Day 2 of the Qinggan-Gansu Great Loop Route: Heading to Dreamland

The Sky Mirror can be said to be a childhood dream.

When I was a child, I saw the photo of Chaka Salt Lake for the first time in a geographical magazine. The low, shallow and calm surface of the lake was really like a mirror of the sky, which left a deep impression on me.

It turns out that this world is not only filled with seas, rivers, woods, etc., but also such pure, white and quiet places where all you can see is the blue of the sky and the white of the clouds.

Although I don’t know the specific meaning of the name Chaka, I immediately labeled it as pure and poetic.

In recent years, there have been more and more reports about the excessive flow of tourists to Chaka Salt Lake and the piles of garbage in the scenic area. It feels like a dream in my heart has been broken.

But I still want to visit this place that has been on my mind for so long.

In fact, seeing the Salt Lake is a test of luck. It requires enough water, clear weather, and no wind.

On a cloudy day, it is just an ordinary puddle. After all, the salt lake is a "mirror", and the beautiful sky must be beautiful to reflect the beautiful scenery.

So it's a different scene at sunset.

I was lucky. The weather was actually very good that day. The sky was very blue and there was not even an extra cloud.

There are no very advanced photography skills or much post-production color correction. This is the most real salt lake.

The water only covers the top of your feet, and there are white salt particles under your feet. Walking in the lake is a wonderful feeling.

When you actually come to Salt Lake, to be honest, you will be a little disappointed. It is undeniable that it is beautiful, it is very mature as an attraction, the service facilities are also very considerate, and there are small trains that transport tourists back and forth. Maybe it’s this strong sense of commercialism that broke my imagination of it since childhood.

Until we arrived at Emerald Lake, this is an attraction that has only been developed in recent years.

It has a different beauty from the Salt Lake in Chaka. It is unpolished jade.

cr: Kan Kan

Here’s another very interesting story. In the lakes we visited these past two days, we could hear Cantonese people taking a sip of the lake water and shouting in Cantonese: “This water is so salty!” It seems that Cantonese people give others a “dare to try anything” "This stereotype is really difficult to get rid of.

After walking around, we took some photos on the shore of Emerald Lake that had nothing to do with Emerald Lake.