Driving on Duku Highway, from sunny to snowy to endless rain
The famous Duku Highway is the shortest way to connect northern and southern Xinjiang, and its mileage is at least half shorter than the original detour to Daheyan or Hejing County. Starting from Dushanzi, Youcheng in northern Xinjiang, it spirals up along the Kuitun River to the depths of the Tianshan Mountains, crosses the Tianshan Mountains, and finally reaches Kuqa in southern Xinjiang. Many sections of this highway are extremely steep, with one side facing mountains and the other facing a river. There are snow peaks, canyons, lakes, and grasslands along the way. It is known as the most beautiful landscape avenue in Xinjiang.
With such a beautiful itinerary, I naturally want to go there. In fact, I set off from Kanas Lake, which is further away, and headed south, crossing two high-altitude "Daban" (mountain passes). After two days of running, I arrived at the Bayinbuluke Grassland. Sunday afternoon. Although it is midsummer in June, the Duku Highway is covered with rain and snow. It is also dotted with shepherds, sheep and yurts, forming a majestic and colorful Tianshan scenery, which makes people secretly feel happy. this trip.
Speaking of which, most of my understanding of Bayinbulak comes from the movie "The Legend of Heroes Returning from the East". During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the Mongolian Turghut tribe in the desert, which had moved westward to the lower reaches of the Volga River for nearly two hundred years, could not bear the racial discrimination and barbaric policies of the Russian Empire. Under the leadership of its leader Wobasi, they passed through After several years of preparation, he returned with his troops to the east. After the Russian Empress heard the news, she immediately sent tens of thousands of soldiers to pursue and intercept them. After seven months of arduous journey, thousands of miles and bloody fighting, the Torgut people arrived in Ili from 170,000 people and only 43,000 were left, completing the human race. The last tragic national migration in history. The Qing government at that time settled them in the Bayinbulak Grassland and Kaidu River Basin, which is now the Bayingolin Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture.
Bayinbuluk means "rich springs" in Mongolian and is located in the northwest of Hejing County and the central basin at the southern foot of the Tianshan Mountains. With fertile water and grass and surrounded by snow-capped mountains, it is the second largest alpine pasture after Ordos, Inner Mongolia, and the most important animal husbandry base in Xinjiang. However, the attraction that tourists flock to see is the "nine twists and turns" formed by the Kaidu River flowing through the Bayinbulak Grassland. Smart locals have fenced off this area to protect it or make a profit, but no one can enter it without paying a few hundred yuan. Regardless of tickets, many scenic spots in Xinjiang rely on their large territory to set up ticket offices dozens of kilometers away, prohibiting other outside vehicles from entering, and forcing tourists to take special buses to scenic spots with ridiculously expensive fares, which is really ruining people's mood.
Complaining is nothing but complaining. Now I can only accept it as it comes. The weather on the grassland was really weird. The sun was shining just now, and suddenly it started to rain. It was winter again in an instant. I put on all the clothes I could wear, but I was still shivering from the cold. Several short-sleeved men, wearing rented yellow military coats, were rubbing their hands and stamping their feet, jumping up and down, looking a bit nondescript and making people laugh.
In this season, Xinjiang’s scenic spots are never short of tourists, and tourist buses turn around like a revolving lantern. Looking through the window, the green vastness, the undulating snow-capped mountains, and the grassland look like a work of art deliberately woven by someone. Mongolian yurts, lamasery, folk villages, or even shepherds riding tall horses waving long whips to drive the sheep, the whole scene flows, as if traveling in a medieval documentary.
In fact, Bayinbuluk, which is rich in water and grass, has always been the object of competition for nomads, from the ancient Gushi, Huns, and Turks to today's Han, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Kazakh people. thrive here. The fertile "butter grass" everywhere also breeds the "four treasures of the grassland", namely yaks, big-tailed sheep, merino sheep and Yanqi Tianshan horses that can be seen everywhere. Xinjiang fine-wool sheep were distributed to Dingxi, Gansu Province as poverty alleviation materials.
When I got off the bus at Swan Lake, it was raining heavily. When a girl named Suzuko saw me walking in the rain, she took the initiative to hold an umbrella to protect me from the rain. After crossing the wooden corridor, the rain stopped, and we went to visit separately. In fact, this is the largest alpine wetland in Xinjiang. It is a swamp area composed of many small lakes connected in series. It is more than 30 kilometers long from east to west and more than 10 kilometers wide from north to south. It has endless grass, surrounded by snow peaks, and is home to swans and various birds. It is an ideal habitat, so it was designated as the first swan nature reserve in the country. Every April, swans and various migratory birds fly in from the south in groups to settle and breed. During the peak period, there were nearly 10,000 large, small and mute swans, staying in the wetland for up to eight months.
The scenic spot has built wooden plank roads and fences on the edge of the largest lake to facilitate visitors. There are also several snow-white toad statues squatting on the meadow, which probably means "the toad wants to eat swan meat." Perhaps because of the sudden change in climate, there were only a few pairs of swans seen today, but there were many red-billed gulls circling in circles, sometimes swooping down, sometimes flying low, prompting tourists to click the shutter frequently. Climbing over the plank road and walking towards the depths of the lake, there are several pairs of swans that are not afraid of people playing by the lake.
I have always thought that swans are proud nobles who cannot be approached by ordinary people. But when we meet him face to face, we find that he is cute, docile and an artist with a natural sense of humor. Most of them are parallel in pairs, with their curved necks pointing toward the sky, and their postures are elegant; some are alone, with their heads and necks completely buried under the water, forming a fluffy floating island; or they put their heads into the water, with their curved necks like handles, turning into a decanter. Someone throws food, but the swan is not afraid of food. When it eats something, it straightens its chest and abdomen, stretches its neck and spreads its wings, and dances ballet. It is really cute and perverse.
There are more swans on the back of the mountain. The locals say that you have to ride a horse to see them.
When I looked up, I saw dozens of horses lined up in a long snake on the ridge of the mountain, standing tall against the sky and on the ground, like horses flying in the sky. Because of the long distance, I chose to give up and look for a way to see the Kaidu River. From Swan Lake, you can hike or take a battery car to the top of the mountain. There is a viewing platform on the top of the mountain, which is the best place to watch the "Nine Winds and Eighteen Bends".
Taking a battery car to the observation deck, the sudden cold weather did not hinder the tourists' interest at all. I squeezed through the crowd and got to the front of the observation deck. The legendary "Nine Bends and Eighteen Bends" rushed towards me, which made people cheer loudly. The bright Kaidu River is like a ribbon, or like a giant dragon, approaching from far away, gradually getting wider, winding and twisting on the vast grassland. But I don’t bother to delve into how many twists and turns there are. It's a pity that the dark clouds cover the sun in the west. If the dark clouds disperse at this time, even if they just crack a little gap, allowing the sunlight to pour in, the contrast between light and dark, the clouds and clouds will be beautiful, which will form a wonderful scenery.
If Duku Highway is a full-scale landscape scroll, Bayinbuluke is the finishing touch of this painting. I thought that if I could see the "Nine Winds and Eighteen Bends" under the setting sun, it would more or less make up for the regret of not seeing the Kanas Lake Monster. The good spots have long been occupied by various tripods. I wandered around for a long time before I found a little gap, set up my airs, and waited for the stormy clouds to clear and the sunset to take off.
Speaking of Kaidu River, it is very famous. It is said to be the "Tongtian River" in "Journey to the West". Tang Monk traveled west to Tianzhu and came back from Buddhist scriptures. The old turtle carried them across the river again and asked about the entrustment, but Tang Monk forgot about it. Therefore, the mangy turtle deliberately threw the master and apprentice into the river, causing the water to wet the scriptures. Some people say that the "Sutra Drying Island" is located in Hejing County. However, the "nine twists and turns" in front of us cannot be seen to have anything to do with monsters and monsters. A river on the left draws a heart shape on the grassland, just like the arrows shot by Cupid, the god of love in Western legends, with a slightly romantic sentiment.
Snowy mountains, grasslands, twists and turns, such magnificent artistic elements, but it still depends on God’s face. Although the rain stopped, the lead-colored clouds hung low behind the snow-capped mountains and showed no signs of dissipating. Occasionally, a little flaw is revealed, and then it is quickly closed, as if it is deliberately provocative, for fear that we will see the true face of the sun. In such a background, although the grassland retains its richness and vastness, it does not have the "nine twists and turns" of light and shadow, and the colors are gray and monotonous, making it difficult to take satisfactory pictures.
However, just after I left, Miss Suzuko, whom I met by chance at Swan Lake, told me that I happened to see the sunset at Bayinbuluke. She sent a picture, with brilliant clouds and flowing light and shadow. The picture was so beautiful that it made people want to be like a monster with "nine twists and turns". I was speechless. You know that feeling. I could only beat my chest and complain incessantly.