Qinghai Lake Travel Notes

Summer 2018, the last trip of my student days

1. Itinerary

2. On the road: Rain/Salt Lake/Night/Dawn/Headwind/Homecoming

3. Really graduated

After Junior Sister Tian received the offer from the University of Tokyo, she began planning a grand summer vacation. One of them was cycling around Qinghai Lake, which was very satisfying to me, so I agreed to go with it early.

A week before the departure, Sister Tian and I were the only ones in the cycling group who were sure we could go, and the original friends were all cooing. After some arduous mobilization, the team expanded to 7 people (5 men and 2 women), and they are scheduled to gather in Xining on July 1. I was responsible for organizing and summarizing the strategies around the lake. After notifying the team members to purchase equipment and emergency medicine, I began to look forward to the last vacation of my student days.

1Itinerary

The route around Qinghai Lake is a very mature route, so the itinerary is basically consistent with the plan. The actual route is as follows:

2
On the road

I set off from Hefei with two undergraduate junior sisters and arrived at Xining Station at 6pm on July 1st. There was a shortage of supplies on the train, and the restaurant had no supply of meat dishes. The considerate juniors welcomed us at the station with delicious and warm cooked mutton. Then I rushed to the Muslim Yixin Mutton Hand-caught Restaurant for a feast without stopping.

After finishing this table of delicacies, we added three more dishes. Unfortunately, I overestimated my appetite and didn't finish it. ．．

On July 2, I took a bus to Xihai Town in the morning. After having a full meal at Big Beard Barbecue at noon, we rented a bike at Mingjing Bicycle Shop (all the boys rented the latest 30-speed XTC-800), and then rode a 20-kilometer round trip to visit my country's first atomic bomb detonation test site. Today is the adjustment period. I will only do low-intensity cycling to warm up to adapt to the plateau environment and check the performance of the bicycle. Have another big meal in the hotel in the evening. After watching the match between Brazil and Mexico, I prayed that it wouldn't rain in the next four days and then went to sleep peacefully.

3
Rainy day

July 3rd is the first day of riding.

In the early morning, the noisy rain sounded, heralding a miserable departure. After breakfast, the rain showed no signs of abating and was dripping wet. Since we have chosen a distant place, we only care about the journey through wind and rain. After a period of psychological construction, everyone was on the road. This is my first time riding in the rain. Put on rain pants, shoe covers and a jacket (in order to test the waterproof performance of the jacket, I did not use a poncho), turn on the recording function of the Outdoor Assistant APP, and embark on a journey around the lake.

It started as a ten-kilometer uphill climb and was completed in one hour. What followed was a refreshing downhill climb, and I accidentally reached 50 yards. The speed is getting faster and faster, so I don't dare to look at the stopwatch anymore. The front wheels raised the muddy water on the ground high and put it into your mouth. It tasted slightly salty. What followed were several consecutive periods of ups and downs. To avoid getting wet, we did not use cycling gloves. The cold rain (temperature below 10℃) made my bare hands tremble with cold, so I had to put two garbage bags over my hands to keep them warm.

Jinshawan is a desert beside Qinghai Lake and the first scenic spot on the trip around the lake. Green grasslands, golden deserts, blue lakes, and distant sand islands, set against the blue sky and white clouds, Qinghai Lake is a beautiful and magnificent picture. There are pictures to prove it:

However, the rainy day swept away all romantic fantasies. The teammates were worried that the SLR would get wet, so they were too lazy to just take pictures with their mobile phones.

Jinshawan, you owe me a sunny day.

The cold raindrops continued to blow on my face. I only wore a jacket and a quick-drying jacket, no thermal layer. After two hours of rain on the jacket, although the inner surface was not wet, the waterproof layer had failed. As soon as I parked the car and took a rest, I felt the chill raging. The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and I had a premonition that I was about to lose my temperature. I quickly took out my down jacket. My fingers were so frozen that I couldn't control them. I put on my clothes tremblingly, and then put on my poncho. I have to say, the down jacket is really warm, and I feel refreshed after wearing it.

Considering that everyone was shivering from the cold, we discussed that whenever we encountered a place where we could have lunch, we would stop immediately to get warm and eat, and to take shelter from the wind and rain. After riding to the 33rd kilometer, I found a canteen set up by Tibetans on the roadside and had hot instant noodles and milk tea. The rain gradually stopped, and the snow-capped mountains in the distance emerged from the clouds.

The journey in the afternoon was much easier. There was no wind, rain and climbing, and it was mainly flat ground and downhill. Since we wasted some time in the morning, everyone was busy on their way and rarely stopped when they encountered the rapeseed fields. Finally arrived at Jiangxigou at 7 o'clock in the evening.

4
Salt Lake

July 4th, departure at 9 o'clock. The road ahead is shrouded in dark clouds, as if a storm is brewing. But we are young people chasing the wind, how can we look at God’s face? I was expecting a hailstorm in my heart because I was wearing a helmet this time.

The morning was mostly flat and downhill. The weather has cleared up, and Qinghai Lake is accompanying me all the way, changing colors in the sunshine, like a dream. After riding for nearly 47 kilometers, we arrived at Heima River at 11 o'clock.

The impression of Chaka is always tied to the keywords of red dress, shawl and sunglasses. Salt Lake is an alternative, it would be a pity to abandon it if it tastes tasteless. Adhering to the fine tradition of 'Come, come, come', we chartered a car. The drive from Heima River to Salt Lake takes 1.5 hours. At three o'clock in the afternoon, we blended into the crowd of people in the scenic spot.

The cloudy weather cannot stop the large number of tourists. There are young ladies and old aunties in red dresses everywhere, like a lively clothing wholesale market.

When we realized that the sun was setting, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon. We rushed back to Heimahe River at seven o'clock, but Shi Naihai was still 40 kilometers away.

5
Night

The headlight is mainly prepared for sunrise, but it became the safety guarantee for this night riding.

It gets dark late on the plateau. The scenery of Qinghai Lake under the sunset is excellent, like a blue gem. Although the trip is very urgent, when passing by the sea of flowers, I still can't help but get out of the car and take pictures.

When dusk fell, I realized that the situation was not good, so I put on my headlamp and concentrated on the road. I rode at the end of the group to ensure the safety of my junior sisters.

At 21:20, the team met at Shi Naihai.

6
Sunrise on the Plateau

Sunrise is a complete surprise.

At 5 o'clock in the morning on July 5, we set out to welcome the sunrise. The sky has just woken up slightly, with a little blush on it, and everything around the lake has already woken up. Glimpse of light, hazy and freehand.

At 5:35, we rode to the top of the mountain, but found that it was too far from the lake and the scenery was not ideal. In order to embrace Qinghai Lake, Sister Tian and my junior sister and I climbed over mountains and ridges, sprinted for 6 kilometers, and climbed up another hillside at 5:58. You can have a panoramic view of the lake and sky.

Overcast clouds filled the air, leaving only one spot of skylight in the east. We waited with bated breath, fearing that the dark clouds would cover up this last glimmer of hope.

Around 6:10, Chaoyang suppressed her blush, broke through the clouds, and soon revealed half of her face. The sun seemed to be carrying some heavy burden, slowly, vertically and vertically, climbing up with all its strength. At the end, it finally broke through the clouds and completely jumped out of the lake. We were all dumbfounded and howled with excitement.

If there were to be a BGM for this gushing scene, it would have to be the "Sunrise" chapter of the symphonic poem "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss.

I once witnessed the sunrise on Mount Tai, with the sea of clouds rolling, and a red sun suddenly jumping out, and I couldn't help but feel proud. But this time the sun is more abundant, and the light of the lake is rippling and reflecting each other, which is so beautiful. Thank you God for blessing us with the blessing of being baptized on a cloudy day.

A few minutes later, the sun penetrated the clouds and we were ready to return.

Two little Tibetan mastiffs and a little yellow dog appeared out of nowhere, enthusiastically begging to be petted, and reluctantly said goodbye to us.

7
Headwind

Good luck seems to be conserved. The early morning sunrise exhausted our luck. On the way to Hargai, there was a headwind.

The rapeseed flowers we just inspected are surging, but we are already tired of looking at them.

The climb and headwind destroyed my will. I began to think about the meaning of cycling and regretted not choosing to drive by myself. Teams sometimes move forward in a single file, taking turns breaking the wind to reduce resistance. Personally, I think it has limited effect. When the wind is strong, the speed downhill is as slow as 25 yards. My legs hurt + my balls hurt, and finally I couldn’t pedal anymore, so I slowly moved to Hargai at a speed of 10 yards.

I ordered yellow mushrooms, a specialty of Qinghai Lake, for dinner. Maybe I had a poor appetite due to fatigue, so I thought the taste was average. After eating a few mouthfuls of food in a hurry, I didn't have time to take a shower, so I slept from 20 o'clock to 22 o'clock, and then I finally calmed down.

8
Homecoming

The last day's journey is the easiest, only 60 kilometers.

There are three uphills in the first half (the length is 3/1/1 kilometers respectively, the so-called despair slope is nothing more than that), followed by about 35 kilometers of downhill. There are flying insects on the road, and they will crawl all over your body if you are not careful. Fortunately, the package was tight, but one of them almost crawled into my eye.

We arrived at the starting point of the ride at 12:20. We couldn't wait to return the car, so we went back to the Big Beard Barbeque and had a hot pot meal. In my mind, Kang pot mutton is the most delicious food on this trip.

Back at the youth hostel, we wrote 7 potatoes on the ceiling/corners/doorways/water pipes of the room, waiting for latecomers to decipher them.