Xining is the capital of the Qinghai Province in Northwestern China. It has borders with Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet. For years it has been used by travelers as the gateway to the Tibetan Plateau. I used it as a gateway to the Xinjiang Uyughur Autonomous Region, however I also plotted my trip so that I’d have a night in Xining and be able to explore the city for an afternoon. I’m glad I did, Xining actually has a lot more to offer than what I’ve read from other travelers.
I flew into Xining from Guangzhou, it was around a 3 1/2 hour flight north. The airport was pretty nice, but didn’t have any place to exchange money. I actually always find it tricky to exchange money in China, it seems the only place you can really do it is the Bank of China and even there it seems a little discouraged. I had enough Yuan left to pay for a bus (only 21 Yuan!) to the city center, which is actually quite far, like 40km! Once I got to the city center I found a Bank of China and asked if I could exchange some money. Luckily there was a lady greeting the customers that spoke enough English to understand what I needed and she took me into a back room with a teller that was supposed to be able to help me. After I explained to the teller that I needed to change 100 USD to RMB he turned his computer off, drew the shade and left the little room he was in. This caught me pretty off guard, was I just supposed to wait here? Was he out to lunch? Eventually he came back in with an older gentleman that was also greeting customers, only in Mandarin. He looked at me with a nervous and awkward smile, and with a little fear in his eyes he handed the teller his Chinese ID card. The teller took it, filled out some paperwork, had me hand him the 100 USD note and gave me back around 700 RMB. He gave the older gentleman his ID back, drew the blinds and turned off the light and that was that. I guess at this particular branch they couldn’t do an exchange unless you were local? Who knows? Anyway, now it was time to drop off my bags at the hotel and explore the city.
The first thing I did was find some lunch. I found a restaurant a few blocks away from my hotel but had no idea what kind of food it was due to my inability to read Mandarin and this one being a little too difficult for my translator app. Turns out it was a hot pot style Chinese restaurant and it was probably the best Chinese I’ve ever had! I don’t usually do too many food posts but this place was too good not to write about.
First you go through and pick as many vegetable skewers as you want. I got broccoli, two different types of mushrooms, cabbage, celery, and cauliflower.
Then you go through and pick all the meat and fish skewers. Some of these looked a little too adventurous for me so I stuck with the beef and lamb.
Next you pick your sauces. There was an assortment of different chili sauces, garlic, spices etc.
The server sets up a boiling pot in the middle of your table that has two sections, one spicy, one not. Next you cook your skewers, dip them into your sauce and enjoy. So good!
After lunch it was time to use DiDi to order a cab and check out the Tulou Temple, also known as Northern Buddhist Temple.
The Northern Buddhist Temple is one of the main centers for Taoist activity in the Qinghai Province. It lies on Mount Beishan about 5km away from the center of Xining.
The Temple Complex is huge, it covers about 28,000 square km and includes 99 caves built into the mountain. People have been worshiping here for more than 1900 years.
This complex is pretty incredible and definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area. The next place I had to check out was Dongguan Mosque.
Dongguan Mosque, originally built in 1380 is the largest mosque in Qinghai Province and one of the largest ones in China. Xining is 1/3 Muslim and during Ramadan as many as 300,000 come to pray here. This was my first time at a mosque in China. I’ve been to many different mosques all over the world but this one was the first one I’d seen with minarets that almost looked like pagoda’s. Such and interesting style and mix of culture.
The folks that worship there are very sweet as well. I’m very glad I stopped to visit Dongguan Mosque in Xining.
That was it for me that day. I had an early train to catch the next morning to Hami, my first stop in the Xinjiang Uyughur Autonomous Region. More on that in another post…
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