Tibet Trip Notes 17

Tibet Trip Notes 17

I arrived in Golmud, second largest city in Qinghai, yesterday at 10pm, checked into Swisstouches hotel and felt pretty good, although journey was rough. It's just that I didn't have a good experience of style of this northwestern city, so I left in a hurry in morning and continued on Qinghai-Tibet line. Conditions are good today. Leaving Golmud, we will drive to Beijing-Tibet Expressway. There is a vast Gobi on both sides. There is a lot of wind power. The sky was foggy despite sun. We arrived at Chaka Salt Lake, this place is known as a mirror of sky, maybe weather is bad or season is not right, it is not as beautiful as it seemed. The imaginary Chaka salt lake should look like this: blue sky, green water in lake and white clouds, clear water in lake reflects blue sky, and sometimes a few birds fly past, it looks like a magical land. But today wind is very strong, sky is gray, and there are no white clouds. Going to salt lake, road is paved with coarse salt. Walking on it is like walking on a gravel road. There are several figures and palaces carved out of salt. A road paved with salt leads to lake, and small railway tracks have been laid along it to transport people to center of lake. The road divides lake into two halves. Lake water on western side is green and dull. Under breath of a strong wind, waves of ripples and sparks in sun arise. The surface of lake on east side of road has mostly crystallized into salt, and it's a huge expanse of whiteness. There are a few holes in some places that are still liquid, like big eyes on a clear white lake. There are still places near lake that have not crystallized. Someone came here to take pictures. For a mirror of sky, they put on red clothes, and then entered water with bare feet and fluttering red skirts. For sake of beauty, but weather is bad, this may not do justice effect. . It is said that this place was developed by merchants from Zhejiang, so it is fully commercialized. In addition to tickets for electric cars, small trains, etc., you need to buy tickets separately. When leaving scenic spot, you must walk through road surrounded by a circle of shops. It is tortuous, although services of these shops are necessary, but I always feel that natural landscape is surrounded by so many shops that lack original style and become a man-made landscape.