From Golmud, which was a delicious surprise (we may be the sole travellers who find that Golmud is a charming city (of course, charming to China standards, do not expect to find Siena in Golmud), we continued our trip towards Xining and the end of the voyage. But we should not skip of course, the Koko Nor (Blue Sea in Mongol), so we look how to reach the lake from Golmud, and Dulan was only a speck in the map, but conveniently placed, so, we decided to stop there. And we left Golmud in bus, under heavy rain. We almost did not see anything of the countryside, which should be beautiful.
-
-
Section 3: The Qaidam Basin, Huatougo to Golmud. Stage 3
What really can be said about Huatougo? Really nothing, indeed. It is a small village, half way between Magnai and the asbestos mines. But finally we were in Qinghai. Or, better said, we had left the Xinjiang. Which meant that Police will be helpful, instead of suspicious, and that we have left the specie mutton meat.
-
Section 3: The Qaidam Basin, arrival to Huatougo. Stage 2
So, we took a shared taxi from Ruoqiang towards Magnai, through a 3.800 meters mountain pass in the Altun Mountains, flanked by 5.000 m peaks. I expected to find landscapes like in the Andes Cordillera, like these:
-
Section 3: The Qaidam Basin, from Ruoqiang to Golmud. Stage 1
All blogs and guides agreed that it was not easy to go from Ruoquiang to Magnai, 350 km away, through a 3.500 m mountain pass, that was closed in winter due to snow, and in summer due to sandstorms. Moreover, as Ruoqiang was an oasis city in the middle of nowhere, but essentially oriented towards the North and the Xinjiang, and Magnai was a mine city, oriented towards the South and the Qinghai, nor people nor goods felt the need to join these to cities.
-
Section 1: Yecheng (Khargilik), city forbidden to foreigners … or not
Chinese people does not like to “lose face”, so, usually things are never clearly stated. Usually a Chinese will never answer : “No”, but will give you vague and inconsistent responses, “I’ll think about”, “you are probably right, but now it is impossible”, or will say “I need to confer with my boss”, or will express his regrets by not being able to fulfil your request.
-
Section 1: China does not want to create a new Tibet in the Xinjiang
The Xinjiang is a China Autonomous Region, in which the original population is Muslim. It was the territory for the Great Game, between UK and Russia for the control of Central Asia, on the second half of XIX Century, while the region – nominally Chinese or independent – was ruled by different warlords.
-
Section 1: from Kashgar to Hetian, May 17 to May 20. Part 1. A Theme Park called Kashgar
We decided to start our trip in Kashgar, and to go East, towards Xining, in the Qinghai, 2.700 km (1,700 miles) away. Main reason was that this stage, the first one, when we did not know what to expect, could be done by train.
