Uninhabited Land – Qinghai Starry Sky Photography Journey: Preparation

Why Qinghai

Besides Xinjiang, Haixi Prefecture in Qinghai is perhaps the area I am most familiar with. Countless times I have explored this region on Google Earth, discovering all the ruins and even marking out old settlements based on local records.

While people on Xiaohongshu only tell you about the ruins in Lenghu, I know about the numerous sites there, including Station No. 4, Station No. 5, the old base, and Cha-Lengkou. They might know about the Emerald Lake in Mangya, but I am also aware of the asbestos mine in Mangya and the bandit-suppression caves near Huatugou.

Growing up in an industrial city, I have always felt a kinship with industrial ruins. During a recent visit home, I even took photos at a semi-abandoned factory area: The abandoned residential area of Karamay Baikouquan Oil Production Plant. Due to the arid climate, the ruins in Qinghai are relatively well-preserved, not swallowed by vegetation, making me long to visit Qinghai.

Previously, my planned routes often resembled the popular Qinghai-Gansu circuits, starting from Xining and going as far as Dunhuang, then returning via the Hexi Corridor. There are plenty of ruins along this path, like Mangya, Lenghu, Boruo Transfer Well, Yumen, and parts of Liuyuan. However, these routes take too long, leading to the dilemma of wanting to see more but not having enough time.

Last year, I went to Western Sichuan, using a light pollution map and calculating the time to shoot the Milky Way before the moon rose. I decided to shoot the starry sky in a suburb of Daocheng. However, I was new to photography, didn't find a good foreground, and couldn't even focus properly.

So, I’ve been holding a grudge about not capturing the Milky Way. One day this year, I realized that the Dragon Boat Festival holiday would have little moonlight, making it perfect for shooting the Milky Way. Given the short holiday, I'd focus on thoroughly exploring Haixi.

Planned Route

This time, the goals are clear: industrial ruins and starry sky photography. I won't start from Xining, as that would mean spending too much time on the road and missing sights like Qinghai Lake and Chaka Salt Lake. Instead, I'll start from Golmud, Qinghai’s second-largest city, which has an airport, a train station, and car rentals.

Out of personal obsession, I also want to visit the asbestos mine in Mangya and Xitieshan.

The route looks like this:

Daily Itinerary

1. Shenzhen✈️Xining✈️Golmud

2. Golmud to Mangya Asbestos Mine to Huatugou

3. Huatugou to Mangya Emerald Lake to Old Mangya to Black Gobi to Lenghu Station No. 5

4. Lenghu Station No. 5 to Mars Highway to Water Yadan to Dachaidan

5. Dachaidan to Dachaidan Lake to Xitieshan to Golmud

6. Golmud🚄Xining✈️Shenzhen

I tried to avoid backtracking as much as possible, but we still ended up covering several hundred kilometers of repeat routes — more on that later.

Gathering

I like to thoroughly research everything, plan out the route and alternatives, and decide what to eat at each stop, making traveling with me hassle-free. Some people enjoy such well-organized trips, and I relish the control over the itinerary. Finding travel companions wasn't difficult; I asked a few people and ended up forming a group of four with two former colleagues.

On June 11, early in the morning, my girlfriend and I headed to the airport for a 6:30 AM flight. To save money, I chose China Express Airlines, flying from Shenzhen via Zunyi to Xining, and then taking another flight to Golmud.

By the time we arrived in Golmud, it was already afternoon. The glaring sun and dry air gave me the illusion of being back in Xinjiang. However, the harsher sun and cooler winds reminded me that I was on the plateau.

After landing, we picked up the rental car, checked into the hotel, retrieved the camping gear I had mailed in advance, and waited for the last member of our group to arrive by train from Xining. Then, we headed to a highly-rated barbecue restaurant to try Qinghai's specialty, Kaoguo lamb ribs.

At this point, something amusing happened.

Even though the last member arriving was my former colleague, we had never met in person. When she said she'd arrived at the restaurant, we informed the staff that our party of four had one person already there. The staff led us to a private room where a young woman was already eating. I didn't sense anything wrong.

We sat down and started chatting while ordering food. I noticed she had already ordered a portion of Kaoguo lamb, leaving only potatoes behind, which annoyed me a bit: Why order so quickly and eat all the meat? Do we still split this bill?

Annoyed but not caring too much, we continued chatting, eating the remaining potatoes and freshly served century eggs.

She talked about her day: "…I went to Hoh Xil today."

"Huh? Didn't you just arrive?" I was surprised.

"Wait a moment…" Realizing an awkward situation, I took out my phone to "confront" her: "Is this you?"

"No."

I then called the colleague, and sure enough, it wasn't her in the private room.

Feeling embarrassed, we quickly apologized and left the room after polishing off the last bits of food.

Thinking she was being rude, it turned out we were the impolite ones intruding into her private room and eating her food!

We found the right person and had dinner in another private room.

After dinner, we went grocery shopping, planning to sleep early for the long drive ahead the next day.