2023 Western Self-Driving Tour—Day50 Dahaidao
📆2023-10-16 Monday The 50th day of the western self-driving tour
🚙Itinerary: Sandaoling—Dahaidao—Hami
📍Dahaidao
🔷Dahaidao is the only uninhabited area in the country that can be legally crossed.
🔷It is currently the most complete, magnificent, and most valuable Yardang landform in the country and even the world.
🔷The Dahaidao ancient castle group, with the tallest reaching over a hundred meters, is the world's tallest Yardang landform, with hardly any rivals.
💰Ticket price is 45, free for military personnel, half price 20 for military family members.
🚙Self-driving car 100.
20 kilometers away from the scenic area, you start entering the gravel road, which is in terrible condition and extremely bumpy.
Once inside the scenic area, there is another 36 kilometers of gravel road, but it is a bit better than the 20 kilometers outside the scenic area.
The scenic area is very large, and it really shows what an uninhabited area is like. For a long time, there were no other tourists, no other cars, no signs, no signals, just us running around headlessly like flies.
With a hand-drawn map, we roughly followed the directions below and 'thump thump thump thump' ran dozens of kilometers of gravel roads, checking in at various attractions.
North Gate—Yardang Murals—Dragon Turning Head—Tongtian Cave (popular spot)—Water Source—Mars Base—Pterosaur Grand Canyon—Red Willow Beach—Aisikexial Ancient Castle—Double-headed Horse—Hanhai Shenturtle—Check-in at the main gate
✅North Gate
✅Yardang Murals
The 'Yardang Murals' are about 3 kilometers long, with heights ranging from 8 to 15 meters. Rich in various fossil remains, the shapes are strange and varied, and it is a natural art gallery of Dahaidao.
✅Dragon Turning Head
It seems like a piece of the dragon's mouth has fallen off
✅Tongtian Cave
The most popular check-in spot in the Dahaidao scenic area‼️
The Yardang blends with the sky, and it is said that a variety of fossils have been found on the small Yardang piles scattered around. A team of experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences once discovered the first dinosaur footprint fossil in the Dahaidao scenic area here.
Just a casual shot is like a blockbuster, and it can be used as a magazine cover!
✅Water Source
The only place in the scenic area with water and greenery!
The water temperature is around 20°C all year round, and the water is rich in sulfur, carbon, and other minerals. ❌Not drinkable but has antibacterial and disinfecting effects.
✅Mars Base
✅Pterosaur Grand Canyon
About 20 kilometers of 'thump thump thump thump' washboard road, with a very vivid name—Pterosaur Grand Canyon. Driving here will make one involuntarily doubt whether they have a masochistic tendency, with dozens of kilometers of non-stop 'thump thump thump thump thump thump...'
✅Red Willow Beach
✅Aisikexial Ancient Castle (Ancient Castle + Ancient Ruins)
🔹'Aisikexial Ancient Castle' means 'old city' in Uyghur, and this place is the only site on the 500-kilometer Dahaidao section of the ancient Silk Road from Dunhuang to Turpan that can prove human activity.
🔹The 'Aisikexial Ancient Tomb Site' is located on a sand ridge about 200 meters northeast of the ancient castle, with irregular tomb distribution. In 1999, 32 tombs were excavated and cleared in a rescue operation, and three mummies and more than 130 artifacts were unearthed. It dates back to the Shang and Zhou dynasties, about 3200 years ago.
🔹This area has discovered the rare Hami pterosaur fauna and the world's first three-dimensional pterosaur egg, confirming that this is the largest distribution area and the most concentrated burial of pterosaur fossils in the world.
✅Double-headed Horse
It also looks very similar
✅Hanhai Shenturtle
It's really too similar, but the eyes seem to be artificially added.
✅Finally, check-in at the main gate
Today's sixty or seventy kilometers of washboard road, with dust flying, was even more severe than the past dust storms, covered in dust, and one must rinse their mouth before eating. The car was in such a bad shape, and there was no place to wash it, truly a sorry sight.
🌌Stay overnight in Hami, today is the last day in Xinjiang
The sea road through Hami, Xinjiang, is a dreamy journey intertwined with history and nature. Driving on the ancient road of the former Silk Road, the yellow sand is long, the Yadan landform is like a maze, and every strange peak and strange stone is a work of art carved by nature for hundreds of millions of years, which makes people sigh the creator's magical work. The sun sinks west, and the golden embers shine on the winding road, decorating this ancient land even more mysterious. Night falls, the starry sky, the Milky Way is clearly visible, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the night sky here is pure as if it can be reached. Camping in this silent wilderness, surrounded by campfires, sharing the bits of the journey with the companions, the mind has been calmed and released unprecedentedly. During the march, I encountered the abandoned ancient city site, and the ruins and broken walls seemed to hear the camel bells of the ancient caravan. The heavy sense of history came to my face, making people instantly shuttle back to the bustling scene of thousands of years ago. This self-driving is not only a pursuit of natural beauty, but also a profound cultural root-seeking journey, which makes people gain a new understanding of life, time and the universe during the journey. Xinjiang Hami Ocean Road, a place where the soul can perch and dreams fly.
The scenery is very beautiful, the whole process is not more than 100 kilometers of road, 80 kilometers of asphalt road, the rest is all sand and stone drying board road, oil and water for food! The fuel tank must be filled, the more water and food, the better! note! Bicycles must not be off the roadbed! The sand and stone ground is full of soft sand, you can't get out when you go in. The four-wheel drive is better but there are times when you can't get out, so don't get off the road! The team is exceptional. . . It is recommended to enter from the east gate of Hami, so that even if the road conditions are not good, the car can't go back. Recommended to pick up stones to the Noor Tribe roadbed everywhere. The closer the scenery is to the north gate, the better, dense and magnificent!
Self-driving Xinjiang, crossing the unmanned area of the sea road, now there are everywhere. In fact, the sea road is a scenic spot, driving to play, no surprises. But it is indeed a real no-man's area,
This journey came here. The desolateness of the western region shocked the soul. There are road signs and maps in the scenic area. Some open Gobi beaches have red waste tires to guide the way. Basically, you can't go wrong. The asphalt road in front of the scenic area is about 100 kilometers. The pterosaur Grand Canyon on the back 20 kilometers of gravel road is a bit difficult to walk, but the car is no problem. The most crashing thing is the 45 kilometers of gravel road at the Dunexit. It is not bumpy. After the gravel road, you have to walk about 60 kilometers on the unnamed road before going to the highway. If I come back next time, I will return to the highway. Very worth a visit
In Xinjiang, there is a mysterious place where you will encounter everything you can imagine about Gobi. You will encounter the legendary Devil City, roaring in Gobi; you will encounter Yadan wonders, lamenting the ghostly work of nature; You will encounter psychedelic mirages, such as the moon in the mirror, flowers in the water; you will encounter flocks of wild camels, strolling in the Gobi wilderness; the scenery here is so awkward, you will doubt whether this road is a human scenery. The Great Ocean Road, named after the Great Shahai Sea, is also known as Shahai Road. It brings together ancient castles, dragonflies, station, prehistoric human settlements, fossil mountains, mirages, desert wild camels, and many rare geographical features. Enter the Devil City, Yadan landforms, thousands of shapes, lamenting the ghostly work of nature! At the end of the asphalt road, turn into the stone road. Along the way, cross from the Potala Palace, as if through time and space.