The mystery of the 'ghost city' in the middle of the desert in China

The ancients said: "If you come to Xinjiang, you must visit the "ghost city" once, but you should not go there alone", because day and night there resounds with the roars of tigers, elephants, and cries...

Recently, photographer and travel blogger Ngo Tran Hai An spent a week exploring the colorful land of Xinjiang (China). One of the most interesting places on the trip was “World Mystery Town”, also known as Mogui Cheng. This is the name of the Yardang geological complex in Karamay City, Xinjiang. Despite being a forgotten land with a strange, ghostly beauty, nicknamed “Ghost City”, Yardang still attracts many tourists.

Total area 260km2, of which the Yardang geological core area is 22km2. The "ghost city" in Karamay stretches in the Northwest - Southeast direction, concentrating many unique natural landscapes such as Yardang Gobi terrain, desert canyons, rock poplar trees...

The “Devil City” is also known as the “Windy City” because of the strong winds that blow here frequently. Located on the northern edge of the Junggar Basin, between the Altay and Tianshan Mountains, the “Devil City” is one of the places where the wind blows every day in northern Xinjiang.

“In the middle of the desolate landscape, the red rocks glowing brightly under the blazing sun suddenly became sad and gloomy due to the sound of strong winds hitting them violently. Just a few minutes ago, the vast desert was still charming in its quiet and poetic beauty, but now, as the sunset gradually fell, the mysterious sounds created by the wind and rocks made the crowd of curious tourists shiver in fear.” Those were the true feelings of Mr. Hai An the first time he came to the “ghost city”.

Over hundreds of millions of years of wind and water erosion, the “ghost city” has formed many strangely shaped mounds of rock up to 10 meters high. Many mounds of rock have the shape of castles, temples, pavilions, city walls, and others resemble tigers, horses, turtles, or eagles.

Walking around the “ghost city”, visitors will go from one surprise to another. Along the tour route are countless high stone mounds alternating parallel to the wind direction, like the ruins of ancient castles, rising in the middle of the Gobi desert. The stone mounds have many shapes from square to round, most of which have holes of different sizes. Between the mounds are wind-eroded valleys, like winding rivers in the arid region.

There is a local saying: “If you come to Xinjiang, you must visit the “ghost city” once, but you should not go there alone”, which shows the mystery, charm and popularity of this place. The mysterious beauty and diverse geological terrain of the “ghost city” annually attracts countless photography lovers and tourists from all over the world .

In particular, this area was once the filming location of famous movies such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Ang Lee, Hero by Zhang Yimou...

Currently, in the "ghost city" there is also a monument depicting a martial arts scene typical of Chinese swordplay movies for tourists to freely take photos and check-in.

Since this place is about 100km from the center of Karamay city, visitors should buy a tour or rent a car, buy an entrance ticket for 46 yuan and walk along the corridors to visit. If you come during hot and humid weather, you can take the local bus for 52 yuan. This place has opening hours of 8am - 8:30pm in summer and 10:30am - 6:30pm in winter.

Source: https://baoquangninh.vn/bi-an-thanh-pho-ma-hu-quy-khoc-giua-sa-mac-o-trung-quoc-3314688.html