headseast

Before leaving Xining for the train to Lhasa we stopped by the city’s food market to partly stock up and just to have a look at what turned out to be one of the better food market’s I’ve been to in China. It was clean, organised and the produce looked fresh. We also found the vendors to be friendly and helpful. Altogether an unexpected and pleasant surprise. The next entry will be the train to Lhasa – an unforgettable journey….

Xining is a mere two and an half hours by express train from Lanzhou but the city has a very different feel. Xining is capital of Qinghai province, a part of China with a large Tibetan and nomadic population and this boom city has a bit of the feel of a frontier. The boom itself is built on mining the vast resources of this province. Unlike most of China where population figures are enormous Xining has only 2.2 million and the whole province only 5 million. We had a day here to see a bit of the town and the Khumbum Monastery, one of the largest and most important outside of Tibet. The photos below are from the monastery visit which was interesting but lacked a certain authenticity due to the security and large amount of local tour groups.