Qaidam Basin
In January [1904?] he left the main expedition to seek out the course of several tributaries, as well as the upper reaches of the Yellow River. Thus he explored parts of Inner Mongolia, the province of Kokonor and the Qaidam Basin – a desert region in the north of the Tibetan Plateau in the Chinese province of Qinghai. He explored the Nanshan Mountains and visited the monastery of Kumbum Champa Ling, where he met the thirteenth Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatsho.