So after seeing a lot of the richer eastern coast of China we were ready for a change. We boarded a train at the Beijing West train station for Lanzhou, the capital of the province of Gansu, which we had our sights set on. After a 24 hour train ride we finally arrived. At first I think we were surprised at how little we thought the scenery had changed but that was an opinion that was soon changed. The east of China is well watered and green. However Gansu was dry, dry, dry. Soon we could tell that the effort to grow things here must be much greater and time consuming than in eastern China.

The first night, for the first time, we struggled through ordering our own meal and bargaining for peaches. These things were much easier when we had our friends with us. But it was a challenge and especially Sarah took it up with vigor. In spite of our bargaining we almost always found out that the real price was much lower than what we had paid. At first we felt a little put out but we got used to it. The first night we stayed in Lanzhou.

The next day we took part in a tour to see the Bingli Si caves. As part of the tour we drove for an hour to a small port on the Yellow River. From there we took a 90 minute speed boat ride on the River from where we could see beautiful scenery all around. Cliffs, riverside villages, the muddy water of the river. . . it was great. We finally arrived, thankfully without tipping (every time we crossed another boat's wake I thought of our computer sinking to bottom of the river) to Bingli Si. Bingli Si is a site where there are large group of caves carved into the cliffs a short ways from the Yellow River. When Buddhism was being brought to China from India, at about the time of Christ, the caves were built. There is a picture to the right. The centerpiece is a 27 meter tall sitting Buddha. He is surrounded by tonnes of other caves, about 127 to be exact, where you can explore and find smaller buddhas and frescos painted all those years ago.

After staying at the caves for about an hour or two we got on the boat, and then a taxi van, and then a bus and eventually made it to Xiahe, the turning back point of our trip. Xiahe is a small monastery town high in the mountains. In fact it is set at about 3000 meters above sea level. You could definitely feel the air was cooler. Xiahe has become kind of a mecca for independent travelers, or Lonely Planet types if you know what I mean, over the last few years. And its appeal is completely understandable. It is kind of a wild west town. You can get that feeling when you look at the picture of the main street. The stores, and the clothes and lifestyle of the people make you thing you are in the age of cowboys and saloons of the American West. Only this time there are Internet cafes everywhere!!. The central feature of the town is the Labrang Monastery. The monastery is one of the most important ones to Tibetan Buddhists. In fact, Xiahe is considered still by some to be a part of the independent country of Tibet. Some Chinese we met did not agree with that assessment at all though. Anyway the monastery is the lifeblood of the town. There are about 2000 monks who make up the community. You see them all around town in their maroon robes. At the restaurant, at the bus station, at the Internet cafe and at the river side practicing their instruments. A lot of them are just young boys who are studying at schools that are part of the monastery. Besides the monks there are lots of ordinary people using the monastery. It had to be the most in use temple we saw over the duration of our trip. And trust me we saw a lot of temples. People come from all over, and from close by to take part in religious rites at the monastery. You can see them walking, always clock wise as we learned the hard way, around the perimeter of the monastery turning prayer wheels and praying the whole time. It was quite the sight of people with leather tough skin, red rosy cheeks, and colorful clothes walking for hours a day around the monastery.

We stayed for 3 full days in Xiahe. The first day we spent a lot of time at the monastery and we went for a hike in the afternoon in the surrounding mountains. Our goal was a group of tents that we could see from the town so we just started hiking up the grass covered mountains in the general direction. We soon arrived at the group of tents you can see to the right. Until someone told us, we thought the people staying in the tents were nomads grazing their flocks. But we were told they were people from the town just enjoying summer vacation. I guess it is traditional in summer, with a group of friends from your village, to set up camp in the mountains and relax.

The next day we got up early for 5:30 prayers at the monastery. During the day the monks grudgingly let tourist pass through the main temple while they are having prayers. We wanted to get a better feeling for it though and we heard that if you showed enough initiative by getting up so early you would be rewarded by being aloud to sit at the side of the temple and see what happens at morning prayers. It was pretty interesting. First, all the monks gather on the steps of the temple chanting. Then suddenly a horn sounds from top of the temple and all the monks take off their shoes and enter the temple to begin the prayers. The picture to the right is of the shoes left by the door with the sunrise in the background. The inside of the temple is pretty dark save for the light of a few yak butter candles. The prayers went on for about an hour. After the prayers we ate breakfast and took a day trip with three French girls from Paris to the the surrounding grasslands. In the area surrounding Xiahe are beautiful grasslands that are sparsely inhabited. We hiked a little and visited some of the small villages set in the middle of nowhere. It was amazing. People live in the towns depending on horses for transportation, the river for washing and the crops they grow themselves for survival. Quite different than what most of us take for granted.!!

The next day we rented two so-so bikes (Oh I thought a lot about our new suitably sized bikes back at home) and biked to a grasslands are about 15 km from Xiahe. It was again beautiful and this is where we took the picture to the right of the wild flowers with the hills in the background. That night on our last night in town we had some interesting experiences. We went to a restaurant where we had eaten lunch a day or two before. Apparently not many foreigners eat there even though there are a lot of foreign tourists in town. So the staff were quite happy we came for a second time. They were so excited in fact they decided to enlist our help in getting more foreign customers. Through gestures they communicated that they wanted us to make a WELCOME sign in their front window. We agreed to try and they hurried off and bought some special paper while we were eating. While we were eating Sarah noticed some monks practicing dancing in a temple courtyard nearby. So she took the camera and went to investigate. Turns out the monks were just as interested in her as she was in them and they had quite the conversation through gestures and writing in the sand. They communicated to her that they lived in Tibet ("Yes!! Xiahe is Tibet", they said) and they showed her the scars they say they got during crackdowns by the government on them as recently as 1997. While this was going on I worked on the sign and got it hanging in the window. The staff were very grateful and it was a good way to leave a small legacy on a town that we thoroughly enjoyed exploring and experiencing.

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