Qinghai Lake
We then caught a train to Xining, in eastern Qinghai province. Our first full day in town, we took a ride with a tour group out to Qinghai lake, which is, I do believe, the largest saltwater lake in China. It’s huge. It’s also all at an elevation of about 10,000 feet.
Had a headache at the end of the day, and was crazy tired, but I’m not sure how much of that had to do with the elevation, and how much with lack of sleep, mild dehydration, and some baijiu we’d had with lunch.
When we’d talked to the travel agent, he had told us we’d be going to a different place. Namely, to this place on the far side of the lake called Niao Dao, or Bird Island, which is where a ton of migrating birds stop for a month or so to breed. We were pretty excited, but a bit skeptical since our guide book said they were there from may till June and it was nearly July. And yeah, turns out he did rip us off in that sense. The birds had already left so we didn’t go all the way out there. But it was nice nonetheless. A nice relaxing day, some lovely scenery. Tons of rolling green grasslands, big hills, flowers in bloom, as well as yaks and sheep. There were tons of these blue flowers that looked like irises perhaps, and these bright yellow ones, pink ones, and the white ones here. I think those are related to the rock daphne we had in the yard as kids. It’s got that same smell pretty much. They’re called Mantou flowers. Cause they form in rounded bunches like this and thus look kinda like mantou.
Had a headache at the end of the day, and was crazy tired, but I’m not sure how much of that had to do with the elevation, and how much with lack of sleep, mild dehydration, and some baijiu we’d had with lunch.
When we’d talked to the travel agent, he had told us we’d be going to a different place. Namely, to this place on the far side of the lake called Niao Dao, or Bird Island, which is where a ton of migrating birds stop for a month or so to breed. We were pretty excited, but a bit skeptical since our guide book said they were there from may till June and it was nearly July. And yeah, turns out he did rip us off in that sense. The birds had already left so we didn’t go all the way out there. But it was nice nonetheless. A nice relaxing day, some lovely scenery. Tons of rolling green grasslands, big hills, flowers in bloom, as well as yaks and sheep. There were tons of these blue flowers that looked like irises perhaps, and these bright yellow ones, pink ones, and the white ones here. I think those are related to the rock daphne we had in the yard as kids. It’s got that same smell pretty much. They’re called Mantou flowers. Cause they form in rounded bunches like this and thus look kinda like mantou.