The eight-day round trip to Xinjiang finally came to an end.

It should be said that this is an unsatisfactory journey.

Before we set off, we repeatedly confirmed that the land in Xinjiang was still safe.

However, the epidemic situation is like the new coronavirus strain mutating so fast that it is difficult to prevent it.

After our flight landed at Urumqi Diwopu International Airport, we heard that a person entering Xinjiang had tested positive for nucleic acid the night before and had been sent to a designated isolation point for closed-loop management.

In the era of digital epidemic control, Xinjiang’s epidemic prevention and control response was as fast as that of the mainland.

Starting from our flight into Xinjiang, Urumqi’s epidemic prevention troops have been stationed at the airport’s entry gate, checking passengers’ itinerary codes and health codes one by one, and conducting nucleic acid tests on site before releasing them.

Before setting off from Wuhan, I only knew that the epidemic situation in Jilin and Shanghai was relatively severe. I never thought that the distant and sparsely populated northwest border would also be shrouded in the haze of the epidemic.

Led by a local tour guide, our group bypassed the urban area of ??Urumqi on the first day after entering Xinjiang and checked into a hotel in Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, which is half an hour's drive from Urumqi.

The next few days of the itinerary were in "passenger mode" - according to the previously arranged travel route, it was uncertain whether each scenic spot could be reached successfully.

At each checkpoint, public security personnel board the vehicle to check the itinerary code, health code and ID card one by one. Every time you enter an administrative area (city, state or county), you must undergo a nucleic acid test regardless of whether you are coming or going, and you can only enter after being allowed.

In the Sailimu Lake Scenic Area, which must be passed from Changji to Yining (the seat of the capital of Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture), the lake is still covered with ice and snow, and due to epidemic control, we are not allowed to enter the scenic area, so the tourist bus had to temporarily stop on the road around the lake.

, I was asked to wait for a group of people to take photos and check in from a distance across the guardrail of the scenic spot to show that they were "visiting here".

Although Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture has successfully "passed through", the large wild apricot trees in Turgen Apricot Blossom Valley have not yet bloomed, and the Lanati Grassland is still covered with snow. Green grass and red flowers cannot be seen, and naturally they cannot be encountered.

to the shepherds and beekeepers.

Wherever we go, the trees have not sprouted new buds, the lawns have not turned green, and everything as far as the eye can see is desolate and desolate.

The nearly 700 kilometers from Changji to Yili was almost entirely spent on a tour bus.

This is nothing, at least we have reached our destination.

The most embarrassing thing is to go to Turpan.

We bumped around on the bus for several hours and finally arrived at the border of Turpan. At the entrance, we were told that due to epidemic control, Turpan did not accept visitors from outside.

Most of the people on the bus had lost their temper due to the torture. A few people who were "unsatisfied" got out of the car to negotiate and provided the results of their previous daily nucleic acid tests, but they were still not allowed to go.

The tour bus had to circle around and return to Changji.

Most of the scenic spots we should visit during this trip to Xinjiang were not reached as planned, and we were not able to see the scenery we wanted to see.

In the words of the Xinjiang tour guide, "I came a little early."

However, this trip to Xinjiang was not without success.

In the journey of life, every step is not in vain, every step counts.

It’s not a lesson, it’s an insight.

We traveled 700 kilometers along the Tianshan Mountains on the Lianhuo Expressway, the main road of the Belt and Road Initiative. In the end, all we saw were wild apricot trees that had not yet bloomed all over the mountains and plains. Although it was a pity, at least it allowed me to witness the vastness of Xinjiang with my own eyes.

Although Beijing time is unified in the land of Xinjiang, there is actually a two-hour time difference with the mainland (orally).

In this season, it’s not dark at eight o’clock in the morning and it’s not dark at eight o’clock in the evening.

Children have to go to and from school two hours later than in mainland schools.

What I didn't expect was that I would have to adapt to jet lag before I left the country.

At the same time, I also felt the economic depression in this land.

In urban areas, there are many closed commercial shops with notices of sublease and transfer.

In the few scenic spots that can be entered, except for our group of tourists from Wuhan, there are no other tourists.

Business stalls at tourist attractions are idle, and a large number of shuttle buses are parked in the parking lots of scenic spots.

The only thing that pleased us was that the tour guide in Xinjiang we arranged this time was pretty good.

The descendant of the Xinjiang Construction Corps, a young man born after 1985, works meticulously and has a sincere attitude. He has obviously done enough homework to lead the team this time.

On the tour bus, he introduced the tourist destinations that we could not reach this time in as detailed and humorous a manner as possible. He also introduced how these three generations, from his grandfather, his father to himself, were able to travel to each other on the tour bus.

Xinjiang is blossoming and bearing fruit.

In fact, it also introduces the past and present life of the Xinjiang Construction Corps in detail from the side.

In fact, from his grandfather who followed the Xinjiang Construction Corps to take root in this barren land in the northwest border after the founding of the People's Republic of China, to his father who was born in the 1960s (the second generation of the Agricultural Reclamation Corps), and then to himself, he went to the mainland to study at university in the early 21st century, and then again

He worked hard all the way to various places in the mainland to make a living. After traveling all over the country for many years, he returned to Xinjiang for development.

The ups and downs of this family's fate in the context of the great times is itself a book with a complete plot, depth and interest.

This is also the most exciting place for a group of mainland tourists like me and others who came from afar.

Perhaps, this is the biggest gain from my trip to Xinjiang!

Before leaving Xinjiang, I felt that I had been cheated and disappointed in this trip that spanned thousands of rivers and mountains.