Qinghai Circular Tour 2019.08.05-11
After returning from Qinghai, I feel the scenery is beautiful, magnificent, and soul-stirring! Although I have visited many countries, such as Canada, Russia, Japan, Norway, Switzerland, and other places. These landscapes can only be described as picturesque!
This time I chose the 'Miss Tasha' travel photography group. I was very eager to experience a sense of luxury and also to see how young people play. Literally, travel photography means traveling plus taking photos. First comes travel, then professional photography—great! Actually, the whole process is just good team management! A scenic spot is divided into several parts: which is the highlight, which is the best angle for photos, how to arrange the order of group members for shooting? After shooting, how do people go to enjoy the scenery on their own? How much time is allocated in total? Where is the final meeting point? That's it! But what was the result? Disappointing—no organization, no time management, only dozens of brightly colored dresses were provided, and one spot was repeatedly shot! Posed shots! Actually, having a photographer follow along would be better!
Day 1: At Tar Temple, there was no guide, only the driver who doubled as a guide. Adults and children bought tickets at different places after arriving. It was very crowded, the queue was long, and the weather was hot. Some bought tickets on their phones, some queued up, some had student tickets, some had senior tickets, and some had disability discount tickets! But we all paid the tour fee! Miss Tasha was dumbfounded! She was first an organizer, second a photographer, third a tourist, and also a mother with a 6-year-old daughter. In the chaos, some had tickets, some were queuing, and some didn't want to go. Finally, everyone decided not to go, so they rushed to refund tickets, and tickets had to be cheaper than the original price for anyone to take them. Leaving Tar Temple, we headed straight to Qinghai Lake. Several hours of driving, with Gobi desert along the way. The sparse grass might be called tamarisk? Distant mountains appeared and disappeared, only pairs of transmission towers lined up all the way! National Highway 315 was in very good condition, comparable to the expressways in our Jiangsu.
It's clear that a lot has been invested for the development of the west! Blue sky and white clouds—they can rival Norway and Finland! A straight road leading to the sky! The funniest part was when everyone needed to relieve their bladders; the driver parked by the roadside, and people walked behind a dirt mound to secretly take care of business! Qinghai Lake was rated by National Geographic as 'the most beautiful lake in China.' It is not only the largest inland lake in China but also the largest saltwater lake. Seeing it with my own eyes, it truly deserves the title. At an altitude of about 3,500 meters, I felt a slight headache. The temperature difference between day and night was huge—very hot and very cold! The water of Qinghai Lake is blue-green! In such a scene, beauty lovers seemed never to get enough of taking photos!
Day 2: Miss Tasha got a guide from the travel agency and charged an additional 3,000 yuan for the guide fee. 10 adults and 5 children. 300 yuan each? No, 375 yuan. I was puzzled and asked her—it turned out that originally it was split among 8 people! She and her friend's mother were exempted! I said I wanted to know the reason! She probably encountered someone as meticulous as me for the first time. Hehe! A so-called guide came, who was only responsible for buying tickets and didn't enter the attractions! Is this the rule in the northwest?! And I heard complaints are futile! It turned out to be true!
On an overcast day, Chaka Salt Lake felt very chilly, without any sense of a sky mirror. As the small train entered, the temperature dropped further! The vast expanse of pale white was also strangely exciting! The scenic area provides free shoe covers, but the queue was long. Actually, you could go barefoot if you don't mind the cold! I really admired the beauties taking photos, wearing as little as possible, barefoot, walking around in the water, striking various poses! Actually, the salt particles in the water were quite prickly! If it were clear skies, under the blue sky, the reflection of the snowy white salt lake would be very beautiful! It started to rain, the wind grew stronger, and we squeezed into the crowd queuing to return. At that time, I saw some small trains without windows and thought to myself, I wish I could ride a train with windows! It was really quite cold then!
Day 3: Today, we drove through the Qaidam Basin to Emerald Lake. Along the way, the sparsely populated area allowed us to experience the striking rare desolation and unique beauty of the northwest. During the trip, the driver found a safe spot for the beauties to take big shots! The deep blue sky, big fluffy white clouds, boundless Gobi, a road leading to the clouds! Along the way, we also saw culverts for animal passage every certain distance. In the distance, a railway track was being laid—maybe high-speed rail will come here soon!
Emerald Lake is actually an abandoned mine. Varying sizes of turquoise lakes mirror the blue sky and white clouds like mirrors. This view made up for the weather disappointment at Chaka Salt Lake. Moreover, there weren't many tourists. Group members let their emotions run wild—some swayed as they walked in the water, some danced gracefully in the water...
In the afternoon, we went to the Oil Town, which is the old county seat of Aksai in Jiuquan, Gansu. The broken walls and ruins made for interesting photos! In the evening, the guide took us to a very remote desert camp, where there were camel rides (paid), motorcycle rides, sandboards, hotpot, etc. Actually, it wasn't much fun. We didn't return to the hotel until 12 at night.
Day 4: Today we went to Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring. Under the blazing sun, although we were fully equipped with shoe covers, hats, scarves, and masks, we didn't slide down from the top of the sand dune making thunderous sounds. Seeing the long queue for camel rides also dampened our spirits. We took photos, played with sand, and I rode a sand motorcycle, which was quite bumpy. We also took a bus to Crescent Spring, took photos, and came back. Indeed, it was amazing—a small patch of lake water in the desert never dries up! An expert said it's due to the special geographical environment; sand flows uphill.
Seeing the desert for the first time was very exciting, inevitably reminding me of flying foxes, giant eagles, green dragon swords, etc. Back on the bus, a beauty said regretfully that she didn't go to Crescent Spring! That's the result of poor work by the guide!
In the afternoon, we went to Dunhuang, which was the highlight of the trip! It truly deserves its national 5A scenic spot rating, with the best organized visit! Because it was booked a month in advance, we could see 8 caves, and everything was orderly! A male tourist was scolded for taking photos: 'I said no photos!' The scene was quiet and awkward; everyone looked at him. The murals, perfectly preserved for 2,000 years, are remarkable! I marvel at the painting skills of the ancients, as well as the painting materials and environmental settings! The two 3D movies vividly recreated life at that time, taking us through over 1,000 years of the Library Cave, over 2,000 years of the Mogao Caves, over 7,000 kilometers of the Silk Road, and the vast Donghuang studies!
Day 5: From Dunhuang, we traveled east along the Hexi Corridor. We visited the Jiayu Pass, the 'First Pass Under Heaven,' which corresponds to the Shanhai Pass—the 'First Pass Under Heaven' ten thousand miles away—and is famous worldwide! Because of the extreme heat, everyone took photos and then continued onward. At 7 p.m., we arrived just as the Zhangye scenic area was closing. The Danxia landform formed from the pre-Jurassic to Tertiary periods, about 2 million years ago. The layers are staggered, cliffs are steep, majestic, diverse in form, and colorful, which is amazing! The colorful Danxia's colors, when viewed up close, are not as vivid as on TV, but still very beautiful! People frantically took photos, afraid it would get dark. Actually, the sightseeing bus can go to four observation decks, but because we delayed with photos, we only visited two spots, which was a great pity! I think that if the guide had arranged things more carefully, or if Tasha had been a bit more attentive, we could have left without regrets. This scenery is truly rare, but unfortunately, too little time!
Day 6: We drove through the Qilian Mountains grassland. Along the way, we saw snow peaks, green lakes, thousands of acres of rapeseed flowers, flocks of sheep, cattle, horses... Again and again, my soul was shocked! Such beautiful scenery really exists in the world!
Day 7: I went to Xining city on my own. Hey! Donations can be made via Alipay or WeChat. I bought some local yellow mushrooms, black goji berries, and saffron nearby. That night, I returned to my warm home!
If I have any advice: bring a jacket when going to Chaka Salt Lake and Qinghai Lake! Go to local supermarkets for shopping! You can pay by mobile payment throughout the trip without cash!
