Qinghai is our first stop of journey to Tibet. We flew from Chengdu to Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province. Xining is a rather modern city, with bright lights and bustling traffic. Except for more mutton and noodle restaurants, it is not much different from any big cities in the inner part. I spent half a day in the city visiting the Tibetan Medicine Museum. I was surprised to find that Tibetan medicine is closer to Western medicine, especially its anatomical descriptions are more accurate and clear than Traditional Chinese medicine.
The next day, we drove about 2 hours from the city to Lake Qinghai, the largest lake as well as the largest salty lake and inland lake. The broad and tranquil Qinghai Lake, under the blue sky with white clouds, is full of azure water and surrounded by yellow rapeseed flowers. The image is breathtaking. When I was younger, I saw rapeseed blooming in my hometown, but this large field of flowers really astonished me
There are many untouchably fishes in the Lake. The local Tibetan people consider these fishes sacred and are never caught or used as food. A remain of a Chinese naval base sits alone in the middle of the lake. There are many scenic spots around the lake, but we didn’t have much time to enjoy them because we had to catch the train to Lhasa, Tibet.
青海是我们通往西藏的第一站。 我们从成都飞往青海省省会西宁。 西宁是一座相当现代化的城市，灯红酒绿，车水马龙，除了更多的羊肉和面馆，和内地的大城市没多大差别。在城里我用了半天时间参观了藏医药博物馆。我很惊讶地发现藏医学更接近西医学，尤其是它的解剖学描述比中医更准确、更明确。
第二天，我们从市区开车约2小时，来到青海湖。青海湖是中国最大的湖泊，也是中国最大的咸水湖、內流湖。 宽广与宁静的青海湖， 在蓝天白云下，饱含天青色的湖水，被黄色的油菜花包围, 画面令人叹为观止。 小时候在家乡看过油菜开花，但这大片的花田实在是让我大开眼界。
青海湖里有很多不能惹的小鱼。 当地藏族人民认为这些鱼是圣物，从不捕捉或用作食物。 湖中央孤零零地坐着一座中国海军基地的遗迹。 湖边有很多风景区，但因为我们要赶火车去西藏拉萨, 所以没有太多时间去欣赏。
