Dear friends of the Hive community, hello! I am a retiree from China. Today is my first time sharing my travel plans here.
Back in 2019, I saw a report on CCTV News about the full opening of the Beijing-Xinjiang Expressway, and it sparked the idea of taking a road trip to Xinjiang. However, since I was still working, I didn’t have the time to make it happen. Today, five years later, I’m finally fulfilling that wish.
A few days ago, we celebrated my father’s 100th birthday in Beidaihe and then returned to Beijing to prepare for this long road trip. Today, my wife and I set off in our car to begin a 40-day journey covering 12,000 kilometers to Xinjiang.
Here’s the basic itinerary:
Beijing — Hohhot (483 km) — Bayannur (423 km) — Ejin Banner (679 km) — Hami (679 km) — Turpan (413 km) — Urumqi (193 km) — Dushanzi (247 km) — Nalati (243 km) — Bayinbuluke (83 km) — Yining (464 km) — Sayram Lake (326 km) — Karamay (453 km) — Burqin (314 km) — Kanas, Hemu (122 km) — Koktokay (438 km) — Urumqi (516 km) — Turpan (199 km) — Hami (411 km) — Dunhuang (410 km) — Jiuquan (383 km) — Zhangye (191 km) — Xining (377 km) — Lanzhou (215 km) — Yinchuan (437 km) — Yan'an (409 km) — Lvliang (266 km) — Beijing (671 km).
We left home at 6 AM and arrived at our first stop, Hohhot, at noon, checking into the Kaiyuan Mingdu Hotel. Although the hotel is slightly old, the room’s facilities are decent, and the space is spacious enough. A nice touch is that the hotel sent a fruit platter as soon as we entered the room. We plan to stay here for two days, get a feel for the city, and then continue heading west.