Day 7: Clockwise Ili Ring Day7 (Huocheng-Bole)
Tourism time: 2025.7.4
Itinerary: Lucaogou Town-Sailimu Lake-Bole
Sailimuhu has a high online review, but it has made people's appetite anyway. My review is: OK, but not as expected. Among the few large plateau lakes I have been to, I personally think that I can only rank behind Namcuo, Lugu Lake, and Yamdrok Yongcuo, and I didn’t even see the stunning Erhai Lake for the first time.
I also try to analyze the reasons here. First, although the weather was sunny and the air quality was excellent that day, it was not transparent enough, and the sky was not blue enough, which did not highlight the blueness of the lake. Second, the climate here is obviously not as moist as the Yili River Valley, the grass is not green enough, nor dense enough, and it feels a bit desolate.
1.Sailimu Lake has the east gate, the north gate and the south gate. The north gate of the east gate can enter and exit, and the south gate only goes out but not enter. Usually enter from the east gate.
2. Sailimu Lake is 100 kilometers around the lake. The eastern half of the lake is generally experienced: there are many people and cars in the east gate section, and there are not many attractions to see from the east gate section to the south gate section. On the western half of the lake, the section from the pine tree head to the West Sea Grassland is relatively better.
3. We are clockwise around the lake in Sailimu Lake. The advantage is that we drive close to the lake and park on the side at any time. The disadvantage is that we arrived at Sailimu Lake first. If we want to go to the Guozigou Observation Deck (near the South Gate exit), we have to go around one quarter more. If you want to go to the Guozigou Observation Deck, I suggest you go counterclockwise. There is nothing to see when you go to the east gate to the south gate. You can go directly to the south gate.
4. If you want to have a better view of Sailimu Lake, you can go to the pine tree head. If you climb to the top, you can see the Guozigou Bridge on one side and Sailimu Lake on the other side. If you don’t want to climb so many, you can climb the hillside next to the south of the pine tree. There are no trees on the hillside and the view is wide. Climbing for more than ten minutes is enough to see the view.
Summary: I, who had high hopes for Sailimu Lake, basically didn't stop much in the second half, so I arrived in Bole early to stay. Do a good job of managing expectations and keeping your mind flat will have a better experience.
(To be continued)
