Flocks of ruddy shelducks around the Qinghai Lake try to dive from the cracks of the frozen surface into water in search of food in Gonghe County, Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, Feb. 26, 2022. [Photo/VCG]

While many of you may enjoy going to beaches in southern China in early summer to bask in the sun and embrace the freedom the whole concept of seaside holidays embodies, it is actually nice to go to Qinghai Province, a much less traveled destination in northwest China often with a frontier feel to it, to have a "cooler" time in May — thanks to its higher latitude and elevation, and more importantly, heavy doses of solitude among high-plateau vistas there.

Qinghai, meaning Blue Sea in Chinese, boasts the largest inland lake in China, Qinghai Lake, which is located in a depression of the Qilian Mountains and gave the province its name. The lake is located at the crossroads of several bird migration routes across Asia. Many species use Qinghai as an intermediate stop during migration.