around the Taklamakan Desert, with the Tarim, Yarkand and Hotan rivers on both sides and many rivers in the southern edge of the Tarim Basin being the most concentrated, forming a "green corridor" of thousands of miles.
Blackwater City in the desert is actually planted green, but it has to be watered every day. The photo was taken when I stepped on the dirt and put the phone to the minimum. The thesis that one thousand years does not die, one thousand years after death does not fall, and one thousand years after falling does not rot, this thesis can be verified in the wooden barrier poplar forest. Populus can grow in environments with extreme low temperatures of -42.3°C (northern Xinjiang) and extreme high temperatures of up to 49.6°C (southern Xinjiang).
All the way west
Zhang Haiyun
The ancient Black Water City was sprinkled with a trace of residual sun
The afterglow fell on the mound
Mongol warriors in the Phantom
A trumpet blown
Just to welcome a triumph
Poplar forest in the Gobi
The desert is far away
The sun sets on the Wakasui River
Golden princess in the desert
A thousand-year watch
Just waiting for one to come
Thousands of miles of driving
Just looking for a piece of autumn
All the way to the west
Just for an oasis
Poplar is a natural tree, the trunk is straight, the leaves are peculiar, the bottom is his juvenile shoots, the upper leaves are narrow and long as willows, the middle part is its middle age, the leaves become diamond-shaped, oval, semi-circular, the top is when it is old, the leaves become jagged maple leaf shape, because of this gradually changing three-leaf form of a tree, so it is also known as "variable leaf poplar", "heteroleaf poplar".
There are eight bridges in the Ejina Poplar Forest Scenic Area, and the scenery of each bridge is very different. One bridge is called Tao Lai Lin, the second bridge reflection forest, the third bridge red willow sea, the fourth bridge hero forest, the fifth bridge is the Tulgunt Manor, the sixth bridge is temporarily not open, the seven bridges dream forest, the eight bridges sand sea forest.
Ejina Poplar Forest is one of the only three intact primitive poplar forests in the world, which not only has a unique scenery, but also acts as a barrier against wind and sand, shielding the Badain Jaran Desert from spreading north.
This photo is a fork in the road I took to avoid the large army of tourists, there is a large wetland inside, and the scenery is reserved for one person.
Heishui City, known as Harahhot in Mongolian, also known as Heicheng, is located in the desert on the north bank of the dry Ejina River (Heishui), 25 kilometers southeast of the town of Dalaikubu, the seat of the Ejina Banner Government of the Alashan League, and is part of the Guyan culture. The ruins of Heishui City were built during the Western Xia Dynasty, when the Western Xia Dynasty set up the "Yan Junsi of Heishui Town".
The sunrise in the Juyanhai, get up at half past four, just to see the sunrise.
Red-billed gulls flying from Siberia
Red-billed gulls from Siberia, the weather is lower they go all the way south, which is taken at the end of September in the Juyanhai, Dali's red-billed gulls are generally from November to March, that is, in another month they will winter in the south.
Located in the north of the Ejina Banner of the Alxa League of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Juyanhai is narrow and curved in shape, like a crescent moon, and the Ejina River flows into the lake, which is the main source of water supply for the Guyan Sea. Juyan is a Xiongnu language, translated as weak water quicksand in the "Notes on the Classic of Water", which was called Juyanze in the Han Dynasty, the West Sea in the Wei and Jin dynasties, and Juyanhai in the Tang Dynasty, now known as Swan Lake.
On the other side of the boundary marker is Mongolia.
After the Alxa tour, continue to take the bus back to Zhangye and go to Zhangye to enjoy the colorful danxia.
And then Qilian
Zhang Haiyun
The car looked at Qilian from afar
Thousand-year-old ice covers the top of the mountain
Imagine Akira out of the jam
In the past, Wei Qing guarded the border pass
The Silk Road camel bell rang
Gobi loyalists are buried elsewhere
The deceased has made dust
Huang Sha is still smiling
Arrive in Zhangye
It's not like a paint box knocking over spilled colors
Zhangye Colorful Danxia is the most typical Danxia landform in the arid region of northern China, and is the only Danxia landform and colorful hilly landscape highly composite area in China, colorful, ornamental, large area, majestic, dangerous, strange, secluded and beautiful.
Shooting colorful danxia must use a filter, and the naked eye can not see the color to achieve such a vivid color.
Colorful Danxia Scenic Area is a national 5A-level tourist scenic spot and a global geopark, and is one of the "Seven Most Beautiful Danxia in China", "Dangerous and Picturesque - Six Most Beautiful Strange Landforms in China" and "One of the World's Top Ten Magical Geographical Wonders".
Staying during the trip, since I was alone, I was arranged to share a room with an uncle who came from Baoji. This uncle is really nice, I went out for a run, because I didn't come back late, my uncle didn't sleep and was waiting for me all the time.
During the chat, I learned that this uncle is actually from Xi'an, and after returning from the army, he was assigned to work on the railway in Baoji, and he got married and had children and stayed in Baoji, and he is 77 years old this year (two years older than my father). Perhaps due to frequent travel, his body looks as healthy as that of people in their sixties, and this time he traveled with a group of elementary and junior high school classmates.
During the period, I also talked about my father, saying that they were all the same age, but my father did not like to go out, and every time he asked him to travel together, he was reluctant to come out, although he was younger than this uncle, but his body and spirit looked obviously old, and he also told his uncle that he would tell my father about the experience of meeting his uncle in the future, and give him a positive lecture. But a month later, my father suddenly died of a heart attack in the middle of the night, which is one of the reasons why I never wrote this travelogue, and whenever I think of this uncle who stayed with me for two nights, I think of my father.
Return
After touring the colorful Danxia bus, you will drive back to Lanzhou and take the high-speed train back to Xi'an.
On the way back I taught them how to repair photos, and the two old men showed me after learning to repair them, and I praised them for learning quickly, and my aunt was happy like a child who got a little red flower.
Guess it's food?