Qinghai Lake (Qinghai Province)

Qinghai Lake is China's largest inland salt-water lake. After our visit to Xi'an, we had landed in the city of Xining, slept in one forgettable hotel, and then hopped in a van to drive to the lake.

What was really interesting about the lake--apart from the gorgeous blue sky, the still waters, and the amazingly-colored flowers--was that the land around it was privately owned by Tibetan families.

Both aspects were interesting. First, private land ownership does not exist much in China, as people can generally only have land tenure, not own the land. (Or at least, that is my uneducated understanding of this.)

Second, we were on the Tibetan plateau, a big elevated slab of land that runs all the way from Gansu and Qinghai to Tibet. I've always been interested in Tibet and it was interesting to get a glimpse of the culture and people here.

The bus we used in Qinghai and Gansu.

At Qinghai Lake. We asked about the meaning of the flags, and the answer was that they illustrate "Buddhism traveling with the wind."

The lake, the grass, the yak. (And Roel)

To access the lake, you can ask one Tibetan family if you may cross their land. You pay a small fee and then walk to the lake. (It gets a little funny if you want to walk along the lake, as every 100 meter you would have to pay another family. Luckily this did not really happen during our walk.)

Looking for frogs along Qinghai Lake.

Flower power.

Yak power.

Having fun at the "beach."

(To be continued...)


In het nederlands: Vandaag wat fotootjes van ons bezoek aan het Qinghai meer, China's grootste zoutwatermeer. We hebben niet gezwommen, maar wel heerlijk gewandeld door de bloemenzee.