Lanzhou & Xiahe

We arrived mid morning in Lanzhou, capital of elongated Gansu province, a key artery of the Silk Road. We could tell we'd returned to off the beaten track China - there wasn't another westerner in sight. We negotiated a taxi ride to the bus station, a frustrating 1 hour drive along dusty gridlocked streets, with a friendly taxi driver who bought us a breakfast of the Chinese staple we labelled grease sticks - they are essentially long, salty doughnuts with a palpable oily taste. Continuing our marathon stretch on public transport, we caught the bus to Linxia, a 3 hour journey that took us through an area known as the Muslim Mecca for its high population of Hui Muslims. Travelling the bustling roads filled with people in Islamic dress in the blazing sunshine, the only clue that we were in China and not the Middle East were the ubiquitous Chinese characters on signs. Reaching Linxia, we began the last leg of our journey, hopping on a coach towards Xiahe, a town on the edge of the historic Tibetan province of Amdo. The journey took us up winding mountain roads, notable for the vistas of villages with both mosques and Buddhist stupas set against snowcapped peaks. Eventually, we reached Xiahe and walked down the long main street, the architecture becoming increasingly Tibetan as we made our way towards our hostel, run by Tibetan monks from Sichuan. We settled in to our basic but cosy dorm, and then as twilight approached went for our first of many walks around the Labrang Monastery, the town's most famous highlight. Much of the monastery had been rebuilt following destruction in the cultural revolution, but it still remained the most important Buddhist pilgrimage sight in Amdo. Running along the outer wall of the monastery complex was a line of ornate golden prayer wheels which was being circumnavigated by streams of bedraggled elderly pilgrims, keen to spin every wheel. Activity at the monastery was dying down for the evening, but the stroll gave us a glimpse of the grand, very Tibetan monastery buildings and the friendliness of the mostly young monks. With night falling, we headed out for dinner where we had to wait nearly an hour for food to materialise, but when it did we had sour Yak Butter Tea, crispy fried Momo (Tibetan dumplings) and Tibetan festival food, which was similar to creamy Gnocchi. Weary after our long day of travelling, we returned to the hostel and hit the hay.

We woke up early the next morning in order to catch the 10am English tour of the monastery, needed to enter most of the buildings. Unfortunately, no English guide was available so we had to make do with a Chinese one, so we missed out on a lot of the information about the monastery and the individual halls we visited. Nevertheless, the halls of the monastery were incredibly atmospheric, with the guide opening doors that allowed mystical statues of Buddha and his disciples, as well as incredibly detailed religious art, to emerge from the gloom of the yak butter candle lit temples. Adding to the sense of mysticism were the ever present smell of Yak Butter and the constant march of the Buddhist pilgrims round and round the locked temples, frequently prostrating themselves flat on the ground before continuing their never ending circles. The tour also featured some intriguing and very pungent Buddhist sculptures made of Yak Butter, the only things we were allowed to photograph. The tour ended in the monastery's main hall, large enough to fit it's 1800 monks, where we happened upon a large group of monks chanting in prayer, making an alien atonal sound that further evoked Eastern exoticism. Following the tour, we returned to the hostel for a delicious lunch of yak fried rice, before catching a minibus to the Sangke grasslands, 15km out of Xiahe. We stepped off the bus into a bleakly beautiful valley containing a one road town populated by hardy Tibetans protected from the cold by cowboy hats and decorated balaclavas, giving the village a distinctly Wild West feel. With weather alternating between sleet and bright sunshine, we made our way past out of user tourist yurt camps and into the grasslands, which were vast and fairly barren due to the time of year. Aiming to climb a ridge for a better view of the incredible snow capped mountains that surrounded us, we walked for nearly half an hour across the grasslands, filled with sheep and criss crossed by the occasional fence, eventually arriving at the ridge which had looked very close by due to the incredibly flat grasslands. Ascending the ridge, we steered clear of some fenced off, wild looking horses that had come over to scrutinise us, reaching the top which gave us panoramic views of the grasslands and the mountains that enveloped them. After soaking up the jaw dropping view, and musing that perhaps it was living in landscapes like these that imbued the Tibetans with such fervent Buddhist spirituality, we returned to town for one last wander round the hallowed monastery. We reached the end of the circular pilgrim route around the monastery, giving the prayer wheels a spin as we went, before leaving the tireless pilgrims to continue their endless cycle of circling and prayer. The long day had given us an appetite, which we satisfied at the hostel with our final Tibetan meal, with highlights including Tsampa (Tibetan barley cakes) and more delicious Momo. We sorted out some of our Azeri eVisa application, then settled down for our last night in Tibet.

The next morning we woke up early for the direct bus back to Lanzhou. On arrival, we had an afternoon to kill before our sleeper train to Dunhuang. We decided to visit the Gansu provincial museum. On the ground floor we enjoyed an exhibition about the Tea Horse Road, a spur of the Silk Road that connected China and India which had run through Tibetan Sichuan, Dali and Lijiang, so provided a lot of reminders of the earlier parts of our trip. On the second floor, we were excited to visit the museum's highlight Silk Road exhibition, however much to our dissapointment it was closed for refurbishment. Nonetheless, the rest of the museum provided passing interest in the form of an interesting exhibition of the province's Buddhist art which piqued our interest in the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang and a laughably poor propaganda exhibition on the history of 'Red Gansu'. Once we'd explored the museum, we headed to the night market for an early dinner, where me and Freddie had the interesting experience of eating tasty cold noodles smothered in sesame sauce out of a plastic bag. From the odd looks we got from locals it seemed like we were supposed to empty the bags into bowls, but none were offered or seemingly available throughout the market. I also enjoyed some delicious spicy squid skewers, ubiquitous throughout China, and a delicious cake stuffed with an incredible sweet peanut filling. Savouring the Hui food had left us short on time, so we rushed to the station and caught our night train, where we fell asleep to the train chuntering along the ancient silk road.Read more