[Taklimakan Desert Highway] What is the charm of this road that holds the Guinness World Record?

After leaving the Ruoqiang Museum, we went to Qiemo to rest for a night and prepare to hit the desert highway the next day!

Be sure to eat enough in the morning

The baked buns stuffed with mutton are very fragrant!

From Qiemo, walk along G315 for a while, then turn onto S233 and enter the desert highway.

The straight road leads all the way to the horizon

Looking down at the desert road, you can't see the end of the road.

We found a dead end on the desert road (right side of the picture below). The road has been covered by yellow sand. We don’t know where this road leads, but it is just right for a break, such as making lunch or something~~

What a contrast inside and out! (You can follow the Douyin account at the end of the article to view the video)

Lunch time always passes quickly, and we continue on the road to enjoy the endless desert.

After driving for about 2-3 hours, we found a road maintainer’s residence and were ready to take a rest and interview~

The road maintainers are from Sichuan and have been here for 7 years. Their main purpose is to irrigate the plants on both sides of the road regularly, and there are road maintenance points like this every 4 kilometers or so. We looked at the small house. The old couple lived in this one room, and there was another room for storing belongings. The conditions were very difficult.

Their usual job is to maintain the vegetation on both sides of the road. In their spare time, they go deep into the desert to collect Cistanche deserticola, commonly known as "desert ginseng." It took him three days and 30 kilometers into the desert to collect the Cistanche deserticola. Each root was sold to passing tourists or locals at different prices according to its size. This can be regarded as a way to earn some extra money in his spare time. .

It is very difficult to collect these Cistanche deserticola. The biggest problem is walking in the desert and identifying the direction. You must know that the temperature difference between day and night in the desert is huge. According to my brother, when he stays in the desert at night, he just finds a suitable place to lie down with his clothes. There is no tent, no sleeping bag, and identifying directions mainly based on memory or looking at the sun.

It's just that I never understood how to walk in such a desert and how to see the direction. . . . . . (Note: This is the color of the desert itself. All pictures in the Tangyuan article are original pictures without any filters, in order to restore the scene in the most realistic way)

Finally, the old man enthusiastically took out the old wine that had been brewed for 3 years for us to taste. It contained a lot of Cistanche deserticola and other medicinal materials. I took a sip on behalf of everyone (of course I will not drive later). It was indeed a strong drink. At least 50 degrees higher~

Coming out of the road maintainer's residence, we saw budding vegetation and blooming flowers beside the water source. This is really a miracle in the desert!

Taking advantage of the opportunity to stay here, we walked into the "hinterland" of the desert with difficulty, 200 meters away~

Why is it said to be difficult? Look at the sand. It is so fine that it is unimaginable. I am wearing a mask and the sand can be blown into my mouth. Moreover, this is quicksand, the kind where your feet will sink into it. It is very difficult to walk. You can only walk along the You can only walk on the sand ridge, the sand is relatively hard.

Here I have to mention a desert highway construction technology, which is the construction technology of "strong foundation and thin surface" structure. What is "strong foundation and thin noodles"? The popular explanation is that the sand is first piled into the shape of the roadbed, then wrapped and fixed with geotextile, and then vibrated and compacted. The compressive strength of the roadbed after dry vibration compaction exceeds that of ordinary roadbeds, reaching more than one and a half times the national standard. Sand has a wonderful characteristic. Loose sand has extremely poor compressive strength, but fixed sand has extremely strong compressive strength, surpassing clay. With such a roadbed, the thickness of the gravel layer laid on it can be reduced by about half. This is also a miracle created by our intelligent working people, because apart from this road, there is no road at home and abroad that is more than 100 kilometers across the flowing desert!