The next few blog posts will share what I did everyday while in Qinghai province.  I had a wonderful time and hope you enjoy the pictures!

It was only a two hour plane ride from Beijing to Qinghai province.  We all quickly unpacked our bags at the hotel and went out to explore the “small city” of Xining.

Xining has a river dividing the city with mountains all around.  Most of the city is made of business buildings but we did find a nice, busy street market.  The street market had lots of clothes, souvenirs, and so much food!

Some of the live food tried to escape!

Since Qinghai province is located in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, our first few days were relatively light because our program directors wanted our bodies to get used to the elevation.  Most of the time we were at 3,000 feet.  However, some of our adventures took us to 4,000-6,000 feet.  The highest I was at was 8,000 feet.

My friend Karen and I before heading back to the hotel to catch up on much needed sleep!