Qinghaihu / 青海湖: bycicle tour around the biggest lake of China

Arrival:

On Friday afternoon around 1:30pm, Mrs. Bai, Zhipan, Honglun, Frank and I left with Mrs. Bai’s car to Shanghai Pudong Airport. We parked the car and ate outside the gate after having checked in our luggage. With a small delay, we flew to Xining (西宁), the capital of Qinghai province (青海省).  There, a taxi driver waited already to bring us to Xihai (西海), a small town on 3200m above sea level, around 20km from Qinghai Lake (青海湖). We reached our hostel after midnight and went to sleep immediately.

Tour description:

Day 1:

On the next morning, the weather was great, blue sky awaited us. We checked out and had breakfast (noodles and baozi) in a small restaurant in one of the main roads of Xihai. Then, we headed to the bike rental agency. There, each of us chose his or her bike for the next four days. Some things had to be adjusted and fixed. We loaded our saddlebags and also got some spare tubes.
Around 11am, we left Xihai (西海) and headed southwards in the direction of Hudongzhongyangchang (湖东种羊场). Theweather was still good. Due to the sun and the high elevation, we were very cautious with exposing our skin to the sun. We either wore masks and long sleeves or used high degree sun cream. On the first 45km until lunch break, we had to cross a pass and several moderately slopes hills and dunes. One hour after the start in Xihai, we catched sight of the lake for the first time. For lunch, we had a simple but good noodle soup and some vegetables in a small restaurant.
After lunch, we continued for another 15km to reach the National Route 109 that runs along the southern shore of the Qinghai Lake. After reaching National Route 109, we still had to cycle some 40km to reach the hostel of this day, in Jiangxigou (江西沟). In total, we had cycled 100 Kilometers on that first day. Since Mrs. Bai, Zhipan and Frank each had had a flat tyre this afternoon; we arrived only around 9pm, after sunset. We had a quick dinner and went to sleep.

Day 2:

Really bad weather awaited us the next morning. After breakfast, we nevertheless started cycling in the pouring rain. Personally, I was really fighting with myself, since after a few minutes, my pants were completely soaked. Following Frank’s example, I had wrapped plastic bags around my shoes. That turned out to be a really effective measure and kept at least the feet halfway dry. Slowly, too slowly we passed km milestone after km milestone. After 47km, we reached Heimahe (黑马河), where we had lunch in a small restaurant. We really appreciated the stove in the middle dining room, where we could dry our clothes a little bit.
It had stopped raining when we continued around 3pm for the next leg of 50km. However, now the wind was quite strong. We passed several villages and accumulations of Tibetan style tents. For several Kilometers, the road was rather close to the lake before we entered the Bird’s island peninsula. Another shower hit us before we reached our hostel in Niaodaozhen (鸟岛镇). Again the total distance was around 100 Kilometers. In the hostel, we again gathered around the stove to dry our gear. After shower and dinner, we went to sleep.

Day 3:

A few Kilometers after the start on the next morning, it started to rain again, although not as strong as the day before. After around 25 Kilometers, we crossed the railway between Xining and Lhasa. We had now reached the northeastern edge of the lake and continued on National Route 315 direction east. We had lunch in a small village. After lunch, we continued our tour in the towards Gangcha (刚察), one of the larger populations in the region. Owing to the individually preferred speed, Zhipan and I oftentimes cycled together. At a toll station around 8 Kilometers before the town, we waited for Mrs. Bai, Honglun and Frank. I was aware of a black wall of clouds creeping in from the west, but I assumed we should be able to reach the Gangcha before it reached us. It turned out that this was not the case and a last, but very strong shower hit us again.
While Mrs. Bai decided to continue with the taxi on this day, Honglun, Zhipan, Frank and I continued by bicycle. We finished the last 28 Kilometers in about 90 Minutes.
After almost 100km, we arrived in Haergai (哈尔盖), where Mrs. Bai awaited us in a hostel with a tiny little kitchen, where we again occupied the stove that was fed with dried dung of the cattle.  Before sunset, sun came out and the light was perfect to take some photos. We had a shower and went for dinner in a small restaurant. Again, we went to bed early.

Day 4:

I was really glad when I saw that the weather had improved on the next day. No rain, some clouds, but also sun. From a highway bridge across the railway, we had a beautiful view on the snow-capped mountains in northern and north-western direction of the lake. For the first 15 Kilometers, we crossed plain terrain. Then, we climbed up the first of three steps that eventually led to a pass at an estimated elevation of around 3500m above sea level . Again, Zhipan and myself were at the head of our group, while Honglun and Frank followed. Mrs. Bai had decided to finish the tour by taxi.
After the pass, we enjoyed an almost 20 Kilometers descent until the town of Xihai (西海). There, Zhipan and I had lunch, before we returned to the bicycle rental agency, where we met the others. We were really proud having completed the total distance of 360km.

Return

After having returned bikes and gear, we left Xihai by taxi, heading towars Xining. We reached our hotel at around 6pm. After a shower, I went for awalk through the neighborhood of the hotel taking photos. Xining has a large fraction of muslim population and several mosques.
We all enjoyed a very good hot pot dinner close to the hotel. On Wednesday morning, we returned to Shanghai by plane, from where we drove back to Suzhou.