It was the first time I traveled across other provinces after the epidemic. On September 4, I took a four-day tour with the Souku Photography Group. The itinerary included Lijiashan Village, Qikou, Jingbian Wave Valley, Ganquan Grand Canyon, and Hukou Waterfall in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces.

In the morning, take the shuttle bus from the courtyard to meet at Yuanmingyuan. The bus leaves at 7 o'clock on time, and take a break in two service areas (Wangdu, Hebei, Jingle, Shanxi) and other places. After 10 hours, we arrived at Qikou, Lin County, Lvliang City at 5 p.m., and changed to a local minibus again and drove to the winding mountain road to Lijiashan Village.

At first glance, I saw an old man in Lijiashan Village, Qikou, Lin County, in a simple natural village with a white towel on his head and a sheepskin vest. What was particularly eye-catching was the QR code with a sign hanging around his neck. The simplicity and technology formed a sharp contrast.

Lijiashan Village, Qikou Town, Lin County, Shanxi Province, is rated as a famous historical and cultural village in China. There are about 100 courtyards in the village, retaining luxurious Qing Dynasty houses and a variety of different houses from ordinary cave dwellings. They contain loess customs and rich Yellow River culture. They are valuable materials for studying ancient folk customs in our country.

The terrain of the village is very peculiar. The buildings are distributed on high slopes several hundred meters vertically. The slope of the slopes is about 40 degrees. Almost all buildings make perfect use of the trend of the mountains and are cleverly combined with the slopes. From a distance, buildings of various shapes are stacked high and low, from the ditch to the top, with up to nine floors, which is extremely magnificent.

While I was editing my travel notes, Teacher Qin (practitioner in Tianya) in the group posted a photo, which shocked me,"Oh, this is the Potala Palace", which is the Potala Palace on the high loess slope. (The picture below is taken by Teacher Qin)

There are two small ditches flowing southward inside the village, which merge in the south of the village and flow into the Yellow River. The mountain ridge between the two ditches is shaped like the head of a phoenix, while the two mountains on the left and right are the wings of a phoenix. This terrain seems to be good for gathering wealth. The streets inside the village are high and low and paved with stone stones, making them very clean and orderly.

In the evening, the villagers began to cook and eat after a tired day. The couple chatted. Experienced model Old Man Li confidently sang the Shanxi folk song-Xintianyou, smoked a bag of cigarettes leisurely, and led the donkey home.

At night, I stayed in Huanghe Family, Qikou Ancient Town, Lin County, Lvliang City, Shanxi Province, bounded by the Yellow River, Shanxi and Shaanxi. Qikou Town is an ancient Dukou and the main important town in the north of the Yellow River for water transportation. The streets of Qikou Town at the foot of Wohu Mountain turn from east to north for five miles long. The streets are connected to streets, alleys are connected to alleys, and courtyards are connected. A design professor once inspected and said: "This kind of building is called a three-dimensional blend of vernacular architecture, with a unique architectural style in the world."

I stayed in Qikou Inn, which is located in the core of the ancient town, backed by Luliang Mountain, facing the Yellow River water, and close to Qikou Wharf. Qikou Inn was formerly known as Sihetang and mainly engaged in sesame oil trading. In its heyday,"hundreds of boats parked in windows and thousands of camels walked through doors." Business reached Baotou and Yinchuan in the north, Shaanxi's "three sides" in the west, and Taiyuan, Beijing and Tianjin in the east. After several changes, it became an inn at the beginning of this century. The building in the courtyard is divided into two floors. The bottom is a cave-style building, and the top is a row of Chinese-style latticed wooden doors and windows. The bluestone walls are built with green tiles, the roof is covered with green tiles, and the high-pitched eaves are scattered high and low with the terrain. Rows of hanging red lanterns are dotted between them, adding a lot of vitality to this ancient courtyard.

Although the distinctive Qikou Inn is now decorated with beautiful flowers and dotted with rows of red lanterns, adding a lot of vitality, the stone brick floor, steep stairs, and a series of decorations can reveal its past history.

Qikou used to be a bustling waterway and land transportation site. Specialty grains, furs, medicinal materials, etc. produced in the northwest were transported here by waterway and then transported to various places by land mules, horses, and camels. When they came back, they would bring back some products, tea leaves, matches and other daily necessities, and then sent to the northwest via waterway. Now that road and railway transportation are developed, Qikou has lost its glory.

In the morning, at the sunrise, the red sun shines all over the earth, and the Yellow River water looks particularly beautiful. Standing by the Yellow River and staring at the endless rushing Yellow River water, my heart was surging and imagining the scene at that time and the scenery of the past.

Leave Qikou and visit the Wave Valley in the natural landscape of Jingbian County, Yulin City, Shaanxi Province. Jingbian Wave Valley is relatively close to Yan 'an. I have always thought that it is a scenic spot with a boundary and a large Wave Valley (Known locally as Jingbian Red Sand Rock Canyon) is a treasure deep in the mountains. It is formed by millions of years of wind and water carving sandstone. The texture of the rock sand is like waves, and it is a treasure of feng shui. I marvel at the magical carving and magical pictures of nature and the majestic and contiguous Danxia landform. I enjoyed taking photos here. Teacher An's small plane gave full play to his strengths and captured the full picture of the Wave Valley at a glance.

Fortunately, the beautiful yoga instructor of the team fully demonstrated her beautiful movements in the photographer's lens, adding a better scenery to the beautiful scenery.

We went to the Danxia landform on the water in Scenic Area No. 3. Longzhou Lake, which is surrounded by mountains, shines on the earth like a mirror in the sky. There is a curved green lake in the stone valley. What is even more surprising is that everyone praised it as a map of China, which is very visual impact. Calm green lake water and red sandstone form a beautiful landscape.

The landscape here is the base of photography creation.

I planned to take photos of sunset on Danxia on the water, but unexpectedly, there was a strong wind and dust flying all over the sky. I had to change my plan and rush to Jingbian County. The weather was still gray just now, and suddenly the sky was red. The car immediately cheered with joy. Teacher Liu and the driver worked hard to find a suitable spot for taking photos at a modern oil refinery. Photography enthusiasts are so quick that they forget about low back pain and leg pain. Looking for the wall and the roof of the water tanker to seize this beautiful moment. The refinery is particularly beautiful under the red sunset glow. Afterwards, everyone joked jokingly,"This is a good character, God takes care of us."

I took two photos casually, but didn't focus well to see the photographer's heroic posture.

The photo below was taken by Teacher Hong Yehong and borrowed it. The photographer focused on taking photos on the roof of the abandoned water tanker.

Photography is hard and happy. I set off early to the "Ganquan Yucha Grand Canyon" Yucha Grand Canyon is the place I have always longed to take photos. When I arrived at the scenic spot, I took a special bus for the scenic spot. The road was green and various small wild flowers were on the roadside. Open, it took about 35 minutes to reach Mudan Valley.

I thought I could go directly to the Yucha Grand Canyon. The tour guide introduced that it would be best to take photos of the Yucha Grand Canyon from around 12:00 to 2:00 noon. Go to Mudan Valley to have a look at it early. It is said that a major earthquake occurred in Mudan Valley about hundreds of millions of years ago, dividing a mountain in half, forming a large crack. Later, the canyon was formed after being washed by wind and rain. There are many wild peonies on the roadside, hence the name Mudan Gully. The canyon is about 100 meters long and about 1 meter wide. The ground is uneven. Pay great attention to the slippery ground. You can return the same way in about an hour.

It takes 20 minutes by bus from Mudanou Canyon to the next scenic spot, Ganquan Grand Canyon.

The Ganquan Yucha Grand Canyon is naturally formed. It is the world's living Danxia and the valley of Chinese dreams. This geology is very amazing. It is a natural treasure developed in 2017. It is the most unique and famous canyon, and it is also a paradise for photographers. The canyon is about 300 meters long and 1 - 2 meters wide. The narrowest part of the valley is 20 centimeters. If the sky is clear at noon, the sun penetrates through the cracks in the canyon, shining colorful colors and strange shapes.

Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River is a popular tourist attraction. It belongs to Hukou Township, Yichuan County, Yan 'an City. On both sides of the Yellow River are Shanxi and Shaanxi. The hotel we stayed in is in Shanxi, opposite Shaanxi. The Yellow River roared and surged like a wave in a storm. It surged and shook people's hearts. It showed its majesty and was shocked by the Yellow River's fearless spirit and its invincible spirit.

The mountains, rivers and waters of the motherland are vast, thick and majestic, and they are presented to everyone to share. A Yellow River cantata sings the greatness and pride in our hearts, breeds a brilliant civilization that rises to the sky, and inspires the hearts of Chinese people to surge and blood boiling!