Northwest Five Provinces (Regions) Autumn Self-driving Tour (71): Invited to Yuncheng to visit the Salt Lake
On October 15, 2023, at 2:10 pm, our car crossed the Fengling Ferry Yellow River Bridge and entered Shanxi Province. This is the second time I have driven across this bridge. The last time was on September 5, 2018, when I drove out of Shanxi from this bridge and started my first long-distance self-driving tour of more than 25 days and over 6,000 kilometers.
At 3:20 pm, we arrived at Yuncheng Vienna International Hotel. Director Xi had been waiting at the hotel entrance. He opened two standard rooms for us. My sister told me that Director Xi had once asked her to treat him. Later, she also cured the diseases of Director Xi's wife and daughter. This time, Director Xi invited her to Yuncheng mainly to ask her to treat his aunts, and by the way, to show us the attractions of Yuncheng.
After resting in the hotel for 40 minutes, Director Xi drove us to visit Yuncheng Salt Lake. Yuncheng Salt Lake is located in the belly of the Jinan Basin, at the bend of the Yellow River in Qin, Jin and Yu, with Zhongtiao Mountain to the south, Emei Mingtiao Gang to the north, Yao Tai of Sui River to the east, and the ancient crossing of the Yellow River to the west. The lake surface is 324.5 meters above sea level, the deepest part is about 6 meters, and the total area is 132 square kilometers.
Yuncheng Salt Lake is divided into two parts by the tourist road extended from Jiefang South Road. The west side is the big lake, the lake is endless, and you can enjoy the sunset view from the side of the tourist road. The east side of the tourist road is the salt field, and the famous colorful salt lake is next to the tourist road.
Director Xi first took us to the salt fields on the east side, where there are thousands of silver islands. The car drove east along the North Shore Binhu Avenue, entered the lake area next to Shanxi Damao Engineering Machinery Co., Ltd., and then continued to drive east. The salt fields along the road were full of alkali bulrush, which was bright red. Isn't this the scenery we want to see in Liaoning Red Beach! I wanted to ask Director Xi to stop the car, but he seemed to have not heard it, and drove straight onto a large dike in the lake. A new tourist road was built on the dike, with red, yellow and blue lines representing the tourist road in the middle of the road, and many Persian chrysanthemums were planted on both sides of the road.
According to Director Xi himself, he is a self-driving tour and photography enthusiast. He often participates in photography competitions held in various places. I thought he would take us to a place where we can take pictures. As a result, he let us get off the car in the middle of the dike and let us walk on the dike. He will wait for us at the end of the dike. We got off the car and walked forward along the dike, taking pictures as we walked. When we were about to reach the end of the dike, Director Xi pointed to a beach in the lake for my sister and said that was where he took that photo. I don't know what he meant, but my sister should be very clear.
At 5:30 in the afternoon, he asked us to get in the car, and then rushed all the way, arriving at an artificial island on the central lake dike of the salt lake at 5:50 in the afternoon, letting us take pictures of the sunset of the salt lake.
Then he took us to see the Begonia Bay Phase II villa group on the south bank of the lake, Nanshan Xinjing Citizen Square Ecological Sports Park, Yuncheng Viper Rugby Club, and finally let us stand next to Kailai International Resort Hotel to enjoy the night view of the salt lake and let the children fly kites.
At 7 o'clock in the evening, Director Xi took us to dinner. After dinner, I walked back to the hotel, and he took others to visit the night market until 9:30 in the evening when they returned to the hotel.