Qinghai Lake: Of yaks and kids and prayer flags

 

China’s biggest lake is Qinghai Lake, a saltwater lake bigger than four Hong Kongs put together. The name means Green Sea in Chinese (Qinghai) and Blue Sea in Mongolian (Kokonor.) In Tibetan its name is Tso-Ngon; I didn’t ask what it means.

It takes about two hours to drive to Qinghai Lake from the city. The drive takes you along the Huangshui (Royal River) valley, upstream from Xining. For the first half of the drive, the surrounding areas are agricultural, and the villages are Chinese. Then the road goes up over a small pass, called Sun Moon Mountain, and on the other side, the land is pastureland for Tibetan herders.

Sun Moon Mountain was historically the border between China and Tibet, at least in the 7^th century when China and Tibet signed a treaty of friendship and non-aggression. As part of the deal, the Chinese emperor sent one of his daughters, Princess Wen Cheng, to marry the King of Tibet. This is a famous story, known by all Chinese and Tibetans. Wen Cheng brought agricultural methods, silk painting, tea-drinking, and Buddhism to Tibet. Tibet had been exposed to Buddhism some centuries before, but it did not stick. After Wen Cheng, Buddhism took hold very strongly in Tibet, taking on characteristics from India, China, and the original Tibetan religion, called Bon.

It is said that when Wen Cheng reached the border of Tibet, at Sun Moon Mountain, she cried so much her tears formed a lake, so sad was she at leaving home. Anyway, we stopped and took photos at Sun Moon Mountain. Today, many Tibetan entrepreneurs sell jewelry, clothing, knives, and prayer wheels there. Also, if you pay ten yuan ($1.60), you can take your photo on the back of a yak. (Yaks are long-haired cow-like creatures, which the Tibetans rely on for food and wool and milk and butter.)

You can also pay to take your photo with a kid. They’re less unique but cuter than yaks. I also bought a prayer wheel. When you spin it, it says prayers for you.

The Chinese have somehow resisted the urge to develop massive hotels and tourboats at Qinghai Lake. Although there is an abandoned torpedo base in the middle, it is otherwise left in its pristine state, a huge saltwater lake that attracts many birds each April-May.

We saw some Tibetans there celebrating something with what looked like a Maypole with flags. Actually, the flags are what we usually call prayer flags; but the Chinese call them “sutra sails.” They have Buddhist scripture written on them, and as they flap in the wind, the sutras get “read.”

We took lots of photos at the lake, including our version of the Titanic pose.

I also paid to wear a Tibetan costume for a photo.

We saw several yaks.

There were also some Tibetan mastiffs (fierce dogs) for sale. This one reminded me of Trish’s Murphy. Kind of sad, no?