[Travel Notes] Yumen Pass: Climb into the ancient city and look for thousands of years of prosperity

Departing from Dachaidan in the morning, we went straight to Dunhuang. On the way, we visited Aksai Town, Yumen Pass, Yangguan, Yadan Devil City and other scenic spots. Because these scenic spots are far away from the main road, we only visited Yumen Pass.

After starting from Daqaidan, the grassland scenery on the road is no longer like Qinghai Lake and Chaka Salt Lake, but gradually turns into Gobi scenery. I finally saw the Qaidam Basin mentioned in the middle school geography textbook.

The more challenging part of this section is crossing Dangjin Mountain, which is the second dangerous section of the Grand Ring Line.

Dangjin Mountain is located at the junction of Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces, with an altitude of about 3,700 meters.

At the foot of the mountain, the snow on both sides of the road has not yet melted, covering the low-lying areas, and the surrounding scattered vegetation is withered and yellow. Maybe it will be a different scenery when summer comes.

All the way up the mountain, there are mountains and rocks on both sides, and in some places there is only a narrow sky. The snow-capped mountains are continuous, and occasionally you take a sharp turn and you can't even see the next section of the road.

You also need to drive slowly on this section of the road. Occasional rain and snow do not affect driving, but you still have to be careful of large trucks. After crossing this snow-capped mountain, I want to pay tribute from the bottom of my heart to the builders of this road and tunnel!

 

 

 

 

 

After descending the mountain, we arrived at Aksai, the Pearl of the Fortress.

The oil town of Aksai was the filming location for the movie "The Nine-Story Demon Tower". The original town was relocated because the drinking water contained radioactive elements uranium and thorium, and now it has become a tourist attraction.

If you had seen this movie or followed the novel "Ghost Blowing the Lamp" at that time, you might have checked in to see the scene where Fatty Hu Bayi Wang and Shirley Yang fought upside down.

Yumen Pass is an important pass on the ancient Silk Road.

After getting off the expressway, it is about 50 kilometers to the Yumenguan ruins. There is a 36-kilometer section with a speed limit of 60. The straight road connects to the sky in a straight line, with boundless Gobi desert on both sides, majestic and desolate.

This section of the road is the best section for taking "highway blockbusters", but be sure to pay attention to the passing vehicles.

 

 

 

 

The Yumenguan ruins are currently open to the public, including the Xiaofangpan City ruins, Dafangpan City ruins and the Han Great Wall ruins around Danggu Sui. We went to the Xiaofang Pan City ruins.

The Yumen Pass site is located on the south bank of the Shule River at the western end of the Hexi Corridor. It is said that the Shule River used to be bright and abundant, and the surrounding swamps were dense. Yumen Pass was like an island in the middle of the lake, with only a dry road to the west leading to the Gobi Desert.

Therefore, setting up a pass here can not only solve the water supply problem for the garrison, but also use the unique natural conditions to protect the security of the city.

Xiaofangpancheng Guancheng is a small castle made of rammed loess, about 24 meters from east to west, about 26 meters from south to south, and about 10 meters high. There is a narrow passage in the southeast corner to climb to the top of Guancheng.

Climb up to the observation deck, look around, and imagine that this place was prosperous more than two thousand years ago...

Camel bells sounded melodiously, caravans came in an endless stream, people shouted and horses neighed, and envoys came and went;

Zhang Qian's mission to the Western Regions encountered many difficulties; Huo Qubing's bravery in attacking the Huns...

To the south of Yumen Pass is Yangguan. The word "Yangguan" in "I urge you to have one more glass of wine and leave Yangguan in the west without any old friends." Because I had to reach Dunhuang before dark, I didn't go to Yangguan again.

There was also an attraction called Yadan Devil City on the way, but I didn’t check in because I was in a hurry.

The Yadan landform is a typical wind-eroded landform. It is a landform combination formed by rows of long strips of mounds extending intermittently and depressions and grooves at intervals. "Yadan" means "small hill with steep walls" in Uyghur. Mountain bag".

Due to wind abrasion, the lower part of the hill often suffers strong erosion and gradually forms an inward concave shape. Some landforms look like ancient castles, commonly known as Devil City.

Along the way, the scenery switches between grasslands, snow-capped mountains, Gobi and deserts at will. In addition, when traveling in the off-season, tickets to many attractions are half-price, and you can take photos in casual poses even if there are not many people.

However, you must solve various physiological problems before setting off. For hundreds of kilometers, there are only two or three service areas, and some toilets are still closed.

Arrive in Dunhuang in the evening. The food and accommodation conditions here are the best in the itinerary. There are many hotels and restaurants in the city, as well as a night market pedestrian street.