The Most Familiar and Strangest: Qinghai-Tibet Line – A Route Often Overlooked
When it comes to the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, people are often familiar with it. Songs like 'The Qinghai Plateau' and 'The Heavenly Road' have been popular for many years. Over the years, many cars have entered Tibet through the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, and it's been a favorite route for those entering Tibet. The Qinghai-Tibet Highway has a good road condition, a short straight distance, and for a long time, it has borne the heavy task of transporting goods between Tibet and the inland. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway and Qinghai-Tibet Highway are the most economical options for quickly leaving Tibet. Anyone who has been to Tibet will probably have a Qinghai-Tibet Highway experience. Therefore, among all the routes into Tibet, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway is considered the most frequently used route for entering and exiting Tibet.
Many people have traveled the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, and it's considered the most familiar entry route for Chinese people. However, when people who have traveled the Qinghai-Tibet Highway are asked to comment on it, most of them can't say why. It's empty, high altitude, has wildlife, causes headaches and dizziness, often causes people to jump off, and the accommodation conditions are not very good. Besides these, there aren't many impressions of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. This result is actually understandable. Most people who travel the Qinghai-Tibet Highway focus on its convenience and timeliness, and they often don't have much time and energy to pay attention to the scenery along the way. The Qinghai-Tibet Highway basically refers to the section from Xining to Lhasa, which is 1937 kilometers long. The section from Xining to Gelmu has already been opened with a high-grade highway, and the 1100-kilometer section from Gelmu to Lhasa is mainly two-way, two-lane, and the travel time from Xining to Gelmu is 7-8 hours, while the time to travel from Gelmu to Lhasa is generally half a day. This is the normal travel time for most people to travel on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, and it's basically a race against time, without spending much time on the scenery along the way. Many people leave only a memory of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway after a hurried pass. Therefore, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway has become that most familiar stranger among all the entry routes into Tibet.
Before the Qinghai-Tibet Highway was built in 1950, Tibet was mainly connected to the outside world through the Tang- Ancient Road. The Qinghai-Tibet Highway and its surrounding areas were originally primitive and desolate wilderness. Scholars have studied that the author of 'Dreams in the Dust of the Plateau' , Chen Qujin, took a route to Tibet in 1934, which basically coincides with the Qinghai-Tibet Highway. The poor natural environment description in the book and the numerous ethnic wildlife and the scenes encountered during our previous organized trips to the Koko Nor and Qiangtang Desert areas are basically consistent. The long-term high altitude environment is not suitable for human survival, so the area along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway has not had fixed settlements for a long time. Therefore, apart from the natural scenery along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, there are not many human-made tourist attractions. The towns along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway from Xining to Natches are mostly newly established after the Qinghai-Tibet Highway was built in the 1950s for transportation, mining, and road construction. The most representative is Gelmu. When the large army entered Tibet, the generals asked the general manager: Where is the large army resting today? The general replied: Gelmu. The staff could not find Gelmu's coordinates on the map, so they asked the general: Where is Gelmu? The general used a shovel to dig a hole in the ground: This is Gelmu! From then on, Gelmu became a name in the map of China. For a long time, Gelmu's tallest building was the city center's General Mansion. Today, Gelmu has developed into the second largest city in Qinghai province and the most important cargo and personnel transfer station for the Qinghai-Tibet Railway and the Qinghai-Tibet Highway.
The attractions along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway are mainly concentrated at both ends, while the section between Gelmu and Natches doesn't have many well-known attractions. However, this section belongs to the core area of the Koko Nor and Qiangtang Desert wilderness. There are abundant wildlife populations and magnificent natural scenery. The main attractions near Xining are Yueshan Mountain, Qinghai Lake, and Techala Salt Lake. The main attractions near Lhasa are Namtso Lake and Yanbaoling Hot Spring. These attractions are all within the range of a day trip from Lhasa and Xining, and most tourists have visited them before entering the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, so they won't spend much time on them.
Qinghai-Tibet Highway Trip Recommendations: Because the middle section of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway is mainly in the Gelmu to Dangxiong section, with an average altitude of 4000+ and little altitude variation, the scenery is basically unchanging and easily causes visual fatigue, and the accommodation conditions are generally poor. If conditions allow, try to avoid or reduce your stay in this section. Recommended itinerary for entering Tibet with the Qinghai-Tibet Highway: First day: Depart from Xining, and arrive in Gelmu in the afternoon. Stay in Gelmu early and take a good rest to replenish energy. Gelmu's altitude is about 2700 meters. Adapt to the high-altitude environment in advance (you can add attractions such as Qinghai Lake and Techala Salt Lake to the itinerary during the trip). Second day: Leave early from Gelmu, aiming to arrive before 5-6 am, to avoid the dark and reach the city of Andu with relatively good accommodation conditions for overnight stay. (You can spend more time visiting attractions such as Qinghai Lake and Techala Salt Lake during this trip). Third day: Relaxed day, arriving in Lhasa from Andu city. The towns along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway can provide accommodation and food services. The diet is mainly Sichuan cuisine, but after Gelmu, the food and accommodation level and price are not very satisfactory. If possible, try to avoid them; There are many gas stations along the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, so self-driving friends don't need to worry about refueling their vehicles. When the fuel gauge drops below half a tank, stop at a gas station to refill it. With the increasing improvement of the road conditions of other entry routes into Tibet, the Qinghai-Tibet Highway appears somewhat outdated, although most of the road surfaces are paved with asphalt, they are susceptible to cracks due to the high-altitude frozen-soil ground, and the interfaces between the roads are prone to road pits, so it is necessary to maintain a reasonable speed when driving to avoid car accidents.
The Qinghai-Tibet Highway is an important part of the entry routes into Tibet, and it will be a topic that many entry tourists cannot avoid, whether it's in the past or the future. Welcome to share your travel stories with the Qinghai-Tibet Highway in the comments, whether it's natural scenery or traffic jams. Beijing Magi Ame Tibet Travel, your personal Tibet travel expert, welcome to follow our WeChat account for more Tibet travel routes: Qinghai-Tibet Line, let's discover the beauty of Tibet together!
