阿尔山一日 · 火山与森林

阿尔山市很小，主街走一遍用不了二十分钟，四周全是落叶松和白桦。城里的老火车站是 1937 年日本人修的，尖顶、木窗、黄墙，是座很特别的日式小站，现在还在用，很多人专程来拍它。早餐吃本地的：奶茶、手把肉、羊肉包子、荞面饸饹、油炸糕，吃完身上就热了。阿尔山海拔一千米出头，但纬度很高，夏天也凉，早上要穿外套。进森林公园前把水、干粮买好。

Arxan is small — one main street walked in under twenty minutes, larch and birch all around. The old station was built by the Japanese in 1937 with pointed gables, wooden windows and yellow walls, a quite distinctive little building still in use and a favourite subject for photographers. Breakfast is local: milk tea, hand-grabbed mutton, mutton dumplings, buckwheat noodles, fried cakes — and you warm up at once. Arxan sits a little over a thousand metres up but at a high latitude, cool even in summer, so a jacket is needed in the morning. Buy water and rations before heading into the park.

天池是阿尔山最出名的一个湖，在一座火山的顶上，海拔约一千三百米，形状圆得几乎完美，面积不大但很深。奇怪的是它没有河水流进来、也没有流出去，水位却一年到头基本不变，水也不浑，这是它最让人想不通的地方。从停车场要走一段台阶上去，两边是落叶松林，上到观景台往下看，湖面通常很静，颜色随天变。这里风大，加件外套。

Tianchi is Arxan's best-known lake, sitting on top of a volcano at about 1,300 metres, almost perfectly round, small but deep. Strangely, no river flows in and none flows out, yet the level stays much the same all year and the water stays clear, which is what makes it a puzzle. A flight of steps climbs from the car park between larches to a viewing platform, from which the lake usually lies still, changing colour with the sky. It is windy here — add a layer.

三潭峡在哈拉哈河的上游，是三个连着的水潭：卧牛潭、虎石潭、悦心潭，水从火山岩的缝隙里流出来，清得能看见底下的石子，两边是密密的落叶松，栈道贴着水修，走起来凉凉的。这一段人不多、安静，水声一路跟着。岸边有长凳，走累了坐一会儿,听听水声。

Santan Gorge lies on the upper Halaha River: three pools in a row — Woniu, Hushi and Yuexin — fed by water seeping from volcanic rock, clear enough to count the stones below, with dense larch on either bank and a boardwalk laid along the water, cool to walk. It is quiet and uncrowded here, with the sound of the stream throughout. There are benches on the bank — sit and listen if you are tired.

石塘林是一大片火山喷发留下的熔岩台地，几万年前岩浆流到这儿，慢慢冷掉、裂开，成了现在这一片黑色的石头。石头上有各种形状——有的像绳子拧着，有的像圆包鼓起来，那是熔岩流动时留下的痕迹；石头缝里长满了苔藓、地衣和矮矮的落叶松，黑色配着绿，很特别。栈道就在石头上架着，走一圈半个多小时。这一段没有遮阴，中午晒，戴帽子。

Shitanglin is a broad plateau of lava left by an eruption: tens of thousands of years ago the flow cooled and cracked here into the field of black rock you see now. The stones come in forms — some twisted like rope, some swelling into round mounds — the marks of lava on the move; and the crevices are full of moss, lichen and low larch, black against green, quite unlike anywhere else. The boardwalk runs on top of the rock, a loop of just over half an hour. There is no shade, so bring a hat for the middle of the day.

驼峰岭天池是阿尔山两个天池里更大的一个，形状像一只卧着的骆驼，所以叫这名。爬到观景台上往下看，湖被一圈落叶松和白桦围住，秋天四周全变色，黄的、橙的、红的，湖在中间绿着，颜色一层层往外散开，是阿尔山最好看的一张画面。这里台阶多、上来要花点力气，但值。

Tuofeng Ridge Tianchi is the larger of Arxan's two crater lakes, shaped like a kneeling camel, which gives it the name. From the viewing platform above, the lake is ringed by larch and birch that turn all at once in autumn — yellow, orange, red — with the lake green at the centre, the colour running outward in rings: the finest picture Arxan offers. There are many steps and the climb takes some effort, but it is worth it.

杜鹃湖是一片火山熔岩把河道堵住后积起来的水，水面开阔，四周是密密的林子。因为岸边春天开满兴安杜鹃，所以叫杜鹃湖。秋天来水鸟多，一早就有一群群的水鸟在水面上起落。湖边有栈道和观景台，风比别处大，水面一吹就起细纹。这里人比天池少一些，适合慢慢走一段。

Dujuan Lake formed when a lava flow dammed a channel, leaving an open sheet of water among dense forest. It takes its name from the Hinggan azaleas that flower along the shore in spring. In autumn the waterfowl arrive, flocks rising and settling on the water from early morning. There are boardwalks and platforms along the shore, and the wind is stronger than elsewhere, so the surface breaks into fine ripples. It is quieter than Tianchi — good for a slow stretch on foot.

不冻河是哈拉哈河的一段，最神的地方是：冬天气温降到零下三四十度，周围的河都冻得结结实实，这一段却照样流水，水面上还冒白气，因为河底有地热。到了冬天，两岸的树全是雾凇，河水在中间流，白茫茫一片里一条不冻的水，是阿尔山冬天最有名的一张画面。夏天来的话就是一条清亮的河，傍晚有牛在河边喝水，也很好看。

The Bu Dong is a stretch of the Halaha River, and its wonder is this: when winter temperatures drop to minus thirty or forty and every neighbouring river freezes solid, this stretch runs on, steam rising off it, because of geothermal heat below. In winter the trees along both banks are all rime and the water runs between them — a strip of open water in a white world, the most famous image of Arxan in winter. In summer it is simply a clear river, with cattle drinking at dusk, and beautiful too.

阿尔山出名的就是温泉，城里和景区附近都有温泉馆，水温从三十几度到四十几度不等，泡完一天的乏就散了。「阿尔山」在蒙古语里就是「热的圣水」的意思。泡温泉注意别空腹、别泡太久、有心血管问题先问医生。晚饭吃山里的：蘑菇炖小鸡（小鸡炖蘑菇）、炸柳根鱼（本地小河鱼）、山野菜、手把肉、羊肉汤，主食是米饭或馒头。吃完早点休息。

What Arxan is famous for is its springs, and there are bathing houses both in town and near the park, water between the mid-thirties and mid-forties Celsius — a soak takes the day's stiffness out. 'Arxan' is Mongolian for 'holy hot water'. Do not bathe on an empty stomach or stay in too long, and ask a doctor first if you have a heart condition. Dinner is mountain food: chicken stewed with mushrooms, fried liugen fish from the local streams, wild greens, hand-grabbed mutton, mutton soup, with rice or steamed bread. Then turn in early.