Let you wander, you become a national tourism image ambassador

Chapter 473 Crossing No Man’s Land

Although the sound of the flute is less desolate than the sound of the flute, it is more melodious and majestic.

There is no good or bad between the two, they just give people different feelings. It is only due to the conditions that Qin Yuan uses the bamboo flute to play it.

After finishing playing "Guanxianyue", Qin Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, and the complicated emotions in his heart were finally vented.

"Okay, it's getting late. I have to continue on my journey. The next stop is Yadan Geopark. It depends on the situation today. If I have enough time, I will continue to the next city after visiting the Geopark. If not, I will set up a tent and camp near the Geopark tonight."

As Qin Yuan spoke, he left the Yumen Pass ruins and headed towards the Yadan Geopark. The distance from his current location to the Yadan Geopark was 70 kilometers, and it would take about 2 hours to arrive.

It is now 11 o'clock in the morning, which means he will arrive around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, and he will still have some time to go shopping.

After he finished speaking while looking at the camera, he turned the camera around and began to shoot the scenery along the way. From leaving the city to entering the Yumen Pass ruins, all he passed through was the Gobi Desert.

This kind of scenery is very different from before, it has a different kind of bleak beauty, so he naturally would not miss it.

Taking photos and riding along the way, he successfully arrived at Yadan Geopark two hours later, and then he started the tour guide mode again.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I am now at the second scenic spot I want to visit today, Yadan Geopark.

Yadan National Geopark, also known as "Yadang Ghost City", is an important part of Dunhuang World Geopark in my country.

The Dunhuang Yadan landform is the largest and most geologically mature landform discovered in the world so far.

It is also the most ornamental Yadan landform community and is known as "one of the three most beautiful Yadans in Longguo".

The so-called Yadan refers to a typical wind-eroded landform. "Yadang" means "a small hill with steep walls" in Uyghur.

From 1899 to 1903, Swedish explorer Sven Hedin explored Lop Nur in the western region of Longguo.

They are distributed in groups around the ancient lake, hundreds of meters long, more than 2 to 3 meters high, and run from northeast to southwest. The various landforms formed by water erosion and then wind erosion are called Yardang in the local Uyghur language.

Later, as his book "Central Asia and XZ" was widely circulated in domestic and foreign academic circles, it was transliterated as "Yadang" in Longguo.

From then on, the term "Yadang" was officially accepted by the scientific field.

After the discovery of the Yardang landform in the Lop Nur Desert, many similar landforms were found in many places in the world's arid regions, all collectively referred to as Yardang landforms.

However, looking around the world, the largest and most spectacular Yadan landform group is the Dunhuang Yadan Geopark in front of us.

This is also the main reason why I came here. After all, there are not many scenic spots like this one that are the best in the world.

Dunhuang Yadan National Geopark is located in the northwest of Yumen Pass, 168 kilometers away from the urban area of ​​Dunhuang.

In other words, I have ridden 168 kilometers today, and it only took me 5 hours to complete this distance. I admire myself so much!

Okay, let’s get back to the topic. This geological park is divided into two areas, north and south. It is about 25 kilometers long from east to west and about 18 kilometers wide from north to south, with a total area of ​​398 square kilometers.

The main scenery to see is the geological relics formed by wind erosion.

Therefore, the attractions in the entire scenic area are quite homogeneous, and my time is limited today, so I can just take a quick look.

It is obviously impossible to fully explore the scenic area of ​​nearly 400 square kilometers, unless I am crazy.

Okay, let’s go buy the tickets first. Adult tickets are 40 yuan, which is quite affordable.”

After Qin Yuan bought an adult ticket at the window, he led the Husky into the scenic area. As for the bomber, it flew into the sky and began its aerial photography.

Now that he has a bomber by his side, he doesn't need to fly his drone anymore. Moreover, drones consume a lot of power and need to be charged frequently.

However, the Peregrine-bomber only needs to be fed with a little bird food. After flying a circle, it only consumes a few mouthfuls of bird food. This cost-effectiveness is not comparable to that of drones.

After entering the scenic area, Qin Yuan got directly on the sightseeing bus. After all, the area of ​​the entire scenic area is very large, and it is definitely not possible to walk around.

"Now I have successfully entered the geological park. Do you know why this place is also called the Devil City?

Don't understand? Come, look along my lens now. Do you see the towering earthen mounds of various shapes?

These mounds of earth are the so-called Yardangs. There are countless Yardangs here, and each Yardang has a different shape.

For example, the Yadan looks like a yurt, the one further away looks like a camel, and there is also one that looks like a Buddha statue.

There are various wind-eroded landforms with strange shapes distributed throughout the geological park, which can be said to be varied and lifelike.

It is like an ancient city from the Middle Ages. Many of the world's famous buildings can be found in miniature here, which amazes the world.

This place is part of the ancient Lop Nur, a desert plain area with plenty of sunlight, little rainfall, high evaporation, and strong winds all year round, with the maximum wind speed reaching over level 12.

After nightfall, the sharp wind makes a terrifying howling sound, as if tens of millions of wild beasts are roaring, which is creepy. This is why it is named "Devil City".

In addition to the Yadan landform, the Devil City actually has other wind-eroded landforms of various types and peculiar shapes, which we will be able to see later. "Qin Yuan explained while filming.

Yadan Geopark is a very famous scenic spot, so there are quite a lot of tourists. As he introduced, some tourists around him automatically pricked up their ears and listened very carefully.

In fact, there are tour guides in the scenic area, but it costs money to hire a tour guide, and many tour guides’ explanation skills are actually very average, so not many people are willing to spend the money.

The appearance of Qin Yuan just satisfied the tourists' desire to listen to the commentary for free, which naturally became a benefit for the surrounding tourists.

"Handsome guy, you explain it very well. Are you a travel blogger?"

Just when Qin Yuan paused to catch his breath, an elderly couple sitting next to Qin Yuan looked at him with a smile and asked.

Hearing this, Qin Yuan smiled and nodded, saying, "Yes, uncle and aunt, where did you come from?"

"Yanjing, we came from Yanjing. We have been here for several days. We went to Mogao Grottoes and Crescent Lake a few days ago, and we came to Devil City today. I heard that this place is quite famous, but I didn't know why it was called Devil City. I just found out after listening to your explanation.

Young man, you are very knowledgeable!" The aunt gave Qin Yuan a thumbs up and said with admiration.

"Haha, I don't think I'm knowledgeable at all. I just look for good materials on the Internet and read them. It's nothing."

"Young man, you are too modest. I just saw that you spoke all these things without looking at the information. It is obvious that you have memorized all these things in your mind. You are already very impressive.

I'm a recently retired university teacher. I see that you should have just graduated from university, right? Which school did you go to?" The old man looked at Qin Yuan curiously and asked.

"My school is very ordinary, so I won't mention the name of it because I don't want to bring shame to my alma mater. The uncles and aunts have arrived, you can get off the bus now."

At this moment, the sightseeing bus stopped, signaling everyone to move freely, and Qin Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and ran away.

As expected of a university teacher, he asked the name of his school not long after they met. This is a serious occupational disease!

When he was on the sightseeing bus, he had nowhere to walk because everyone was sitting together, but now he is free to move around and can choose places with fewer people so that he won't be stared at.

With this thought in mind, Qin Yuan walked into a sparsely populated canyon.

“As I said earlier, in addition to the various shapes of Yadan, Devil City also has other wind-eroded landforms.

What appear before your eyes now are wind erosion valleys and wind erosion residual hills. They are formed because heavy rains erode the surface into many valleys.

Then, the wind blows along these valleys. Due to repeated erosion by heavy rain and wind, the valleys gradually expand and deepen, and eventually develop into canyons, so they are called wind erosion valleys.

Now look in the direction of my finger, and you can see those rocks that look like pillars. They are called wind-eroded pillars.

Wind erosion columns are wind erosion residual hills with particularly developed vertical joints in their sand and mud layers, and they have been repeatedly cut and eroded by wind due to many heavy rains.

Eventually, the soft sand and rocks are swept away, and the original blocks of rock are cut into stone pillars, so they are called wind erosion pillars.

These wind-eroded pillars have been carved by strong winds like knives and axes into shapes that resemble objects, humans, birds and animals, in various poses and are very lifelike.

For example, the wind erosion column in front was blown into a mushroom shape by strong winds, so it is called a wind erosion mushroom.

Yes, you heard it right, that thing is called wind erosion mushroom.

Wind erosion mushrooms can develop further, but when wind erosion reaches a certain extent, they will become unstable.

Then when the wind blows, it will make the wind-eroded mushroom sway from side to side, and then it will become a rocking stone. Isn’t it interesting? "

Qin Yuan walked to a swaying stone and stared at it carefully. As a gust of wind blew, the stone immediately began to shake, which was very interesting to watch.

This was actually the first time Qin Yuan had seen such a scene with his own eyes. Before that, he had only seen it through videos on the Internet.

There is a big difference between watching someone else's video and experiencing it yourself. The latter has an extra sense of immersion, which is not something a video can provide.

At this moment, his eyes looked towards the ground, and immediately he saw a piece of angular stone on the ground.

This immediately aroused his interest, and he squatted down and picked up a few pieces and held them in his hands.

"These stones are quite interesting. Let me give you some basic information. These angular stones are called wind-edge stones.

Its formation is also inseparable from wind erosion. That's it.

Wind erosion columns were mentioned earlier. The roots of wind erosion columns are often eroded by wind, forming a pit, which is called a wind erosion depression.

Then, due to the friction of wind and sand over a long period of time, the upper parts of the pebbles embedded in the depression were eroded first, forming a smooth surface.

Later, as the pebble rolled, another part was eroded to form another smooth surface. Similar actions were repeated many times, and finally multiple polished surfaces were produced, thus turning it into a wind-edge stone.

This thing has clear edges and a unique shape. It is very ornamental and would be interesting to take home and collect. "

Qin Yuan said this and put one of them into his backpack. This thing can be considered a souvenir here.

This wind-prism stone is not a valuable thing and can be taken away. After all, various kinds of wind-prism stones can be seen everywhere in the entire scenic area.

After visiting the Yadan and strolling in the wind erosion valley for more than an hour, time had unknowingly come to 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

Although the sun had not set yet, it was already late for Qin Yuan, so without much hesitation, he got on the sightseeing bus and returned to the entrance of the scenic area.

"It's getting late now. I've been to Devil City and seen all the sights I should see. It's time to leave.

My original plan was to return along the same route and then take the national highway to Hami, but after thinking about it, I realized that if I returned along the same route, I would have to walk an extra 180 kilometers, which is too far.

So I decided to change my plan temporarily. I just looked at the satellite map. If I go directly north through the Devil City, I can reach Hami directly after only 250 kilometers.

This can save me 550 kilometers. Yes, you heard it right, it saves 550 kilometers, because it takes 800 kilometers to get to Hami from where I am now via the normal national highway.

If I go directly through the Devil City, it only takes 250 kilometers, so why does the map navigation tell me to take the national highway?
The reason is very simple, because the interior of the Devil City is a huge uninhabited area with a very harsh natural environment and a shortage of water resources.

It should not be said that there is a shortage, it is basically non-existent, so under normal circumstances, no one would ride a bicycle across the Devil City.

Because it is very dangerous. Besides there is no water and no signal, there are also various dangerous wild animals, including wolves.

So let alone riding a bicycle, even driving across is quite dangerous. As far as I know, many tragedies have happened there before.

But I still have confidence in myself, so I decided to take a shortcut this time and just go straight through the no-man’s land!
Fortunately, when I left the city today, I prepared some extra dry food, enough to sustain me for three days. Now I just need to buy a few more bottles of water and we can set off."

Qin Yuan said this and rode towards a nearby store, then bought two 5-liter buckets of mineral water. Then he headed towards the uninhabited area of ​​the Devil City without looking back.

(End of this chapter)