Qinghai-Gansu Small Loop Travel Guide (Part 1) Day 1:——Xining

🌊Attractions: Qinghai Tibetan Culture Museum (60% off with Qinghai Cultural Tourism Consumption Voucher, 36 RMB/person after discount). Start from the top and go down; the cultural and creative shop at the exit is also worth visiting. 🍽️Food: Gǎ Zhāng Wá Barbecue (Chengbei Branch) (the yogurt is delicious, and the oven-cooked mutton is tasty) 🚗Transportation: Taxi 🏠Accommodation: Haiyou (Train Station Branch), the washing machine was half broken, use with caution. Calling for repair was useless, ended up hand-washing clothes late at night, quite miserable. About altitude sickness: Didn’t wash hair or bathe throughout the trip in Qinghai. When visiting the museum today, going from top to bottom felt a bit hypoxic and dizzy, couldn’t walk much, but once on the first floor, it was fine. It’s speculated that the fourth floor of the museum is too high and crowded, causing altitude sickness. To prevent altitude sickness for the following itinerary, after dinner, I ordered two bottles of oxygen (minimum order of two) to prepare for the next day. However, although my head felt heavy all day the next day, I didn’t use the oxygen and left it at the hotel. Day 2: Xining——Riyue Mountain——Qinghai Lake——Chaka Salt Lake——Xining 🍽️Food: Ordered bread delivery last night to bring along, ate it when hungry on the way. Breakfast was KFC (soy milk and fried dough sticks) delivered by the driver. For lunch, ate at a beef noodle shop the driver often goes to (cheap, 12 RMB per bowl, bad taste, only a few tiny pieces of beef, very poor service, they only served the tables with more orders, ignored those of us who only ordered beef noodles, despite many reminders; the table next to us also only ordered beef noodles and was also repeatedly urging. Anyway, it just filled the stomach, don’t expect good taste or service). Dinner was KFC ordered back at the hotel. This day was really exhausting, barely ate local food. 🚗Transportation: Booked an 8-person small group one-day tour, the driver picked us up and dropped us off, also provided breakfast (KFC soy milk and fried dough sticks), and a group aerial photography session (stopped briefly at Erlangjian from Riyue Mountain to Qinghai Lake for the aerial shoot). Early start and late return, the driver took us to clean restrooms, no dry toilets encountered. 🏠Accommodation: Haiyou (Train Station Branch) 🎫The tour I booked did not include attraction tickets, so I bought all tickets myself. Riyue Mountain requires a ticket (50 RMB/person) because it involves crossing a mountain. The driver took us to the free Donggeer Viewing Platform at Qinghai Lake, so no charge there. For Chaka Salt Lake, I bought a package ticket (60% off with Qinghai Cultural Tourism Consumption Voucher, 100.5 RMB/person after discount) — includes entrance ticket, round-trip small train, electric cart (not used), shoe covers, and Salt Culture Museum (no time to visit). I think the round-trip small train is very necessary; with limited time on a group tour, the small train is essential to travel between the four stations of the salt lake. Walking by yourself would be exhausting and rushed.