Yushu Qinghai Travel
One of the most exhilarating experience of going to Yushu, Qinghai has to be the crossing the BaYanKeLaShan mountain pass. Altitude 4824m.
For a city dweller, the open grassland is a rare sight indeed. The crisp air is so invigorating that you feel that you could give much to spend the rest of your life there.
No wonder, one Chinese composer (I only know his surname is Lee) wrote the haunting melody ‘A place far away’. Unfortunately I have not been able yet to find this song to post it here. If any of you can tell me where to look, please let me know how I can get the original version.
Yushu is one of the last frontiers of the old world – to me at least. To the Tibetans, it is simply East Tibet. From what I’ve been told, Lhasa is the capital of administration and government but Yushu is THE center of spirituality. There were literally thousands of monasteries that dot this beautiful landscape but today most of them have been destroyed by the red army. What a pity that man is civilisations’ greatest enemy.
To get to this faraway place, be prepared for many hours of hard dangerous driving. On the return bump, we passed a four wheel drive rammed into a lorry killing two people. It was a nasty and sad sight.
Here are some tips you could use if you plan to travel this route.
Allow a minimum of 14 hours. Everyone you ask will tell you it takes 12 hours but know better. My crossing took 18 hours.
Get a reliable driver and very, very preferably he has had a good full night’s sleep. The local drivers all believe that they are superman and can live without sleep. Mainly because they believe that the hangover from the chang (local brewed beer) the night before will provide them the energy to drive for forever 48 hours straight.
Take for example my driver. He was already nodding off less than an hour into the drive. On the way back, even though we had a very good reliable driver, I felt much, much safer on the stretches when I was having the wheel. The roads are narrow and built on bunds with no safety railings. It takes a split second of micro sleep and the ditch below will be where you will end up, if you are lucky that is. If not so lucky, it will be the ravine below which I do not believe even superman can survive.
Be prepared for long waits to allow oncoming traffic to pass. This happens on the narrow stretches and where the road is under repair or upgrade. I think they are still doing it at the time this is written. They say that the work is a continuous affair for as one part is finished another part would have collapsed and so the work goes on and on. Actually it was rather enjoyable, just sitting there doing nothing with nowhere to go.
Pack lunch, dinner and supper and more with you for there are very few villages en route where you can stop. Even if you do pass a village-town, the food may hardly be to your liking.
If you are stopping for food, do not visit the kitchen. This way your appetite can stay intact.
We tend to hold our bladders until the next town, don’t we? But on this journey, it is wiser and easier to just do it by the roadside. Nobody will look at you and you can enjoy the fresh air and take in the scenery. The relief is something to savor. Don’t worry, no one will notice you.
One last thing. Try not to nap yourself as you will have to stay awake to make sure that your driver is awake too.
Bring lots of sweets and cigarettes and candies to offer to your driver to keep him awake so that your chance of arriving in one piece.
The ride is fun and the scenery marvelous. The thrill of seeing your first yak, the first mountain goat, the first tent, the horsemen…. Nothing beats it and it will remain as great memories forever. I vouch for that! Writing this makes me long to be there again despite me saying never again.
Psst..there is a flight form Xining to Yushu now but it is expensive and worse, you will miss the sights of the real grassland of Qinghai.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
And don’t forget the medicated oil that the driver will rub onto his eyes to stay awake. Yes, I agree whole heartedly with you that this journey to the land of the snow stays in your heart forever. Reading your article here makes one pine to be on the same roads again albeit it being perilous