📍 The Devil's Eye of the Northwest -- Aiken Springs

Located in Moheerbrook Village, Huatugou Town, Mangya City, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, it is known as "the eye of the earth" and "the eye of the devil". It was discovered from 1883 to 1885 during the reign of Guangxu by the Russian explorer and traveler Pulzewalsky, who introduced the Aiken Spring in the Gai Basin in his book "Towards Lop Nor" written in his crossing expedition in Qinghai and Xinjiang. At present, this scenic spot is normally open, tickets are free, cleaning fees will be charged 30 yuan/person, regional car 10 yuan/person, you can also walk in, one-way about 1km to the spring.

There are many mysterious legends about the origin of the Devil's Eye. Some say these are the eyes of the devil, always looking for an opportunity to devour the world. It is also said that these are the tears of the mother Earth, who shed this lake because of her sadness, and that the whirlpool is her tears rotating. However, whatever the truth, Aiken Spring and the Devil's Eye became the most mysterious presence in the land.

The road to Aiken Spring is really all the way tortuous, from the water Yadan to the vast cliff city, along the way encountered the water destroyed sections, the whole person was shaken to pieces, and then encountered a sandstorm, can not see the road. Because we started at about five o 'clock in the afternoon, it will take five hours to drive to Mangya City, it is all dark behind, driving in no man's land, dark lights, self-driving friends must pay attention to safety, the road is full of big cars, no street lights...

It has been known before that Manya city is one of the loneliest cities in China, surrounded by three uninhabited areas, close to Xinjiang, and generally will not be included as one of the Northwest Ring Road, because it is indeed a little far outside the Ring road.

Our first stop is the "devil's eye" Aiken spring, first of all we follow the navigation, directly on the high speed to Xinjiang to go really speechless, navigation with us, the correct route should be to the toll station, but not out of the toll station, there is a sign on the road wrote Aiken Spring scenic area turn into it. The direction is correct, we are driving to the scenic spot, it should be in the road, the section is very bad, feel only suv can drive, small car chassis is estimated to be worn very seriously, all the way shaking, but the scenery is worth it.

You can get a close-up look at the huge scale of the oil drilling (a very interesting experience for a curious baby like me anyway!). You can see the vast grasslands, snow mountains in the distance, lovely cows and horses... Because the road was new, and the road was very narrow, there were hardly any cars, and it was rainy, so you know, I wanted to get out of the car and run!!

Aiken spring few tourists, spring near the grass, so it is called "devil's eye", flying with a drone is very shocking, if you do not take the drone friends suggest not to go this trip, because standing on the ground, just see a pool of water. Recommend Aiken spring fan as a hand ceremony, really good looking, I also use it in the black Dushan concave shape hahahaha, worth starting! By the way, you can see snow-capped mountains in the distance!

Bumpy all the way, finally into the Aral grassland on the bank of Garsi Lake, to the Aiken spring, Mongolian called "Aiken Prague", meaning "source spring". The eye of the Aiken Spring, with its gushing water and the deep red ribbon of sediment in the surrounding land, forms a peculiar pupil shape, like an eye inlaid in the earth. Because the sulfur content is too high, birds and beasts around the spring do not dare to get close, and grass does not grow in the place where the spring flows.

The spring was like boiling water, and the sulfur deposits around the spring formed a colorful pattern. Originally little interest in this scenic spot, after arriving really sweet, photographed the fire phoenix on the earth.

Sincerely recommend warning:

1️⃣

The day the wind is too strong, the driver with the drone failed to fly up, but the personal feeling is worth a trip, after all, there are many aerial photos online, but Aiken Spring wonderful, is worth witnessing and personally feeling.
2️⃣ ticket office and observation platform is about 2km away, the scene to buy or not to buy, depending on personal wishes.
3️⃣ It is recommended to wear windproof clothes, because the wind is really strong