Dragon Boat 2- Qinghai Hu

Monday

QINGHAI HU!!! Ok so we were up bright and early (615am) ready for Matthew to pick us up at 7. But he didn't come until 830!!!!!! FOR GOODNESS SAKE MATTHEW, YOU ARE AN INFURIATING LITTLE MAN. We got in the car and were introduced to some head masters from Chengdu. We then began the 3 hour drive to the lake. The scenery was beautiful! The mountains were snowy and the drive not too unpleasant, we played games which made the time go by quicker! If I didn't know better I would have guessed we were in the Alps, the scenery was so drastically different to that of Xining!

We eventually pulled over. We were ushered out of the car and given white scarves. These scarves were to welcome us as honoured guests; we were at the edge of what we later found out to be a culture square. There was a tall tower with eyes painted on, it was rather unnerving (well for a building anyway). There were lots of Tibetan prayer flags and writing, we had definitely left the Western world far behind us. Here Tibetan was the second language of most people, so where as in Xining it was Chinese and English (well Chinglish), there, all the signs were in Chinese and Tibetan.

We walked around the poem and we read a poem by a famous poet of the area. This seemed quite fitting seeing as the Dragon boat festival originated from a wise poet called Qu Yuan who killed himself when he realised that his country was in the hands of evil. He drowned himself in a river and his fellow countrymen could not recover his body. They played drums to scare the fish away and made offerings of rice to his spirit. The dragon boat symbolises the many attempts that were made to recover his body and the Zongzi symbolises the rice offerings (they were wrapped so other creatures would not eat the rice).  Anyway the poem was really good, I wish I could remember which poet wrote it!

Next we were quickly ushered away again and into a small town and to a school. We were told that we had to wait outside, this annoyed Mike, Deena and Will because they thought that we were going to spend the whole day at the lake. Cecilia and I weren't too fussed though, we knew we would see it and after all it is just a lake...

Next stop was lunch! Lunch was good! Traditional Qinghai dishes, including hot pot!

Next it was time to head to the lake (about time too!). We made our way there in the car (another 45 minutes). We went to the fish steps first; this is where the famous Qinghai lake scaleless carp travel upstream to lay their eggs. It was great seeing the fish battling their way upstream.

We finally arrived at where we were going to get our first up close look at the lake. We got out the car and walked past a strange monument covered in the sculpted heads of horses, sheep and cows. It was very creepy, especially as there was another smaller monument with loads of animal skulls...

We walked down a pathway towards the lake, it was beautiful. Qinghai lake is MASSIVE, according to Wikipedia (the most reliable of sources) it is about 4,500km² that is bigger than Somerset (7th biggest county in England)!!!! It is basically a sea... Anyway we walked down this walkway, through a marsh and eventually ended up on the lake! 

I'm going to miss this man.

We walked along the walkway, spinning prayer wheels as we went for good luck (don't call me crazy, I reckon they are responsible for our new visas being ok!). We reached the end and there were lots of glass bowls with the famous naked carp in them. It is seen as good luck to catch them and release them back into the lake. Next thing I know I am being handed fish! They were so cool! I released a fair few, it was really fun!

Interesting factoid: Qinghai lake is why Qinghai province is called Qinghai province! Qinghai translates as 'blue lake' and it is the biggest inland salt water lake in China. Anyway back to my day; Will, Deena and Mike had decided that they wanted to stay overnight near the lake so they continue exploring. Cecilia and I weren't bothered, especially as we ended up circumnavigating it! It took 3 and half hours... It is a big, beautiful lake with beautiful mountains surrounding it and lots of yaks and sheep. Cecilia and I had no desire to stay any longer so we parted ways with Mike, Deena and Will. They were meeting up with a lady who claimed to be Matthew's sister but in China that doesn't mean you are actually related; just earlier that day we met two 'sisters', one said she was Mongolian and the other said she was Tibetan! Anyhow, Matthew's 'sister' was going to look after the guys and help them find a hotel.

Cecilia and I got back in the car and continued the journey home, we were well and truly exhausted... We stopped for dinner on the way which was pretty good. I stepped outside though and saw all the stars the night sky had to offer me, it was so beautiful (by far the most beautiful thing I saw that day, sorry Qinghai Hu...). Cecilia and I didn't get home until 1230am. It was a LONG day.