All the way to the West Part 3—Badain Jaran (Part 2)

You are a miracle created by heaven,

You are God’s curve.

D5 2017/10/3

Continuing from the previous chapter, after coming out of the campground, we walked towards Ejina Banner. Hu Zi, the deputy director and the principal were in the same car. The young people were fast. Lao Xin and I walked slowly. We met at the PetroChina gas station and put the garbage in Gas station.

I can’t remember where I had lunch, maybe I didn’t eat it at all. At 15:40, Lao Xin and I saw the sign for the Badain Jaran Desert Scenic Area and quickly asked the three people who ran in front to come back. By the way, we took a photo at the door. It turned out that our main destination was the Ejina Populus euphratica forest. We didn’t do enough homework on Badain Jaran. I knew a little about Badain Jaran, but we had no plan for how to play in the scenic spot.

After the three birdmen came back, we went to the ticket office of the scenic spot. There were not many people, but there were quite a few off-road vehicles, all here to drum up business. We talked about this and that, but nothing came to an agreement. In addition, it was already past four in the afternoon, and the tour guide said that there was no place to stay. We were thinking, should we go to Ejina Banner and come back? At this time, I met someone who seemed to be the general manager or something, and he said, if there is a place to live, you can go. A yurt costs 1,280 yuan with a tour guide. You can negotiate the price yourself.

It was around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and we started to enter the Badain Jaran tourist area. Let me add that the place we stayed in last night was a wilderness, and we broke into it. The place we went to today had to pay, and the scenery was of course better. Plan to stay at Badan Lake at night. Setting up your own tent is not allowed and you must follow instructions.

I guess everyone doesn’t like to hear people nagging, so instead of being verbose about anything, let’s just post pictures and videos.

Let’s make a video first

Nothing can stop your yearning for freedom

Let’s talk about the tour guide we invited. His WeChat name is “Desert Knife Brother”. He has participated in the rescue work of the Dakar Rally and is not a competitor. Give Brother Dao a picture.

Later in the evening, we invited Brother Dao to have dinner together. Brother Dao was eating crab and said, "This thing is not delicious at all. There is no meat at all. It is not as enjoyable as eating leg of lamb." Brother Dao said, you are nervous in the desert mainly because you are not familiar with the desert and are afraid, just like me for water. Standing by the dark water, I feel dizzy. You need to get familiar with the desert first (as expected, we were not so nervous when we went to the Taklimakan Desert later).

Brother Dao is here, and we are ready to enter the desert. In the first step, Brother Dao deflates our tires. The tire pressure is increased from 2.6 kg to 1.4 kg. At almost 5 pm, we start to enter the tourist area, targeting Bataan Lake. .

Brother Dao’s old Prado that has competed in the Dakar Rally

The sandy road is long

The car got stuck on the top of a slope and needed rescue.

Brother Dao drove to the rescue, and Lao Xin and I drove carefully in the desert. Lao Xin was an experienced driver, and I was still nagging at the same time, which sounded funny.

Go stay first and put down your luggage

After putting down our luggage, Brother Dao took us to a sand mountain to experience it

The bright moon is in the sky, Brother Dao is teaching me how to drive a car

At about 19:30 in the evening, we finished driving in the desert, returned to the yurt, packed up our things, and then went to the restaurant to eat. There were many people eating, and we waited for a long time but didn’t get anything. Later, under the contact of Brother Dao, we went to Bataan Barbecuing in a yurt by the lake.

After eating, it was already very late. Anyway, I remembered to go to bed after 1:00. We took photos in the yurt for 1,280 yuan.

I’ll post another video before going to bed.

D6 2017/10/4

Get up at 6:00 in the morning and climb the sand mountain. Yesterday the assistant director boasted that one could climb up Haikou in ten minutes. Me, Lao Xin, and the assistant director got up. Huzi and the principal didn't want to get up. They went to bed too late in the morning and went to bed after 1:30 in the morning.

The sand mountain was too difficult to climb, it was high and steep. Wearing shoes, the shoes were full of sand as soon as we stepped down. When we took off our shoes, it was too cold. It's already very cold here in October. If it weren't for the ladder embedded in the sand, I wouldn't be able to climb it. I didn't sleep too much last night, I was so groggy that I felt like I would fall down when I raised my head.

The sky is still dark

In the darkness, the assistant director shouted

Look up at the top of the mountain, it’s still far away

Lao Xin and the assistant director were climbing up step by step. Lao Xin almost gave up. Later, he knelt down and prayed, and finally he was resurrected with full health.