Lanzhou to Qilianshan is actually still a certain distance, for those who like to travel by car, the journey by car is still full of fun, you can make more reasonable use of their time, the following to share with you Lanzhou to Qilianshan driving tour guide.
Seventh day 8.2
Early in the morning to Xi'an silk group carvings held a unique ceremony out of the city, issued a customs ultimatum. This set off - Lanzhou.
High-speed rail travel, along the way more and more have the feeling of the West, in the hometown of lush green mountains into a huge "mound".
Xi'an to Lanzhou high-speed rail is not too long, the road landscape is not legendary. Before entering the West, although some psychological preparation, knowing that the conditions will be more difficult.
But originally from Yunnan, an economically underdeveloped region, I did not have too many concerns, thinking that I am afraid that it is similar to my hometown.?
Lanzhou, it's a really chaotic and airy city. This is my first impression of Lanzhou. I just left Xi'an, and the difference between the two is too great.
We waited for a cab for almost an hour after leaving the high speed train, and I really admired the driver's skill on the way to the hotel, he drove across the street, and I felt like I almost crashed several times.
But after three cab rides in one night, I realized that this is the norm for driving in Lanzhou.
Urban transportation in the still-developing western city, Lanzhou, is really chaotic. The streets are littered with construction sites, which is a difficult process to avoid.
Drivers are driving savagely, it seems that not savage some to scramble, in this land will certainly be difficult to move an inch. Another manifestation of chaos: sidewalks become "street stalls a street".
This phenomenon appeared in the Yellow River Iron Bridge near the street, look at the prosperity of the street, this section should be the main street of Lanzhou, but completely occupied by stalls.
Unlike other cities, this seems to be normal in Lanzhou, without city police shooing people all over the street. Clothes, Korean makeup, and even manicures all bustle and survive on these crowded sidewalks.
Lanzhou gives me the impression of being a bit more backward than Kunming. A lot of guest houses, hypermarkets, wholesale clothing markets, trade cities, such words that I feel are more dated, can be found everywhere in Lanzhou. A few random roadside stores, the goods also lack cutting-edge elements.
The first time I saw the Yellow River, there were yachts on the shore advertising "Boat on the blue waves, people in the painting. I was amused by this line. It is obviously the Yellow River, where is the blue wave?
Zhengning Road Snack Street is Lanzhou specialty snack street, most of the food is also Hui people. This street is shorter and narrower, more grounded. Also did taste some delicious affordable food, such as: egg milk mash, sweet spirits.
Day 8.3
Five or six hours of driving early in the morning, to the Dasan Mountain Observation Deck, but ten minutes can not stay, too cold! Altitude 3760, really, really cold.
Before we even got off the bus there were indigenous people gathered around, begging us to buy their garlands, mouthing, "Sister sister, earn us some tuition!" I paused for a moment and refused. Although the cold and intense UV rays that darkened and chapped their skin was a little hard on the heart, I refused out of instinct. On the way back I thought hard about whether or not I should buy things I didn't need in order to "help them". It reminded me of the time I was morally abducted from buying flowers at the beach with my _brother_, and I suddenly hated this kind of exploitation of other people's sympathy.
It's a societal mentality that the strong should have compassion for the weak and do what they can to help them.
In this scenario, I was the strong one in their eyes, and I was supposed to help them by purchasing an object that I didn't want and that wasn't of equal value to me. I've since traveled to other places and found that this kind of business practice is not uncommon in some parts of the Northwest, where people like to open their sales with words like: help us, it's not easy, and so on. But they are simple. They simply want to sell something without deception or coercion. This is much better than the vendors at Baekseong Beach who always use flower delivery as a lead-in to force a sale. Was it my heart that was too hard? Standing in a safe place, thinking about behavior with a mindset that it's not a matter of concern. But I still think that my buying a garland of flowers doesn't change anyone's life situation, but rather makes them content to make money from tourists instead of focusing on developing an industry that can actually support their families.
Afternoon to Mengyuan, Mengyuan rapeseed flowers have been thankful, far away from the snowy mountains, green but also have a different flavor.
Night Qilian. When I came to Qilian has been seven and a half, the sun has not yet set, but it is very cold. Qilian is a county, but also worse than Qubei.
In a Sichuan restaurant for dinner, husband and wife are Chengdu people, over Qilian has been twenty years. They do not speak Mandarin, we used the Sichuan dialect to communicate.
In the meantime, the man took his daughter to clean up, but I realized that this small store has not been cleaned for a long time.
The original white walls were yellow and the water in the basin was dirty. Although it said it was Sichuan cuisine, the dishes were actually very few and far between, and my mom just ate the dumplings.
While I wondered why they chose to uproot themselves to this place for twenty years.
But after asking if they were in the military, I didn't ask. Qilian prices are not high, and the white cake is very large and only a dollar.
So-called wonderland Qilian, really let me some of a dream. Because, too cold!
The square in this small county did not have a big mother gathered to dance square dance, everyone is almost wearing a cotton jacket, which makes the first time to wear shorts I am very embarrassed, all the way to also received a lot of strange eyes. Plus the streets were less crowded, making it even more chilly.
There are more Tibetan people in Qilian, and almost all the stores, the local tax office and the national tax office have Tibetan in addition to Chinese.
This was my initial thought, then on the way back I met a gentleman on the plane who had lived in Gansu for many years, and we talked about our knowledge of Gansu.
He told me that he had stayed in Qilian for one fall and winter, and it was freezing, not to mention that even the summer was so cold. Life is really not easy, this world there is such a wonderland?
In this place is not the most Tibetan, not the most Hui people, but a kind of Tibet and Hui people between the ethnic groups.
Day 9, 8.4 a.m.
Sunrise on Mt. Zhuoer.
This is the second time out to see the sunrise action, get up early, but also because of cloud cover did not see the sunrise. Qilian's cold has been seen the day before, today for the first time in August to wear a down jacket. When the sun shines on the snowy mountains, I remembered that Fu Zhen wrote about the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the Golden Dome.
Zhuoer Mountain is beautiful, but not quite stunning.
Along the way, we came to Arou Daiji, a small temple of Tibetan Buddhism. Most tourists like to take photos of the distinctive grounds, such as the transepts and streamers. But very few people take a serious look at its culture and wisdom. Aru Monastery is not a very touristy place and maintains a relatively pristine look. It was an area we were completely unaware of, and while this trip focused on the Silk Road, it was an exploration of faith all the way. I saw Tibetan women circling around a building chanting, and little Tibetan children. And then I remembered the words of the ticket clerk on the bus ride in Xi'an: "What we know is very little, but the unknown is infinite. We may get lost in the ocean of knowledge, and many things are like primers leading us to discover and explore." Along the way, I have known exceptionally little, but it has opened door after door of knowledge for me, and after that, it's up to me to learn, to access, and to explore.
Knowledge of Tibetan Buddhism will be mentioned in more detail in the chapter on the Ta'er Monastery in Xining.
Summary: Compared with the places I've visited in the past, the west does bring a shock to the mind and the eyes.
With the inconvenience of transportation, it brings us inconvenience in traveling, but also brings us something that we can't have in the eastern developed areas.
In fact, human warmth and coldness all over the end of the world, the story, where there are.