My name is Ryan and in this series I am exploring China with my girlfriend Emma.
In this episode we are going to go in depth about our off the beaten track experience
at the Chaka Salt Lake.
Covering everything from costs to getting there and what to expect from the lake itself.
If there's anything you are particularly interested in head down to the description where you'll
find subject headings next to timecode, so you can skip to the part of the video that
interests you the most.
The closest major city to the salt lake is Xining.
We took a 3 hour flight from Kunming in Yunnan province with China Eastern Airlines.
The ticket cost us about £100 and ended up including lounge access and an in flight meal,
which were both nice surprises.
Xining is a city which a big islamic influence and very friendly locals.
But as you already know this film is not about the city, so let's skip to the next morning
with a lovely travel montage.
There's a built for purpose tourist train that leaves Xining at about 8:30 every morning
and returns to the city again at 4pm.
The journey takes about 4 hours and because the train is so slow it feels like even longer.
But you do get to see some stunning scenery along the way.
And 4 hours later, we've made it to Chaka.
It costs 70 yuan to get into the lake which is about 7 or 8 pounds.
So not too bad.
One of the first things you'll notice when you arrive at the lake is that there are a
lot of people wearing red.
And as soon as you get off the train you'll be bombarded by people trying to sell you
red hats, red scarfs, red t-shirts, red dresses, basically any item of clothing in red.
It's a great colour to stand out against the blue backdrop of the water, so you can really
pop out in photos.
We followed the crowds through a huge market which we thought was the entrance, but it
ended up being the exit, so that wasn't great.
I mean, you can see how we might have got confused.
Ok, here we are.
About to get our first proper look at the lake.
Before we get into it, I do want to say that the salt lake is absolutely stunning, but
postcards shots of the peaceful water like this are pretty hard to come by.
You wont see many western tourists here and I don't think we saw any all day.
But the lake is extremely popular with Chinese people, coming here in their thousands every
single day.
And with our train arriving at around midday, there was no avoiding the massive crowds.
We're just going to keep walking until we get as far away from the madness as possible.
It is thinning out a little bit.
Is it a bit bright Emma?
Home phone!
You can either walk around the lake or take the train that runs right through the middle
of it.
We chose to walk up and take the train back.
The train was originally used for mining salt, but the only thing it mines now is the tourist dollar
We're going in.
So it may have been a mistake to go in bare foot, because my feet are cut up!
The salt is so sharp.
The salt in the lake is actually pretty course so after you spend a whole walking around
it can really start to hurt your feet.
If you've got any waterproof socks or diving socks I really recommend you bring them along
with you.
But to be honest, that is the least of Chaka's problems.
In 2016, the lake was completely shut down due to the effects of over tourism.
It became polluted by waste and damaged by the mass crowds.
And I can't help but feel that this is doomed to happen again.
I know that I'm also a tourist and therefore I'm a part of the problem.
This place clearly makes a lot of money from visitors, but at some point there may need
to be a big decision made to protect the beauty off the area.
And to be fair there were some sections that were completely fenced off from visitors,
but there may need to be more than that.
In the end, I left Chaka with mixed feelings.
It's a long way to come by train and the return timings don't leave you with a whole lot of
time to explore.
If I were to visit again I'd probably look into a private transfer or even staying in
Chaka town so I can get into lake in the early morning or the evening when there is less
people.
Sometimes an amazing place can be a less than amazing experience, but that doesn't mean
it will be the same for you if you take a trip there.
I just hope that they can find a balance between making all the money from the tourists and
protecting the natural beauty of the area.
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The next episode is about my favourite day we had in China at the incredible Rainbow
Mountains.