This Qinghai travel strategy

Day1, itinerary: Xi'an-Xining-Chaka Salt Lake.

Xi'an sleeper train yesterday - to Xining Station at 9 am, the fare is 200 yuan. There are car rental companies in the underground parking lot of Xining Station. It is best to download the app in advance to make an appointment during holidays. National Day car rental is 430 yuan a day, service fee is 40 yuan, and the fuel fee is at your own expense. It should be noted that there are many monitoring systems in Xining City, so drive with navigation. It is more than 300km from Xining to Chaka Salt Lake, and it takes more than 4 hours to travel on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway. Book in advance during the peak season for accommodation. There are many hotels near the Chaka Salt Lake, and the cost ranges from 200 to 1,000. Tea card ticket group purchase 59 yuan. It's best to go in at five o'clock, and walk to the center of the lake for about an hour. After a while, it will be dark and you can watch the starry sky. Not even cleared at night.

Day2, Chaka Salt Lake - Qinghai Lake (- Qilian Mountains)

The distance is 90km, the asphalt road is in good condition. Basically two hours. Heima River to watch the sunrise, Bird Island is worth a visit in summer. Huanhu West Road has a nice scenery. You have to pay a fee to get down from the roadside to the lakeside. Tibetans charge it, usually 20 yuan, and you can negotiate the price. Originally planned to go to Qilian Mountains, but later changed the plan.

Day3 Qinghai Lake Black Horse River - Xining - Xi'an

230km. After watching the sunrise in the morning, I will return to Xining. If you drive by yourself, you can go directly to Kumbum Monastery. It is more than 30km from Xining to Kumbum Monastery. There are also direct buses at Xining Station. I went shopping in the city during the day, and I ate the stuffed skin, which was delicious. The old yogurt had to be made by herdsmen to be authentic, and it was so sour that sugar was added. The high-speed rail fare from Xining to Xi'an is 232.5 yuan.

The total cost of the two is about 2600 yuan.


"Let's go to the lake in the prairie and wait for the migratory birds to fly back." Listening to the song "If there is an afterlife", close your eyes, and your head is full of pictures. Sitting on the ground with your lover, surrounded by grassland cattle and sheep, in front of your eyes is a turquoise lake, blue sky and white clouds, and then the migratory birds return. Time seems to stand still, warm and beautiful.

--Inscription

To be honest, I've been really in a bad mood recently. Before the 11th holiday comes, all kinds of unsatisfactory things happen one after another, making people overwhelmed. In the morning before leaving, I made a hasty decision on the itinerary. I bought a train ticket for the 9:00 pm train ticket at 10:00 am.

Due to the nature of her work, Xiaoxue's vacation has to be scheduled a week in advance, and sometimes there may not be consecutive days off. As for my work, I was notified when I was on vacation and how many days off, so we never planned where to go. The day before the holiday, we haven't planned to go to Changsha to eat stinky tofu? Or go to Ningxia to listen to "The Love of My Life". After comprehensively considering the travel habits of Chinese people on November 1, we decided to go to the vast and sparsely populated Northwest, and we made a plan to go to Qinghai Lake. Speaking of the vast land and few people, Qinghai Lake is also large, so taking the bus is no fun. After thinking about it for a long time due to my lack of money, I finally decided to take the train to Xining and then rent a car to travel by car.

When we arrived in Xining, we picked up the car. The first stop of this trip was Chaka Salt Lake, to find the realm of the sky and the starry sky. I picked up the car at 10:00 in the morning to familiarize myself with its performance, and it was already past 11:00 when I left Xining City. The navigation showed that it would take 4 hours to travel more than 300 kilometers on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway to Chaka Salt Lake. As the altitude climbs slightly, the grassland becomes bigger and bigger, and the peaks become slower and slower. The windmill in the distance turns slowly and leisurely, the cattle and sheep nearby walk slowly in the sun, the music in the car plays the song "If there is an afterlife", and the noisy shadow of the city disappears without a trace in an instant, as if in the On the edge of the world, enjoying the beauty of this moment. Get out of the car to rest, take pictures; drive, record video. The circle of friends is updating the status vigorously, telling friends how beautiful the scenery is and how happy we are. It's not to show off, but I just want everyone to feel the feeling of being able to breathe a sigh of relief.

At 5:00 pm, we finally arrived at the first stop - Chaka Salt Lake. Get out of the car and stretch, my first concern is whether there are many tourists? Is it sunny? Is it windy? Well, the tourists are okay, the weather is sunny, but the wind is strong. The most beautiful Chaka requires few people, sunny days and no wind. The former two have been satisfied, but the latter failed to do so. Of course, good things can’t be monopolized by you. I picked up the camera tripod and dragged Xiaoxue to the lake.

Entering the scenic area is full of salt, salt sculptures piled up, salt grains spread on the ground, the slightly blue lake is very shallow, and a layer of base salt precipitates below. Walk along the railway in the middle, take pictures, and play more and more empty. The windy Chaka is the same as an ordinary lake, there is no static reflection, no sky and water uniformity, sparkling, ordinary. Slightly disappointed, I took uninspired photos and waited for the night to fall. Twilight is approaching, the setting sun is just right, we played silhouettes out of boredom. First a few sets of funny moves, and then a few beautiful backs, and then I picked up the water glass and knelt down on one knee, "Daughter-in-law, marry me"! When it comes to proposing, the most romantic way I can think of before getting married is that in all our travels, I want to be in front of snow mountains and lakes, in front of desert oases, in front of sunrise and sunset, and in front of thousands of miles of starry sky In front of you, I want to kneel down on one knee for you all over the world and say "marry me"! I will not have a bouquet of flowers like others, but I will pick up a cup of hot water; I will not have a designer purse like others, but I will pick up an ordinary stone; Pick up a handful of sand; then kneel down on one knee and hand you my most sincere and true heart.

After sunset, the wind became colder and colder, and the clothes got tighter and tighter. Xiaoxue said it was a bit cold, so I took her to see if there was a place to hide from the wind. At this time, a security guard passed by with two buckets of instant noodles in his hands. He asked about the source, and said that there was a convenience store by the lake in the distance, with two buckets of instant noodles and three sausages. Sitting by the lake, enjoying the last light of the sunset, eating hot instant noodles, waiting for the stars to rise slowly, one, two, three, the sky is full of stars before you know it. Xiaoxue shouted: "Look over there, the Milky Way is clearly visible." Yes, I have never seen such a bright galaxy. Since I was a child, I saw a sky full of stars at home, and the weather is getting worse. I have not seen stars for a long time. Now, how exciting and shocking it is to see the sky full of stars and the bright Milky Way. Pick up the camera, set up the tripod, and take the Milky Way seriously for the first time. As the beautiful photos of the starry sky were stored in the camera, Xiaoxue, who was snuggling beside her, was too cold, so she quickly mobilized her enthusiasm and became a model under the Milky Way. From 8 o'clock to 11 o'clock. It was only at 10 o'clock that I realized that I hadn't settled yet, so I searched quickly. Fortunately, it was the off-season and there were still houses. Xiaoxue said that she wanted to experience the feeling of a yurt, and then contacted a hotel with a yurt. A pot of hot water, two electric mattresses, the conditions are difficult, and the charge is 200. Although the conditions are poor and the fees are expensive, it is also fun to experience the feeling of living in a yurt.

Early the next morning, I drove 90 kilometers from Chaka to Qinghai Lake. In Qinghai this season, the temperature difference between day and night has reached 20 degrees Celsius, and the nighttime temperature has reached -2 ​​degrees Celsius. Entering the mountainous area, you will see the snow-covered peaks, the yellow weeds on the left and the snow on the right. After turning around, you can see the blue sky in the distance, which is the Qinghai Lake I saw many years ago.

Getting closer and closer, the higher and higher lake surface seems to extend to the sky. Drive to Qinghai Lake, walk to the lake, the waves push towards the shore layer by layer. I took a small video and sent it to the family’s WeChat group, built a small mani pile, and prayed for my family, wishing them peace, health and joy. Qinghai Lake, with clear skies and thousands of miles of clear water, is like the sea, with no end in sight. Just sitting quietly by the lake, cuddling each other, basking in the sun, blowing the sea breeze, watching the waves, just sitting quietly like this. At noon, I was a little hungry. I had a long day of driving yesterday and didn't have a good meal, so I wanted to eat something special today. Because the price of the dishes is really expensive, two people have a plate of stewed yak meat with potatoes, a plate of hot and sour cabbage, and three bowls of rice. It costs 128 yuan, which makes people feel distressed. But the taste is really good, and the yak meat tastes full of meat.

Maybe I was also a little tired. The original plan to go to Qilian Mountain was temporarily changed to watch the sunrise at Heima River the next day. Then this afternoon, I will be free to drive around Huanhu West Road. It could be seen that Xiaoxue was a little tired, so she fell asleep in the car. There is a section of Huanhu West Road that is very close to Qinghai Lake, so I pulled over and parked. Xiaoxue was resting in the car, and I was sitting on the side of the road outside the car looking at Qinghai Lake in a daze, time was so slow that it was almost at a standstill. I don't know how long I sat there, until Xiaoxue came, I proposed to take a photo with the car that took us to play this time, as a souvenir. It was a joy to shoot some beautiful ones first, then some lively ones, and finally some domineering ones.

In the afternoon, we encountered a horse racing competition. We chatted with the young horse racers, took pictures with the horses, watched them race, and learned about their horse racing culture. The healthy and handsome horse, the dark-skinned guy, everyone shouted and cheered at the moment of running. Those who won the first place are proud, and those who don't rank well feel sad. The audience will also give the colored yarn in their hands to their favorite horses. It is a pity that after the horse race, there are many drinking water bottles on the grassland. I saw a herdsman kid picking up rubbish, so I put the rubbish along the road together with Xiaoxue, maybe it would be a little easier for that kid to clean the pasture.

During this trip, my good buddies from high school happened to come here as well, and it was a pity that I kept catching up with each other, but the schedule was different and we couldn’t meet each other.

During this trip, the leader of the same unit also came to Qinghai with his family. Unfortunately, I was in Chaka and he was in Qinghai Lake. When I went to Qinghai Lake, he was in Chaka, and he missed it perfectly.

During this trip, my old riding friend, Young Brother, also came to Qinghai Lake. Fortunately, I booked a hotel for me in the evening, and also met in a hurry at night. The next day, I miscommunicated and missed the beauty of watching the sunrise together.

Early in the morning of the third day, the sunrise of the Black Horse River. With a temperature of -2 degrees Celsius, Xiaoxue was too cold to get out of the car, so she had to turn the car to the lake and face the sun sideways. The heater was turned on in the car, and I got out of the car to take pictures. Within a few minutes, I already felt a chill in my heart. The clouds were so thick that I thought we would not see the sunrise today, but it was worth waiting patiently. The sun shines like a diamond from the thinnest part of the clouds, slowly getting bigger and bigger until the sun rises into the sky. The anticipation of quietly waiting for the sunrise, the warmth of watching the sun rise, infected everyone who got up early to watch the sunrise. After watching the sunrise, there was a big stone engraved with Qinghai Lake by the lake. I was inspired and took some interesting silhouettes. I said let's go home after taking the photos, Xiaoxue reluctantly replied. Good times always pass so fast, and it is precisely because of this that people cherish them even more. Cherish the time on the road, cherish the scenery on the road, and cherish the people who accompany you on the road.

In fact, at the time of departure, just before taking the train from Xi’an to Xining, Xiaoxue and I hadn’t gotten the ticket from Xining back to Xi’an. I don’t know why, but we didn’t worry about the return ticket at all. is the home.

——End Note