lovely yak!

After we took a rest at Dataongzhen, 100km northwest of Xining, we rode another 50km to Qinghai Lake. It was easy, but cold! Arghh, i hate it! It was raining all the way along our ride. This time, i have to leave Nancy behind. I just cycle at my own speed, because i couldnt take the cold and the rain. So i cycled hoping to get out from the rain area. But after few minutes, i felt bad leaving Nancy behind so far. So i decided to stop and wait for her. But it wasnt long for us to reach the lake. To cycle around the lake will take around 320km distance. The lake is big… and beautiful.

horse vs bicycle

We love cycling along the lake. When we reached the lake, the rain stopped. Few hours after that, the cloudy sky turned into a very very clear blue sky, allowing us to enjoy the blue color scenery with some greens along our ride. But one bad thing tho, is that this place is expensive. Its a popular tourist destination especially for China people, every restaurants are expensive, and the worst thing is u cant camp anywhere near the lake. We want to camp, so we asked one of the locals if we can camp near their farm. For the first time since im in China, we have to pay to camp! Well, it isnt much, we bargained down  to 20 yuan for the 2 of us but still, we have to pay to camp hehe.

We stopped riding and setup our tent at around 7.30. It was the best camping spot ever ive been since i start cycling in China. Its near the lake (well not so near, probably around 300m from our tent) and far from the road. So the only thing we could hear is the sound of the water from the lake, and sometimes the birds and dogs barking. Camping in the Tibetan Plateau is of course impressive too, but its way too cold! Here in Qinghai, i can see almost the same view as in Tibet, but its not as cold. Its just nice… and almost perfect! We watched 1 of the most impressive sunset ever, very nice colors, beautiful formation of clouds. At night, the sky was so clear we spent hours watching thousands of stars together. I saw at least 6 shooting stars that night. At around 11 Nancy was tired and went to her tent to sleep. I just couldnt sleep, the sky was so beautiful and i couldnt stop snapping photos and continue gazing the beautiful night sky. Well, i can never see this back in KL, or any other cities in the world. I only have a chance to see this kind of view at high altitude, at least above 3000 meters.

Tell me, how can i sleep when the night sky is so beautiful? I cant stop watching this!

Look at that mate! This picture cant match the real thing that I see last nite!

having breakfast in my tent, while Nancy still snoring from inside her tent haha

sunrise and the lake, at very early morning

from inside my tent