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 typical Yadan landform is very worth a visit. There are corresponding markings along the road. Pay attention to observe that sun protection work must be in place, otherwise it is easy to get sunburned. There is also a considerable distance of the chopping board road. It is not recommended to drive by car.
Different experience, typical Yadan landform, do not go back, it takes a day, sun protection work to do a good job, quite a road is non-paved gravel road, for vehicle personnel is also a postgraduate entrance examination.
The Great Ocean Road should be the former Devil City, we have been looking for a long time in the Great Ocean Road and have not found a attraction called Devil City. From Hami, it is from the east gate. The east gate to the Hongliutan Visitor Service Center is more than 70 kilometers. All are asphalt roads and cars can be opened. But this road has some forks. You can drive in to see the branch attractions. There is only sand and stone roads. SUVs are barely. From the Hongliutan Visitor Service Center to the North Gate, there is a sandstone road. We didn't have an off-road vehicle and we didn't drive there. It is said that the attractions there are better. The Hongliutan Visitor Service Center can stay, serious hotel rooms. If you cross, it is actually recommended to stay for one night, and it is too tired to cross or travel for a day.
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!
It is worth a visit. You must charter a car or drive by yourself. There is no car in this scenic spot. It is too big. The scenic spot is ready for 200 kilometers. You think about the 200 kilometers itinerary. The scenic spot is super big.