Most of the national highways in this era are two-way two-lane roads, especially in inland provinces, where wide national highways are rarely seen. In fact, in this era, let alone underdeveloped provinces like Xinjiang, even in Shandong, a province with nationally famous highways, most national highways are like this.
Yang Jing heard from his father that in the 1980s, even in the urban area of Tianqu, there were only two sections of two-way four-lane roads, and most of the roads in the urban area were two-lane.
Two lanes is fine, at least make it smoother. But just like the roads of this era are generally not wide, there are few roads of this era with good road conditions. Especially for roads in the mountains and deserts, the road conditions are so bad that it drives people crazy.
Yang Jing thought that after the trip to Myanmar, he would never encounter such a difficult road again. However, when he came to Xinjiang Province this time, this road made him experience the madness of being "cheated" again.
If it were just potholes, it would be okay. The most important thing is that this road enters the Tianshan Mountains not far after leaving Urumqi. Especially when passing the Tianshan No. 1 Glacier, this road can no longer be described as difficult to walk on. You have to be very cautious when walking on this mountain road that is dozens of kilometers long.
However, the scenery of Glacier No. 1, which is adjacent to the Aba Highway, is really shocking. The glacier is 2.4 kilometers long, with an average width of 500 meters and an area of 1.85 square kilometers. Looking from the road only a few hundred meters away from the glacier, you can directly see the crystal blue interior of the glacier, the cracks on the ice surface, the pyramid-like peaks, the jagged ridges, the curved glaciers and the roaring glacier rivers. They are unique and shocking.
"Do you see this mountain?" Wang Renzhong, deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office, said while sitting in the co-pilot seat, pointing to a snow-capped mountain not far to the front right.
Yang Jing, who was driving, looked in the direction Director Wang pointed and indeed found a high peak.
"This mountain is 4,350 meters above sea level, the highest in the vicinity. At the same time, because it is close to the road, it is considered to be a landmark snow peak separating southern and northern Xinjiang. We locals call it Shengli Daban."
Yang Jing nodded.
This snow mountain pass with an altitude of more than 4,000 meters has completely different scenery on the mountain and at the bottom of the mountain. Just now, the sun was shining brightly at the bottom of the mountain, but here, there was snow and fog everywhere, and even the ground was covered with transparent dark ice. The most important thing is that the winding mountain road in this terrain is really dangerous.
After Yang Jing drove carefully through the pass at a speed of less than 30 kilometers per hour, the sky cleared up again and the magnificent scenery of the Tianshan Mountains was once again in full view.
Yang Jing and his team set out at around six in the morning and arrived at Barentai Town at almost two in the afternoon. It took them nearly eight hours to travel the 200-kilometer distance, which shows how difficult this road is to drive on.
However, the distance from Barentai Town to the destination Korla is less than 150 kilometers. If everything goes well, it will take about four hours to reach Korla.
At noon, the group had lunch in Barentai Town. This small town is located deep in the Tianshan Mountains, where National Highway 216 and National Highway 218 meet. There are mountains on both sides with an altitude of thousands of meters. In spring, the Ulastai River, formed by the meltwater from the snow-capped mountains, roars downstream from the valley where the town is located. Finally, when this roaring river emerges from the mountains, it will bring abundant water to Korla and Hejing near the mountain pass.
Eventually, the river will continue to rush across the Gobi Desert before merging with the Kaidu River and eventually flowing into the famous Bosten Lake.
It's a pity that the route Yang Jing and his team took didn't pass by the shore of Lake Bosten, otherwise Yang Jing really wanted to visit Lake Bosten. After all, this lake is the largest inland freshwater lake in China, and the scenery is really nice.
However, I didn’t have the chance to visit there this time. When I return to the original time and space, I can bring Gege here for a free self-driving tour.
Although the road was difficult to walk on, the scenery was definitely amazing. Yang Jing didn't feel bored at all even though he drove for several hours.
Especially in the 1980s when there was little pollution, this place was simply the purest and most primitive.
At around seven o'clock in the evening, the two cars finally arrived in Korla, but at this point, the sun was still hanging in the west.
Yang Jing and his team will rest here for one night and then continue their journey the next day. However, it will take two days to travel more than 1,000 kilometers from Korla to Hotan.
PS: I would like to thank "小楼独身夜听雨" for the reward of 500.
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