Samstag, 11. Mai 2013
Xining 西宁
highpeak, 19:18h
After another almost 12 hours train ride in the sleeper wagon we arrived Friday morning at Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province. As the main railway station is closed for construction for the new high speed railway Lanzhou-Xining-Urumqi (even to these remote areas the bullet trains will run soon), the train ended at the West railway station and we had to make our way to the city (10 km). A friendly guy at the station warned us in very good english about the rude and overcharging taxi drivers and recommended bus line nr. 2 which will bring us to the bus station inside the city. So we squeezed in one of the city busses, packed with people and a driver who loved to hear his techno music while driving and while sitting inside his self made circle of teddy bears...
We were already wondering where we have get into, all people around us looked more like being from Turkey or Pakistan, not China.
Anyhow, after more than one hour in this funny bus we arrived, managed to deposit our luggage at the bus station and went for a walking tour through the city.
Xining is on about 2200 m altitude and the temperature was much colder than before. A big part of the population are Muslims and as it was Friday a lot of people were coming out of the famous Dunghuang Mosque and swept to the local markets around.
We felt even more strange if still in China, people have not much in common with the ones I saw before and
also the presentation of goods and food would not always match the standard criteria of Food and Drug Administration in China :-)
Only after a short moment of thinking to become a vegetarian we took our brunch, beef noodle soup in a local shop for 6 RMB! Afterwards strolling through the Tibetan Market, where I could not decide wether to buy a blue or a red cowboy head and afterwards getting on a small bus bringing us to our next destination: Tongren
It really feels that our adventure started from here, now really depending on my Chinese skills and not sure what to expect from the remoter mountain areas between here and Sichuan.
We were already wondering where we have get into, all people around us looked more like being from Turkey or Pakistan, not China.
Anyhow, after more than one hour in this funny bus we arrived, managed to deposit our luggage at the bus station and went for a walking tour through the city.
Xining is on about 2200 m altitude and the temperature was much colder than before. A big part of the population are Muslims and as it was Friday a lot of people were coming out of the famous Dunghuang Mosque and swept to the local markets around.
We felt even more strange if still in China, people have not much in common with the ones I saw before and
also the presentation of goods and food would not always match the standard criteria of Food and Drug Administration in China :-)
Only after a short moment of thinking to become a vegetarian we took our brunch, beef noodle soup in a local shop for 6 RMB! Afterwards strolling through the Tibetan Market, where I could not decide wether to buy a blue or a red cowboy head and afterwards getting on a small bus bringing us to our next destination: Tongren
It really feels that our adventure started from here, now really depending on my Chinese skills and not sure what to expect from the remoter mountain areas between here and Sichuan.
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cencenyan,
Sonntag, 12. Mai 2013, 4:59 AM
Errr what about the head?
Did you ask them if there is any special use of the head? Well it's at least real beef, not some rat meat pretend to be mutton in shanghai!
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hopplasokrates,
Montag, 13. Mai 2013, 8:28 PM
Looks good
Hi Peter,
das sieht nach einer spannenden Reise. Das weckt Erinnerungen :-) Im nächsten Leben fliegst Du nicht mehr sondern machst wieder alle reise per Bahn und Bus. Weiterhin viel Spaß u gutes Wetter!
Gruß Thomas
das sieht nach einer spannenden Reise. Das weckt Erinnerungen :-) Im nächsten Leben fliegst Du nicht mehr sondern machst wieder alle reise per Bahn und Bus. Weiterhin viel Spaß u gutes Wetter!
Gruß Thomas
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