Use Xining to get used to the altitude before anything higher

The city sits at about 2,300 metres. That is enough to make the first day feel odd — short breath on stairs, a headache in the evening, poor sleep — and it is exactly why it is the right place to spend two easy days before Qinghai Lake at 3,200 or the train to Lhasa.

Drink more water than you want, go easy on alcohol the first night, and walk rather than climb. If a headache gets worse instead of better, go down rather than on.