额济纳一日 · 胡杨与怪树林

达来呼布（本地叫「达镇」）是额济纳旗政府所在地，整个旗就这么一个小镇，主街一条，到了胡杨节，全国的游客都挤在这儿。蒙式早餐很实在：奶茶是砖茶加牛奶和盐煮的，咸口，配炒米、奶皮子、酥油；手把肉是带骨羊肉白煮，蘸韭菜花或椒盐；还有羊肉包子、羊杂汤。吃早点别太晚，胡杨林一早光线最好，八点半以后团队就多起来了。镇上有卖水、干粮、防风沙的店，进景区前备好。

Dalaihob — 'Da town' locally — is the seat of Ejina Banner, and the whole banner is this one small town with a single main street; during the poplar festival visitors from everywhere squeeze in. A Mongolian breakfast is solid: milk tea brewed from brick tea with milk and salt, savoury, alongside puffed millet, cream skin and butter; hand-grabbed mutton boiled on the bone and dipped in chive flower or pepper-salt; and mutton dumplings and offal soup. Do not eat late — the light in the forest is best early and the coach parties arrive after half past eight. Shops in town sell water, rations and dust protection; stock up before the park.

额济纳胡杨林景区沿着弱水河分成八个区域，用桥编号。一道桥是入口，树密、路好走，早上的光线斜斜地穿过树梢，叶子一半亮一半暗，很有层次。胡杨这种树很特别：耐旱耐盐碱，叶子形状不固定，幼树是柳叶形，成年树是大叶，一棵树上能有三种形状的叶子；秋天最盛时整棵树透亮金黄，风一吹叶子哗哗地落。景区里有观光车串起各桥，也可以走路。

The Ejina poplar park follows the Ruo River and is divided into eight sections numbered by bridge. The first is the entrance: dense trees and easy paths, and in the morning the low light comes through the crowns so that the leaves are half bright, half shade, full of depth. The poplar is an odd tree — drought- and salt-tolerant, and its leaf shape is not fixed: seedlings carry willow-shaped leaves, mature trees broad ones, and a single tree can show three shapes at once. At the height of autumn the whole crown is translucent gold, and a gust brings the leaves down in a rush. Shuttles link the bridges; you can also walk.

二道桥又叫倒影林，因为这一段弱水河的水面宽，两岸的胡杨直接映在水里，天晴时是「一树两景」：岸上一片金，水里一片金，中间一条蓝天。清晨没有风的时候水面最平，倒影最清楚；太阳升高、起风以后水就花了。这里人多，想拍空镜要么最早到，要么往里走远一点。

The second bridge is also called Reflection Woods, because the Ruo River broadens here and the poplars stand straight above their own images: on a clear day, one tree in two pictures — gold on the bank, gold in the water, a strip of blue sky between. In still early air the surface is flattest and the reflection sharpest; once the sun climbs and the wind gets up the water breaks. It is busy here, so for a clear shot either come first or walk further in.

四道桥的胡杨最老、最密，树龄有的上百年，树干粗得抱不过来，枝子横着长、扭着长，当地人叫它「英雄林」。这一片适合走进去慢慢看，抬头是密密的金叶，低头是厚厚的落叶，风一过，叶子从头顶落下来。胡杨「生而不死一千年，死而不倒一千年，倒而不朽一千年」的说法就是从这里来的。中午在景区里简单吃点干粮，别走太远，下午还有黑城和居延海。

The poplars at the fourth bridge are the oldest and densest, some over a century, trunks too thick to span, branches growing sideways and in twists — the locals call it the 'hero forest'. This is a stretch to walk into slowly: gold leaves dense overhead, deep leaf litter underfoot, and when the wind passes the leaves come down from above your head. It is from here that the saying comes: poplars 'stand a thousand years alive, a thousand years dead without falling, a thousand years fallen without rotting'. Eat some rations in the park at midday and do not wander too far — the ruins and the lake are still to come.

八道桥是景区的南端，胡杨到这里就断了，再往南就是巴丹吉林沙漠——中国第三大沙漠，沙山高、沙脊利，风一吹沙纹就变。这里能骑骆驼、滑沙、玩沙滩车，也可以站在沙丘上看这片「沙海」。骆驼队慢慢走过沙脊的样子，是很多人来额济纳要拍的一张。玩项目先问价、先讲好时间，别在半路加价。

The eighth bridge is the south end of the park, where the poplars stop and the Badain Jaran begins — China's third-largest desert, its dunes high and ridges sharp, the ripples reshaped by every wind. You can ride a camel, sandboard or take a beach buggy, or simply stand on a ridge and look out over the sand sea. A camel string moving along a ridge is the shot many come for. Agree the price and the duration before you start, and do not be surprised by a mid-way addition.

黑城（蒙古语叫哈拉浩特，意思是「黑城」）是西夏到元代的一座边塞古城，当年是丝绸之路北线上的一处重镇，后来河改道、水断了，城也废了，如今只剩夯土的城墙、几座佛塔和遍地碎陶。往东不远是怪树林，一大片枯死的胡杨，树干半埋进沙里，枝子扭成各种形状，夕阳一照像一群站着的人。这两处最适合傍晚来：光斜、影子长、人少，安静得能听见风。遗址里别爬城墙、别捡陶片，那是文物。

Khara-Khoto — 'black city' in Mongolian — was a frontier town from the Tangut through the Yuan, a strongpoint on the northern Silk Road, until the river shifted, the water went and the city was abandoned; all that is left are rammed-earth walls, a few stupas and potsherds underfoot. A little east is the dead forest: a wide stand of long-dead poplars, trunks half-buried in sand, branches twisted into every shape, so that in the low sun they look like a crowd of standing figures. Both are best toward evening — raking light, long shadows, few people, quiet enough to hear the wind. Do not climb the walls or pick up sherds; it is protected heritage.

居延海在额济纳旗北边，是弱水的尾闾湖，古书里叫「居延泽」，汉代的居延塞就在这一带。湖面在这些年里靠补水慢慢恢复，如今芦苇荡一片连一片，秋天芦花白、苇秆黄，风一吹像波浪。这里是候鸟的驿站，秋天的水面上一群群的水鸟、海鸥，起起落落。傍晚的居延海最好看：夕阳压在芦苇上，水鸟贴着水面飞，天边一条橙色。看完日落天就黑了，回镇里还要一小时车程。

Juyan Lake lies north of Ejina and is the terminal lake of the Ruo River — 'Juyan Marsh' in the old books, with the Han-dynasty frontier of Juyan in the country around. Replenishment in recent years has brought the water back, and now the reeds run stand after stand, white in flower and yellow in stem in autumn, rippling in the wind. It is a staging post for migrating birds, and in autumn the water is covered in flocks of waterfowl and gulls rising and settling. Evening is the best of it: sun low on the reeds, birds skimming the surface, a band of orange at the horizon. Once the sun is down it is dark, and town is still an hour's drive.

额济纳的晚饭还是以羊肉和面食为主：手把肉、烤羊排、羊肉串、羊杂汤、蒙古馅饼、羊肉面；奶茶一直有，热的，喝一晚上。想喝一点可以点马奶酒，度数不高，酸酸的。镇上餐馆集中在主街，胡杨节期间家家满座，最好早点去或者先订位。吃完早点休息，明天如果还要去景区看日出，天不亮就要起。

Dinner in Ejina runs to mutton and wheat again: hand-grabbed mutton, roast lamb rack, lamb skewers, offal soup, Mongolian stuffed pancakes, mutton noodles; and milk tea throughout, hot, all evening. If you want a drink there is airag, fermented mare's milk — low in alcohol and pleasantly sour. The restaurants cluster on the main street, and during the poplar festival every one is full, so go early or book. Turn in early; if you mean to catch sunrise in the park tomorrow, you will be up before light.