The Great Northwest: Qinghai-Gansu Grand Loop (2,600 km)

My friends and I set off on October 5th, avoiding the National Day peak period, to begin our vast Northwest China journey:

Day 1: Xining (capital of Qinghai), weather: 3-13°C.

Coming from Guangdong, we were still shocked by the temperature. As soon as we got off the plane, we rushed to the changing room to put on thermal underwear and a down jacket before we felt warm and secure. After renting a small car at the airport, we wandered casually near our accommodation. Here’s a shoutout to the hand-pulled noodles near the hotel—they tasted fantastic. Why are noodles from the north always so flavorful?

We drove to a nearby small hill to explore and got a panoramic view of Xining. The city was full of blocky high-rises rising straight from the ground, like building blocks. I sighed a little—cities everywhere in China look pretty much the same. What was different here was the crisp, fresh air, fewer people, and less congestion. On the mountain, there were a few golden ginkgo trees and red willows, standing out brightly against the blue sky and white clouds, filling us with a strong sense of autumn.

Day 2 Morning: Tar Temple

This is a 5A scenic spot, a holy place for deeply understanding Buddhist culture. When I saw those devout people prostrating themselves in full-body bows, I felt immense respect and sincerely admired them—they must be in great physical shape. It’s such a full-body movement, perfectly stretching and loosening the lower back, neck, shoulders, and more.

Day 2 Afternoon: Laji Mountain (3,680 m elevation)

Without realizing it, we drove to over 3,000 meters above sea level. A stretch of road was mysteriously foggy—completely obscured ahead, filled with mist like a fairyland. Visibility was about 5–10 meters. Drivers must be very cautious. After that stretch, we reached a snow-covered mountain. It was stunning—a breathtaking sight. The white snow on the mountains shone under the sun, making the entire majestic range radiate an indescribable beauty and awe.

Day 2 Evening: Qinghai Lake

Qinghai Lake is enormous—so vast that you can’t see the mountains on the opposite shore. At first glance, it looked like the sea. The scenery was beautiful. Although we missed the best months of July and August, and now the cold wind was blowing, it was still tolerable. The blue of Qinghai Lake was truly refreshing. The women in our group dressed in bright colors, and every picture turned out lovely.

Day 2 Night: Heimahe

We made a rather interesting decision to stay in a very remote area of Heimahe Town. According to hotel reviews, the area was desolate, but the guesthouse environment was decent. In fact, it was precisely because of the desolation that we could see the Big Dipper, Mars, Jupiter, the Milky Way… all clearly visible in the night sky. It was pitch black outside—so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. Five meters from the guesthouse, we couldn’t even see the bumpy muddy path underfoot. So I pulled out my phone, turned on the flashlight, and shone it forward. Whoa, it startled me—ten meters ahead was a cow. It seemed to have never seen a light before, and it jumped in fright too. I think both of us were pretty scared at that moment. Haha.

Day 3: Chaka Salt Lake

This is a famous internet-famous check-in spot, and indeed there were quite a few people. To save time and avoid walking the 3 km route, we bought a combo ticket for 120+35 yuan, hopped on a little train, and chugged slowly, slowly to the deepest part of the salt lake. When we got off the train, for some reason, everyone was eating ice cream in such cold weather. It turned out to be Chaka Salt Lake’s specialty ice cream—salty flavored (10 yuan each). The taste was very different from what we normally have. It was great. I bought two in total.

To enter the lake, we all had to rent red rubber boots, probably to avoid staining the white salt and also to protect the skin. I touched the saltwater with my hand, and my finger skin felt rough and weird for several days.

Since we took photos not too late in the day, the mirror effect wasn’t very obvious. But the open feeling was still nice.

Day 4: U-shaped Highway, Dongtai Jinaier Lake (China's "Maldives")

Driving all the way, the Gobi and Yadan landforms were magnificent and heroic—I never got tired of them. I heard that in May, Dongtai Jinaier Lake had plenty of water, earning it the nickname China's Maldives. But when we went, only a small patch of turquoise water remained. The photos still turned out great—the surroundings were a vast white expanse, at first glance looking like snow, but actually it was a salt lake where the water had evaporated.

Day 5: Dunhuang

After seeing so many magnificent natural landscapes, visiting a place with historical and cultural heritage made the trip complete and perfect. No wonder some say scenic spots are 30% scenery, 70% story. Dunhuang, known as "ancient China's Shanghai," is definitely worth a visit. It has an indescribable depth. It was a melting pot of Chinese and foreign cultures during the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, a must-pass on the Silk Road, and an important point on the Hexi Corridor.

Mogao Caves: There are 736 caves in total. The largest and tallest is the nine-story pagoda, housing a 36.6-meter Maitreya Buddha. Other caves were built by powerful families of the time, who enshrined their faith in Buddhism, Shakyamuni, and Guanyin, and painted their own family glories on the walls. I admire the craftsmen of that era.

1. Crescent Moon Spring and Mingsha Mountain: This place is also quite magical—a pool of water suddenly appearing in the vast desert, so precious! We went to watch the sunrise in the morning. Like the online jokes say, we chased the sun more eagerly than Kuafu. We left in the dark at 6 a.m., afraid the sun would rise, and climbed to the top of a sand dune in 20 minutes.

2. Camel riding. This was much more comfortable than horse riding! Very steady.

From the camel handler, a young guy, I learned that camels live an average of over 30 years and can start working at about 2 years old. Currently, the camels on the desert are all males; the females stay home to give birth and nurse. They eat grass, vegetables, and fruit—no meat. There are about 2,000 camels in the Singing Sand Dunes area.

3. "See Dunhuang" (Youjian Dunhuang) — a large-scale immersive drama. Online it says it cost 430 million yuan to produce, and tickets are expensive—several hundred yuan—but I’m telling you seriously: it’s worth it! Maybe because I’d never seen this kind of immersive show before—standing to watch a movie, walking around to see the performance. Of course, in the end, we could sit comfortably for a while. It tells stories about Dunhuang, the Taoist priest Wang, over a thousand years of history, listing some historical figures…

Day 6: Guazhou, Jiayuguan

In the great Northwest, because it’s so cold and dry, and driving starts with 100–200 km stretches, we asked at every rest stop whether we needed to go. There was a rest stop in Guazhou offering 2 cantaloupes for 10 yuan. I think only Guazhou could do that. Fruits in the Northwest felt like they were kept in a giant natural fridge—ice cold to the bite, with a crisp crunch.

Jiayuguan: The First Grand Pass of China. Ancient people were really clever—with the Qilian Snow Mountains on one side and a grand canyon on the other, they used these natural geographical advantages for defense. At the pass, one man could hold it against ten thousand.

Day 7: Zhangye

Zhangye is most famous for its Colorful Danxia landforms. These geological formations were deposited over 100–150 million years. Collisions of seabed plates formed ridges and valleys, with minerals creating shapes like giant scallops, silk, or purple sweet potatoes. Quite interesting.

Day 8: Menyuan, Xining

Menyuan’s flower sea was gone, because July and August are the seasons for rapeseed flowers. All that remained were barley stalks—a stretch of withered grass. But it didn’t matter. In the evening, we had a satisfying meal of authentic hand-pulled lamb hotpot in Menyuan. The texture was amazing.

Various landforms—the flat expanse of the Qaidam Basin, Gobi, desert, grand canyon, snowy mountains, hills, plateaus—all these magnificent landscapes were a stunning impact on both sight and soul.

The Great Northwest is totally worth it!