As mentioned earlier, because of my stubbornness, I gave up the most beautiful Narat and decided to go to Yili. At this time, I received a call from an old hiking friend in Yili, informing me of a newly repaired rural road with stunning scenery and few people.
Without further ado, I immediately said goodbye to Narat and rushed to Yili on the highway.
Exiting the highway at the sheep farm intersection, I navigated and located Girglang Township in Gongliu County. It was already obvious that there was no tourist car on the road.
Passing through patches of corn fields and wheat fields, I stopped to pick apricots, oil peaches, and watermelons in the orchards along the way. I also asked for directions and chatted with different locals about our daily lives and dreams. This feeling is something that cannot be experienced with group tours or only following the travel guidebook.
We arrived at Girglang Township, but the navigation showed that the road ahead was closed. We had to ask the locals step by step again. They told us that the road to Tekes County was repaired two weeks ago, but the road marking was not finished yet. However, it was confirmed that the road was passable. (I will draw a map of the specific route below. Maybe you also want to take the less traveled path.)
This 30-kilometer rural road was so refreshing that there were almost no tourist vehicles. The newly paved asphalt road was on one side, and the beautiful lake was on the other side, connecting the grasslands to the Tianshan Mountains. There were also mature wild red goji berries along the road.“`HTML
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We found a small road for fishermen, drove all the way to the lake. We waited quietly on the lake shore for an hour, enjoying the brief moment of being away from the hustle and bustle of the world. At 9:50 pm, the sun had not completely set and still stubbornly scattered the last rays of sunlight on the lake and on the Ideal ONE coming up from the bottom of the lake. I recorded this moment with my phone and felt that traveling freely every day without following a guidebook or a road map is really awesome!
Of course, good times are always short-lived. That night, we stayed at the Wentai Hotel on the outskirts of Teks, the only hotel we failed to choose by opening the blind box. We waited 40 minutes after ordering before the dish was served, with no air conditioning and a strong smell.
However, God is fair. When we checked into the hotel at twelve o’clock and had not had dinner yet, we looked up and saw the stars twinkling in the sky. The children found the Big Dipper constellation they learned from their books, and at that moment, all the troubles disappeared. We will continue our Ideal ONE journey, exploring Xinjiang by opening blind boxes.
Some friends ask why it’s called the New Travelogue, are there old travelogues?
In fact, it is mainly because Big D and his friends are driving the 2021 Ideal ONE in Xinjiang in the summer of 2021, and this is “Big D’s New Travelogue of 2021”.
Would you like to explore the new travelogue with me?
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.