May is not
the perfect month for traveling to Qinghai, a northwest province of the country,
but I did not hesitate to accept the invitation from a friend to go there for an
18-day semi-independent tour.
I tried to invite other friends and family members to go with me. They declined outright because of their worries about their physical fitness and the risk of altitude reactions during the long journey. I guess another reason is that it is not yet a popular tourist destination. A friend has asked, ‘It’s so economically behind there; apart from deserts, what else is it famous for?’ Quite true, I knew nothing about the province either.