Luoyang Departure: Xining, Taer Temple, Qinghai Lake and Chaka, 5 Days 4 Nights

The plane sets down at Caojiabao and the air outside is dry and cold while the sun still burns your face. Forty minutes southwest the road climbs to Huangzhong, poplars nearly bare, a few yellow leaves left at the tips. Taer Temple sits in a fold of the hills; from the car park you walk up a slope, pass the eight stupas, and only then see the gilded roof of the Great Golden Tile Hall. Light inside is dim in the afternoon. Butter sculptures sit behind glass, their colours dense as if pressed yesterday; murals darkened by decades of lamp smoke keep a warm tone. Pilgrims circle the outer wall, spinning copper cylinders worn smooth at the axle.

Attraction introduction: Taer Temple stands in Lushar Town, Huangzhong District of Xining, founded in 1379. It is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school and the birthplace of Tsongkhapa. Butter sculpture, mural and applique are known as its three arts; the butter figures are shaped in sub-zero temperatures and replaced each year before the Lantern Festival.

Tips: Photography is forbidden inside every hall, and flash damages the butter works. Guests generally find the halls crowded after three in the afternoon and quietest before nine. In practice the temple sits at about 2,600 metres with plenty of slopes, so walk slowly, take your hat off indoors and step over the threshold rather than on it.

Leaving Xining the road runs through Huangyuan and the land begins to lift. At Riyue Pass the wind is strong enough to push a car door back, prayer flags pulled into a straight line, grass gone brown, yaks drifting to the sheltered side. Beyond the pass the view opens all at once: Qinghai Lake lies flat on the horizon, blue so heavy it reads like metal rather than water. By afternoon you reach Erlangjian, where a boardwalk runs out over the lake and the bottom gravel shows through. In November the shore is almost empty, a few photographers waiting on waterbirds. You sleep at Jiangxigou, a small town where only a handful of street lamps stay lit and wind rattles the tin roofs.

Attraction introduction: Qinghai Lake is the largest inland salt lake in China, sitting at roughly 3,200 metres with a shoreline of about 360 kilometres. Erlangjian on the south shore takes its name from a sand spit shaped like a sword blade and ends at a viewing platform. From November night temperatures fall below zero and thin ice forms in the shallows as migratory birds pass through.

Tips: Riyue Pass is about 3,500 metres, so do not run after getting out of the car and keep your ears covered in the wind. Guests generally find the boardwalk takes around forty minutes and hands go numb, which is when the flask in the car earns its place. In practice heating in lakeside guesthouses is modest, and a fleece to sleep in works better than relying on the radiator.

You are up at half past five and the road to Heimahe already carries a line of cars with hazard lights on. Twenty people stand on the platform in down jackets, breath white. The sun does not rise out of the water but from behind the ridge on the far shore, a thread of gold first, then the whole surface catching, and when the wind drops the reflection stands up straight. Breakfast back in town, then west over Rubber Mountain and down to Chaka. Wind is light at midday; you pull on the rented shoe covers and walk out onto the salt crust, water only ankle deep, clouds moving under your feet. Standing in the middle, your shadow is sharper than you are.

Attraction introduction: Heimahe sits at the western end of the south shore, the usual spot for sunrise because the eastern horizon is open water. Chaka Salt Lake lies in Ulan County on the eastern edge of the Qaidam Basin, a bed of crystallised salt under a film of water that turns into a mirror on still days, hence the name Sky Mirror. Salt has been gathered here since the Western Han period, and the workings and salt sculptures remain in the scenic area.

Tips: Before sunrise the shore is five to ten degrees below zero, and gloves matter more than the camera. Guests generally find wind picks up after noon and the reflection breaks, so go before ten in the morning. In practice the salt throws light hard, so keep sunglasses and sunscreen on, rinse the covers after leaving and never wear them into the car.

The drive out of Chaka runs along the highway past desert scrub and rows of solar panels, sheep threading between them. By noon you reach Guide, where the Yellow River runs clear, water sliding over cobbles so you can read the grain of the stones. Standing on the Qinghe bridge the wind comes up off the surface with a chill in it. In the afternoon the national geopark shows red sandstone cut into vertical ribs, as though someone had scraped it with the back of a knife. The road back to Xining turns purple at dusk, and by the time you enter the city the lights are on and the stalls along Mojia Street are up, aroma of cold noodles, fermented oats and boiled mutton all at once.

Attraction introduction: Guide County lies in the east of Hainan Prefecture where the Yellow River crosses from west to east. Upstream vegetation and reservoirs settle most of the silt, so this stretch runs clear, which is why locals say the Yellow River is clean at Guide. The geopark nearby is built on red conglomerate Danxia landforms, with closely spaced vertical joints that form fins, peaks and narrow gorges.

Tips: Guide is warmer than Xining but the wind comes off the water, so do not linger on the bridge. Guests generally find the geopark loop takes about an hour with gentle ground and few stairs, which suits a slow afternoon. In practice this is the longest driving day, so keep lunch light, carry snacks, and expect traffic near the city at dusk, which is why dinner is set later.

No sightseeing this morning, just the Shuijing Lane market. Stallholders scoop goji and dried yak beef for you to taste, and the fermented oat drink comes in plastic bowls, chilled, sour-sweet from the grain. Bags packed, checkout unhurried, the airport half an hour away. As the plane climbs a white line shows far off, the snow on the Qilian range. Five days on, what stays is not any single sight but that morning at Heimahe, fingers too cold to press the shutter while the water burned bright.

Attraction introduction: Shuijing Lane is a traditional market in the old quarter of Xining, with stalls selling Qinghai produce: goji berries, dried yak meat, barley wine, applique and Tibetan ornaments. Xining itself sits in the Huangshui valley at about 2,260 metres and serves as the gateway to Tibet and Xinjiang by road and rail.

Tips: Buy dried yak meat only in sealed packs with a quarantine label, not loose bags without a producer name. Guests generally find the market fullest in the morning and packing up after lunch. In practice goji and snow chrysanthemum are farm products and fly without trouble, while barley wine counts as liquid and has to be checked in.