1. Preface
“Keeping the promise as usual, and accepting the gifts of nature.”
We suddenly started planning a trip to Qinghai, and my friends and I decided to stick to one idea:
“Even a trip planned this suddenly is still better than someone who breaks a promise.”
Almost two years ago, I made a promise with Zixiang. After we said goodbye that time, I told him that I would definitely visit him in Qinghai within two years.
My brother and his friends happened to have a similar promise as well, so at this point, all of us who had promises to keep came together at the right time. We thought: maybe it was finally time for a trip.
To be fair, there was still some pressure before we left and during the journey, whether it was about time, budget, or safety. But now we have all returned home safely and gone back to our own work, study, and everyday lives.
So, as usual, it is time to write down a record of this trip.
2. Time and Overview
2023-09-29 — 2023-10-03
Five days and four nights · Four people · Qinghai small loop road trip
Total distance: about 1,400 km
(1) Day 1 — 09-29
We left at 07:00 in the morning and travelled entirely by high-speed rail. We arrived in Xining at around 19:00.
We had dinner at a local ethnic restaurant. The Qinghai-style hotpot was pretty good, and the way they cooked pork tenderloin here was also completely different from what I was used to.
I did not expect gaiwan tea, also called guawanzi here, to actually taste sweet.
Accommodation: Xining city centre
(2) Day 2 — 09-30
Wake-up time: 07:00
Xining → Dabanshan Viewing Platform → Zhangye Danxia National Geopark
We crossed the Qilian Mountains on National Highway G227 and entered Gansu Province.
About 380 km, around 6 hours of driving
Tickets: Zhangye Danxia adult ticket ¥93, student ticket ¥65
Accommodation: Near Zhangye Danxia Scenic Area
The amount of driving on this day was just right. We did not feel too rushed.
Dabanshan Viewing Platform was quite nice as the first stop of the trip. It matched my first impression of Qinghai pretty well.
At the foot of Dabanshan, we also saw a car that had overturned. That was a little scary...
Safety really is the most important thing when travelling.
After Dabanshan, we passed through Ebao Town and crossed the Qilian Mountains for the first time via National Highway G227.
Zhangye Danxia
(3) Day 3 — 10-01
We started driving at 07:00.
Zhangye Danxia → Gangcha County → Qinghai Lake Cliff → Chaka Salt Lake
About 630 km, around 10 hours of driving
Tickets: Chaka Salt Lake adult ticket ¥60, student ticket ¥30
Accommodation: Chaka Town
The drive was quite long on this day, but the scenery was beautiful.
It really matched the saying:
“The real scenery is always on the road.”
When travelling from Gansu back to Qinghai, we drove along National Highway G227 again. After that, we entered Tianmo Highway, which we all thought was the most beautiful road of the entire trip.
There were almost no people on the road. We had no phone signal and no navigation either.
A yak standing on the cliff.
The scenery along Gaxiao Highway on our way to Gangcha County.
Chaka Salt Lake
(4) Day 4 — 10-02
We started driving at 08:00.
Chaka Salt Lake → Xining
About 365 km, around 5 hours of driving
Accommodation: Xining city centre
We took the highway all the way back to the city. In the afternoon, we walked around Xining and had some rest.
We had barbecue for dinner.
(5) Day 5 — 10-03
Flight home.
3. Key Places
Dabanshan Viewing Platform: Our first sightseeing stop. The view was quite open and nice. I would not say the scenery was extremely beautiful, but it was still a good place to start the trip.
Ebao Town: The last main stop before crossing the Qilian Mountains from south to north. There were a lot of people when we arrived. The road itself was not difficult to drive, and the scenery was pretty good.
National Highway G227: We crossed the Qilian Mountains on this road twice. There were cliffs, valleys, continuous uphill and downhill sections, and plenty of mountain bends. The scenery was great. The road itself was not too difficult, but there was a lot of traffic.
Zhangye Danxia: I personally did not find it that interesting. The scenic area is huge and the ticket is not too expensive, but it takes quite a lot of time to visit, and many parts look similar. After seeing the first viewing area, I already felt a little bored. There were also a lot of tourists.
Tianmo Highway: Almost completely uninhabited, but extremely beautiful. The altitude was around 4,000 metres. This was my favourite road of the trip and also the one that left the strongest impression on me.
Gaxiao Highway: Nice scenery, easy to drive, and there was phone signal and navigation along the road.
Gangcha County: One thing worth mentioning is that the public toilets were surprisingly good. It also works well as a supply stop when travelling from north to south.
Qinghai Lake Cliff: The area had already been fenced off and started charging an entrance fee. Bad review from me. That is also why you may notice that I did not take any photos of Qinghai Lake. We only looked at it from a distance.
Chaka Salt Lake: It was okay. We arrived in the evening, and I was not especially interested in visiting it in the first place. Still, I personally liked it more than Zhangye Danxia.
4. Costs
Outbound transport ¥913 + car rental ¥767 + accommodation ¥450 + fuel ¥200 + supplies ¥100 + return transport ¥968 = ¥3,398
Total: around ¥3,500 per person
5. Notes
(1) Car Rental
The first thing I want to talk about is the rental car. This was also my first time renting a car for a road trip.
We rented a 1.5T Volkswagen T-Cross.
First, the price. Normally, this car only costs around ¥88 per day, but because we travelled during a public holiday, the price jumped to ¥388 per day.
There was nothing we could really do about that, so we just accepted it.
Let me start with fuel consumption.
Simply put, this car was really fuel-efficient, although its performance also made it pretty obvious why it could save so much fuel.
We drove almost 1,400 km, and the total fuel cost was less than ¥800. It came to roughly ¥0.5 per kilometre.
Originally, we had prepared a fuel budget of around ¥1,200, so we saved some money there.
After praising the fuel economy, I also have to talk about the performance.
We joked that when the car lacked power, we had to make up for it with driving skills.
It was especially obvious on mountain roads. Sometimes the engine was already running at around 6,000 rpm, but the car was still only doing around 40 km/h. The gear changes were also strange. It would often get stuck in second gear and refuse to shift up.
I asked my father about it straight away, and he said it might have been caused by the high altitude. The thinner air means less oxygen enters the engine, which may affect fuel combustion and engine performance.
In terms of space, it was just right.
There were four of us, plus our backpacks and luggage, and the car did not feel crowded. After all, it is still a small SUV.
I would not strongly recommend this car for a Qinghai road trip, but you also have to consider the price.
For example, during the period we travelled, rental prices had increased a lot. Under those conditions, it was still a reasonable choice.
Another thing is road safety.
Overall, roads in Qinghai are quite easy to drive on, but overtaking and passing other cars through mountain roads and narrow valleys can still be dangerous.
Drive carefully and stay safe.
(2) Accommodation
I have listed the details of our accommodation below.
Overall, we were very satisfied with the places we stayed, so hopefully this can also be a useful reference for anyone planning a similar trip.
First night: 2023-09-29 — 2023-09-30
Hanting Hotel Xining Binhe South Road · Family Room = ¥298 / 4 people
Review: A very standard Hanting Hotel. The price was good, although parking was slightly inconvenient.
Second night: 2023-09-30 — 2023-10-01
Zhangye Danxia Huayue Hotel · Four-person Room = ¥253 / 4 people
¥64 per person
Review: Four-person rooms are not that easy to find, but this one was pretty good. The layout was slightly strange and the room was on the ground floor behind the reception area, but it was not noisy at all. It was also very close to Zhangye Danxia Scenic Area, only about a ten-minute walk away.
Third night: 2023-10-01 — 2023-10-02
Wulan Chaka Qingfeng Courtyard Homestay · Two Double Rooms = ¥719 / 4 people
¥180 per person
Review: A little expensive, but the overall experience was okay. The hot water system was not very good. The rooms were also on the ground floor, but again, it was not noisy.
Fourth night: 2023-10-02 — 2023-10-03
Hanting Hotel Xining Binhe South Road · Family Room = ¥315 / 4 people
¥105 per person
Review: Same as the first night.
Total accommodation cost: ¥1,585
My personal accommodation cost: ¥450
(3) Supplies and Equipment
For clothing, early October was not too cold yet.
For the upper body, a thick jacket and thermal underwear were basically enough. For the lower body, I just wore a pair of cargo pants.
Sunglasses and face coverings depend on the person, but I would recommend that the driver bring a pair of sunglasses. Otherwise, the sunlight can become quite uncomfortable while driving.
A face covering can also help keep out dust and sand, so your nose does not become too dry.
For food and drinks on the road, you can put two packs of bottled water in the boot.
In the end, we actually returned one unopened pack.
You can also buy around two cans of Red Bull per person.
Some snacks are useful for the road, although the driver probably should not expect to eat much. There is not really much time to snack when you are constantly driving.
None of us needed oxygen, but this really depends on the person.
If you are worried about altitude sickness, you can bring a small can of portable oxygen.
We also brought a small first aid kit, although thankfully we never needed to use it.
These things are basically insurance. It is always better to bring them and not need them than the other way around.
Safety comes first.
For photography, apart from our phones, our main camera was a Fujifilm X-T30 with 23mm and 56mm lenses.
We also brought a DJI Air 2S drone.
Unfortunately, none of us were particularly good at flying it, so we barely used it. Hopefully our drone skills will be better by the next trip.
I had also planned to bring an action camera, but my wallet unfortunately did not agree with the idea.
Maybe I will have one by the time of the next trip.
Personally, I think both an action camera and a drone are almost essential for scenery like this.
While driving, you can attach the action camera to the windscreen and record the journey from a first-person view. After getting out of the car, you can clip it onto your backpack and continue recording from your own perspective.
A drone, on the other hand, can capture the mountains and landscapes from above and let you see the world from another angle.
6. Afterword
This trip came together very suddenly, yet somehow the planning also ended up being quite complete.
Of course, unexpected things always happen during a journey, but luckily we all came home safely.
Whether it is a long trip or a short one, safety is always the most important thing.
So that is also something I want to remind everyone about: stay safe.
My brother said that after coming back from the trip, it felt like we had become “people inside a shell” again.
Maybe most of us are like that.
The timing of this trip was actually a little awkward.
We only had three real days for sightseeing, but that was also just enough time to complete a small loop.
We did not have enough time or budget for the larger loop.
Also, early October is the time when the seasons are changing in Qinghai, so it was not exactly the perfect season to visit.
But I think autumn has its own kind of beauty.
And to be realistic, if it had not been during this period, none of us would probably have had the time to get together anyway.
It had also been around a year and a half since I last saw Zixiang.
Sitting together, we talked about those days again: beds made from wooden boards, eating one cabbage for four days, freezing winds, hundreds of cockroaches, and the days when we almost collapsed on the road...
But all of that is already in the past.
A year and a half has gone by, and so much has happened to all of us.
We are all still moving forward.
For so many years, whenever I travelled with friends, I was usually the one doing all the research and planning.
I would lie awake thinking about where we should go, what we should do, and whether everything would work out.
So when my friends told me:
“We trust you. We always feel safe just following your plan.”
I was actually pretty happy to hear that.
This was also my first real road trip after arriving at the destination, so there were many things I still did not have much experience with.
But I think the biggest thing I learned was still that sentence:
“The scenery is always on the road.”
For example, when we finally arrived at Zhangye Danxia, we realised that it was not as impressive as we had imagined.
Instead, the scenery we saw along the road was what made us want to stop again and again.
So I also learned something from this trip.
If I travel to Qinghai, Xinjiang, Tibet, western Sichuan, or similar places again in the future, I would leave more time for the journey itself.
Maybe stay in one area for another day or two, take proper photos, and record more of the experience, instead of focusing only on reaching the next destination and missing everything along the way.
Of course, the main reason we could not do that this time was simply that we did not have enough time.
Otherwise, camping somewhere along the way would probably have been amazing too.
That is also one piece of advice I would give to anyone planning a similar trip.
Now I am already looking forward to the next journey.
Who will be travelling with me next time?
And where will we go?
At the end of this record, the people I most want to share it with are my parents.
They also really want to go on road trips and travel further away to see more places.
Unfortunately, everyday life does not leave them much time.
So for now, I will go and see the world for them first.
I hope these records can give them some useful information when they finally have the chance to travel themselves.
And I also hope that, in the future, they will have more time to go out and see this world for themselves.
