The white Toyota Land Cruiser is parked in front of Zhaling Lake Hotel. The body is covered in all kinds of stickers. The license plate is Malaysian, RAK 83.
Several other off-road vehicles are parked nearby, all fellow drivers heading to Tibet together.
The hotel sign has Tibetan script, next to a "Snowland Yak Beef Noodles" shop sign. The air carries a faint scent of butter tea.
This is Old Wu's convoy. They've already arrived in Qinghai. Just up ahead is Tibet. Everyone has been driving for several days and is a bit tired, so they're staying at Zhaling Lake Hotel for a night to get some good rest.
"Tomorrow we enter Tibet. Everyone got their oxygen tanks ready?" Old Wu calls out to the convoy.
"Ready!" everyone answers in unison.
Old Wu smiles, looking at the mountains in the distance—Zhaling Lake is just nearby, its water blue like a gem. He drove all the way from Malaysia, through Thailand, Laos, Yunnan and Sichuan in China, and now he's finally reached Qinghai, getting closer and closer to Tibet.
"Let's go," he pats the hood. "Tomorrow, we're going to Lhasa."
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Zhaling Lake is located in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai. It's a large lake in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, at an altitude of over 4,000 meters. The scenery here is stunning, but the altitude is high and oxygen is thin. Many drivers heading to Tibet stop here to acclimate and prepare for the journey ahead.
"The altitude here is already 4,200 meters. My head feels a little dizzy," Old Wu says. "But the scenery is so beautiful, it's worth being dizzy."
Indeed, the scenery of Tibet is the ultimate dream in many people's hearts. Being able to drive here and see it in person makes all the hard work worth it.