唐古拉山镇，海拔超过4500米，是青海格尔木市下辖的一个镇，位于青海省西南端，号称万里长江第一镇，属于格尔木的一块飞地。青藏铁路在此也设有火车站。我和徐老师作为志愿者来到这个长江源保护站，并进行人类学方面的考察，我们将在这里逗留几天。
Tanggula Mountains Town, located at over 4,500 meters above sea level, is an enclave of Golmud City, Qinghai Province, and known as the first town along the Yangtze River. A railway station of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway is also built here. Prof. Xu and I came here to conduct fieldwork in anthropology, it was also my first experience as a student anthropologist in the hinterland of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, after the investigation of Jiuzhaigou valley two months ago. Besides, we also served as volunteers at the Ecological Protection Station of the Yangtze River Source for a few days.
来到这里终于感受到了长江源之雄伟，青藏铁路以及青藏公路均架于沱沱河之上，每天晚上9点钟，这里的太阳还没有下山，夕阳之下，火车沿着铁路从沱沱河缓缓驶过，构成一幅极为美妙的画卷。
I finally felt how magnificent the Yangtze River is, for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and Highway are both built above the Tuotuo River and the sun doesn’t set until 9 p.m. The train passes by the railway very slowly, forming a wonderful picture under the sunset.
在草原上，因为视野极为广阔，有时甚至让你在距离判断上产生错觉。站在沱沱河边看对岸，牧民的帐篷清晰可见，我以为河宽也就两三百米，于是准备让无人机飞到对岸。然而，最远飞行500米的无人机在飞到河的正上方时便无法再前进，提示“已达最大飞行距离”。我望向远处架设青藏铁路的桥墩，数了数，有三十多个，粗略估算了下，河宽至少1000米。后来保护站的工作人员土旦旦巴跟我说，河宽差不多有1500米。不过，下午就发生了一件不幸的事，来自另外一个团队的一个大哥，在飞无人机到河上空时，无人机失控，“炸机”掉河里了。我们都开玩笑说他要去上海黄浦江去打捞他的飞行器。
It is very easy for a person to calculate the distance wrong by using eyes on the plateau due to its broader horizon. Fox example, I can see the herdsmen’s tent across the river clearly when I stood by the Tuotuo River, and I was under the illusion that the river was only two or three hundred meters wide. Then I prepared to fly the drone to the tent across the river. However, the drone, with a farthest distance of 500 meters, was hovering above the river and can’t fly further, and also alerted me with message “Maximum Distance Reached” on the iPad. Then I focused on the piers of the bridge that erected the Qinghai-Tibet Railway in the distance and it counted more than 30, so I estimated that the river was at least one kilometer wide. Tudan Danba told me that its width was almost one kilometer and five hundred meters later on. A river with such a wide may mean something unfortunate would happen. In the afternoon, a drone flew by a pilot from another team was out of control and crashed into the water straightly, disappearing immediately. We made a joke of the pilot that he would go to the Huangpu River in Shanghai to salvage his aircraft.
在一个阳光明媚的早晨，我对这个小镇进行了航拍。
Then I took the aerial panorama of the town in a sunshine morning.