Oct.1st-8th Silk Road | Qinghai-Zhangye-Jiayuguan-Dunhuang

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Oct.Holiday Silk Road: Qinghai-Zhangye-Jiayuguan-Dunhuang-Inner Mongolia

Trip Overview

Spend 8 days on the Silk Road, heading west to Dunhuang and travelling through the vast empty areas of 5 Provinces. Along the way, visit some of the sights in the well known Silk Road stops like Qinghai Lake;Chaka Salt Lake;Crescent Moon Lake;Mogao Cave, Coloful Danxia- finish the trip by exploring Ejina populous diversifolia forrest !

• Day1 (Sep. 30th ) Departure to qinghai provine overnight on the bus

• Day2 (Oct. 1st ) On the way to Xining City Live in Xining City

• Day3 (Oct.2nd) Xining-Qinghai Lake--Chaka Salt Lake, live in Delingha

• Day4 (Oct.3rd)  Delingha-Dongtaijiernai Lake-Water Yadang, Live in Dachaidang Town

• Day5 (Oct.4th) Dachaidang-Feicui LakeSands Mountain-Crescent Moon Lake- Dunhuang, live in Dunhuang.

• Day6 (Oct.5th) Dunhuang--Mogao Cave-zhangye City, live in zhangye city.

• Day7 (Oct.6th) Zhangye-Coloful Danxia-Ejina town, live in Ejina town.

• Day8 (Oct.7th) Ejina-Romance in populous diversifolia forrest-Baotou  live in Baotou City

• Day9 (Oct.8th) Arrive beijing around 18:00.

This trip is timed for the big October holiday. Only 50 Seats every year! Book early and do not miss it!

Key Information

Activity place: Silk Road, westnorth of China

Activity date:  From Sep.30th to Oct.8th

Meeting point : Jiandemen Subway Exit C

Meeting time: 7:00pm, Sep.30th

Traffic tools: Travelling Bus (Start from Beijing)

Trip Fee: Round bus fee+7 nights hotel fee+CET guide fee+insurance fee

• Normal Price: 3585RMB/pax if you book alone, pay the depost fee 1085RMB when you book this trip.

• Group Discount: 3485RMB/pax if 3 or more than 3 travelers booked together, pay the deposit fee 985RMB/pax when you book this trip

• Kids Price: For Children: If the kid is less than 1.2m and doent need the bed, it is 2085RMB. the deposite fee is the same as adult.

• Single Room Fee: 1600RMB if you want to live alone

Insurance:Our trip leader will collect your insurance information 3 days before this trip happens, if you didnt fill the form when he collects the informations or gave the wrong information, it means you give up this trip's insurance and the accident compensation.

Food:The trip fee doesnt include the meals, the food cost for the whole trip may be around 700RMB.

Balance: 2500RMB will be collected within 3 days before the trip.

Booking Hotline: Jane 18612035869 (English & Mandarin)

Statement: No refund within 7 days  before this trip. 

Statements about the Trip Fees

The trip fee includes:

• Round bus fee for the whole trip

• Accommodation (One night in Ejina Banner folk house, mulity -people share one folk house；one night in Zhangye standard hotel, one night in Dunhuang standard Hotel, one night in Delingha standard Hotel, One night in Dachaidang Town and One night in Xining standard Hotel and one night in Baotou city)

• Insurance (September 30th to October 8th)

• U-shaped pillow, Water, Small gifts, First Aid Kit.

• CET Tour guides

The trip fee does not include:

• Meals during the trip，fancy or simple，its up to you

• Entrance tickets (the leaders can help you to buy them. All together, the tickets cost around 1000 RMB). There are reduced price, which varies in different scenic spots.

• The price may vary, if the accommodation fee is over for the normal arrangement.
  

Dongtaijinaier Lake

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Full ltinerary

Day1 (Sep. 30th ) Departure to qinghai provine live on the bus at night

Set out at 19:00. The bus will wheel along G6 High Way from Beijing to Zhuozishan Service Area in Inner Mongolia, where we shall spend the night on the bus from 2:00am-5:00am.

Day2 (Oct. 1st ) On the way to Xining City Live in Xining City

Depart at 5:00 early in the morning (Make sure that you’ve set up an alarm at 4:40 From Bayanzhuo’er, we switch to G7 High Way, where we will drive into Gobi desert gradually. On this boundless land, we can enjoy the time. We will see wild camels and duckies pass by occasionally and suddenly a solitary and indestructible tree suddenly appears in this plain and dry ground.

We are supposed to arrive xining city around 21:00. and then hotel check in. if we arrive earlily, we can hang out to the local snack street to taste the local food. xining is the capital of Qinghai province. All kinds of qinghai food you can have a try.

Day3 From Xining -- Qinghai Lake -- Chaka Salt Lake, live in Delingha

Have breakfast and then drive for 4 hours to Qinghai Lake. we will see Tibetan Pilgrims, yaks all over the hills, prayer flags stirring in air... after climbing up Xiangpishan, the sky blue Qinghai Lake will suddenly come into our view. After qinghai lake we will visit Chaka Salt Lake and then head to Delingha to live.

Day4 From Delingha --Delingha-Dongtaijiernai Lake-Water Yadang, live in Dachaidang

After breakfast, we will enter the largest and highest yadan geomorphological reserve in the world, and take the most beautiful 315 web celebrity national road. The endless desert makes people sigh with emotion. Arriving at noon the world's only water yadan landform group, the new web celebrity clock "maldives" dongtai jiner lake, here you will be amazed at the extraordinary workmanship of nature

Day5 From Dachaidang-Feicui Lake-Sands Mountain-Crescent Moon Lake- Dunhuang, live in Dunhuang.

Have breakfast and then drive to Feicui Lake, then go to Dunhuang city, On our traveling we will see yadan desert on the two sides of our road, pass by no ones area. around 16:00 we will Sands Mountain and Crescent Moon Lake senic spot to see the sunset. and then go on our travel to Dunhuang city, and check in hotel.Very good night food streets you should miss it! after we arrange the rooms, our trip leader will guide us to taste it!

Day6 From Dunhuang--Mogao Cave-zhangye City, live in zhangye city.

After breakfast we will visit Mogao Cave, it will be very crowed because of the national holiday, and also because of the limited tickets sold daily, we need to get up earlier to wait online to buy it, please be paitient and cooperative. At noon we will leave Mogao cave to zhangye city. and live in zhangye city.

Day7 From zhangye-Coloful Danxia- Ejina town, live in Ejina town.

In the moring we will head to Danxia and about then head to Ejina to check in. 

At 7:30, leave for Zhangye National Landform Park to appreciate the Beauty of Danxia Landscape. At 10:30, set out for Ejina  and reach there at 19:00. After check in hostel, it will not be good, more than 2 ppl share one room, but independent bed for everyone. You can stroll around the famous night scene night market like the Shazhou Night Market.

Remember to send your locations to each other to make sure that you’ll find your way back after your wander around). After you get settled, you can go out in groups to find some local food, such as Hami melon and camel’s hump (if you like strong taste). It is the most busy time in Ejina Bannar, the food price is rising, so it’s better to ask the price first.

Day8 Romance in populous diversifolia forrest, Live in Baotou City

Today we need wake up earlier to see the sunrise from Ejina, We will leave at 5:30 and we will go to the most famous place in Ejina--- the populous diversifolia forest. around 13:00 we will stat to go back to beijing.

Day9 Arrive Beijing around 18:00.

On our way back to beijing, we will pass by baotou city, and if you want to go back to beijing easier, you can take the train back to beijing from baotou train station.

FYI：In case of rain, traffic jam or any other unpredictable situations, CET reserves the rights to adjust the schedule.

CETtrip to Silk Road 2017

Highlights

Dongtaijiner Lake

Dongtai Jiner Lake is located in Golmud city. In The Qaidam Basin, the lakeside lake is mostly composed of lacustrine deposits and lacustrine chemical deposits, and the saline-alkali land is widely distributed. It is also a wonderful salt lake in Qinghai. Chaidamu Basin is located in jiner Lake district of East and West Taiwan, which is a superlarge lithium deposit dominated by brine.

Feicui Lake

The Emerald Lake is located in the westernmost part of Haixi, Qinghai province, a few kilometers west of Liuge Expressway G3011 dachaidan Town.

"Feicui Lake" belongs to the magnesium sulfate subtype salt lake, which is the third artificial lake (left over from mining) in Haixi, covering an area of more than 26 square kilometers and producing high-quality potassium, magnesium, lithium and other elements.

The salt beds are known locally as "Emerald Lakes" because of the alternating glow of pale green, emerald and dark blue lakes.

Water Yadan

Usuteyadan Geological Park is located in the northwest of Qaidam Basin, Qinghai province. After thousands of years of geological movement and spatio-temporal changes, it has fostered and formed the largest and most spectacular Yadan community in the world, with an area of about 21,000 square kilometers, mainly distributed in The Southern Baxian region and The Obaoliang region. 

Usuteyadan is located in the Southern Eight Sin Yadan group. The yadan mounds are 10-25 meters high and up to 50 meters high. Yatan is found throughout the lakes and is one of the earliest water yatan landscapes in the world.

Qinghai Lake

Qinghai Lake (青海湖) is called the biggest lake in China, but it is shrinking. It is thought that part of the cause of decrease in size is overgrazing and irrigation in the area. Herdsmen have lived around the lake for hundreds of years, but now, the government wants to resettle many ethnic herdsmen away from it. The lake has been decreasing in area for the last century. Seven hundred square kilometers of its area have been lost, and its surface level has dropped by 13 meters. Big sand dunes have been blowing in and forming a peninsula of sand. If it doesn't stop growing, the lake may be split in two. Small side lakes and ponds are forming as the water level drops.

Chaka Salt Lake

Just a short ride west of Qinghai Lake, in Qinghai Province of China, lies a lake of pure, natural beauty. Chaka Salt Lake, also known as Chakayan Lake, was reopened to the public in June, 2016, and is rated as a “must-go” destination by the Chinese National Geographic. Closed to the public due to massive pollution caused by excessive tourists in the area, the lake now can be visited again after the completion of clean-up operations. Chaka Salt Lake is located at Chaka town in Ulan County, and sits at an altitude of 3,059 meters. The lake has rich salt deposits, with a thick salt bed that lies close to the surface of the water.Chaka Salt Lake

Chaka is one of four major salt lakes in the region, and was once famed for its mineral deposits, which were famous throughout the northwest and central plains of China. Qinghai salt was widely known during the Ming dynasty as the best salt in China. Records also show that salt from the lake was sold to areas such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu, and others over two thousand years ago. 

Mining was simple, and the salt could be taken from the lake by simply lifting off the salt crust. Mining at the lake is still ongoing, though now it is fully mechanized, and the salt is sold all over China, as well as being exported to Nepal and Japan.

Zhangye Danxia

Zhangye Danxia is known for the unusual colours of the rocks, which are smooth, sharp and several hundred meters tall. They are the result of deposits of sandstone and other minerals that occurred over 24 million years. 

The result, similar to a layer cake, is connected to the action of the same tectonic plates responsible for creating parts of the Himalayan mountains. Wind, rain, and time then sculpted extraordinary shapes, including towers, pillars, and ravines, with varying colours, patterns, and sizes.

Euphrates poplar

Euphrates poplar (Populus euphratica), or Desert Poplar, is an ancient species of poplar tree in the willow family. The poplar trees change colors with seasons – green in spring and summer, yellow and golden on autumn, and red in winter. The Euphrates Poplar trees (Also known as Diversifolius Poplar) turning yellow in the deep summer offer a great photograph opportunity, very often attracting crowds of visitors.

The Euphrates Poplar trees in Ejina Banner ( Ejina Qi in Chinese ) of Alxa League ( Alashan ) in the west of Inner Mongolia in China is one of the three remaining natural Euphrates Poplar Forests (Also known as Diversifolius Poplar) in the world with a total forest area of 30,000 hectares. The other two huge areas of Euphrates Poplar Forests are Sahara Desert and Taklamakan Desert in Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang of China .

The whole area becomes a sea of golden leaves, enticing a consistent flow of tourists to enjoy the amazing scenery each year. In 1992, the Ejna Banner Euphrates Poplar Forest Nature Reserve was established there.

Mogao Caves

Mogao Caves is a shrine of Buddhist art treasures. A network of plank reinforced roads plying north to south 1,600 meters (5,249 feet) long lead to the cave openings, which are stacked five stories high some reaching up to 50 meters (164 feet). By the way, Mogao means high up in the desert.

According to Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) records, a monk lived in Five Hus and Sixteen States had witnessed onsite a vision of thousand Buddhas under showers of golden rays. Thus inspired, he started the caves construction work that spanned ten dynasties. Mogao Caves are commonly known as the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas.


Buddhist art has its origins in India. Mogao sculptors improvised where the rock surface did not work well under their chisels. They placed clay statues in front of the cave walls, carved relief murals as backdrops, and painted the sidewalls and ceilings with art decors. The largest statue is 34.5 meters (113 feet) high and the smallest a mere 2 centimeters (0.79inches) high.

The traveler will note traces of Indian Buddhist art in the earlier works. More recent works depict all walks of life and activities in a local setting. You will relive the daily routines and special events as captured by the artists while you are exploring the 735 caves. There are also ups and downs in the artistic quality over the centuries, depending on the fortunes of Buddhism with available art patronage. Artists in each dynasty painted with their distinctive palette. The visitor can tell the works in the Tang Dynasty from those in the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279).

Crescent Lake Yueyaquan

Nature never ceases to amaze us with its unique places. Today we will get acquainted with a magical Lake Yueyaquan. It is located in the very heart of The Gobi Desert, 5 kilometers to south-west of the city of Dunhuang, in Gansu Province, the north-western part of China. This natural attraction, like a pearl, has cozily nestled among huge sand hills, which protect it from frequent storms. Take a look at its shape – a crescent moon surrounded by an oasis of pagodas with traditional décor and gardens. Length of the lake amounts 150 meters.

Although the lake is under the shelter of such natural “security” as sand dunes, all the same, this natural landmark located in one of the driest places on the planet is in danger of extinction. In the 1960s, the depth of the Lake Yueyaquan ranged from four to five meters, reaching the deepest point to seven meters; and in the early 1990s – already 90 centimeters! Shallowing was caused by the construction of a dam on the river Dang, due to which The Gobi desert ecosystem has significantly suffered, and directions of the groundwater flows, feeding the lake, have been violated.

The Government has taken measures to restore the reservoir beside the oasis to the original depth. In 2006, the Chinese authorities together with environmentalists have developed a recovery plan for such a unique lake. They managed to prevent it from the completely drying up! They have enacted the laws prohibiting drilling of boreholes and location of agricultural lands. In addition, there is a ban on settlement of new residents in the area of the Crescent Lake and it is strictly controlled by law. These prohibitions were rather effective. The Lake Yueyaquan was included into the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

At the same time, tourists are not banned from attending this fabulous oasis. Most travelers visit the lake during warm months, from May to October. At this time, the air in the Gobi Вesert is heated to an average temperature of 35 ° C during the day. If you plan to take a trip on camels in the desert with an overnight stay, remember that nights in the Gobi are cold, and even in summer the temperature can drop to zero

Notice

Backpack and luggage

• Mountaineering Backpack / Luggage: Used for personal clothes and supplies, can be placed in the car all the way, part of the accommodations are far from the parking lot, big backpacks are more convenient;

• Personal small backpack: Some food, camera and other small things on tour or hiking (very useful).

Clothes 

• Top: T-shirt, with 1-2 pieces of wind-proof and warm light jacketes (big temperature difference between day and night), please check the weather before going out, adjust clothes according to the temperature.

• Trousers: Assault trousers or jeans.

• Underwear category: According to personal needs, prepare appropriate underwears to replace.

• Shoes: Hiking shoes or sneakers that fit well (high heels are not good, walking is not convenient); 

• slippers (most of the hotels do not provide bathing slippers);

• Hat: UV is strong. It is recommended to wear sunshade.

Sundries

• Vacuum cups, sunglasses, sunscreen, mosquito repellent water, lipstick, nail clippers and slippers. For environmental protection and hygiene considerations, it is recommended to bring personal toiletries (towels, toothbrushes & toothpaste, shampoo, bath fluid) and some accommodations can not provide disposable items.

Document

• Identity Card, Credit Card, Debit Card, Student Card / Officer Card (if available, we will refund the difference)

Medicine

• Coldrex，febrifuge，gastrointestinal agent，car sick medicine，antihistamine etc.

CETtrip to Silk Road 2017 National Holiday