Xining • A multi-ethnic and multi-religious immigrant city

 

Total text: 1195 words 8 pictures

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

 

 

Around mountains, rivers, pagodas

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It was already early in the morning when the train arrived at Xining Station. A wake-up bell was played on the car's radio, as if the school bell had woken me up. For a moment, I felt like I didn't know what night it was. I was half asleep and half awake at night, vaguely thinking about everything after graduation, flashing through my mind like a fleeting glimpse, and I fell asleep.

When we walked out of the train station, a chill hit our faces. It was still cool in Xining in April. After wrapping up our clothes, we followed the navigation to the bus station and headed to the hotel. The streets in Xining are generally very spacious as in Ningxia, and the hotels are cheap. The two of us took a hot bath and slept in bed for a while. It wasn't until the afternoon that we went out to the largest mosque in the area. The temple is very quiet in the afternoon. The believers are all praying in the room. A few devout people even keep prostrating on the ground. It is said that they often pray for the entire afternoon. The power of faith is indeed extremely powerful. After walking around for a while, we were about to leave when a tour group came in. The person in charge of the temple took a microphone and explained the history of Islam to them. Sure enough, the origin of every religion is inseparable from gods, and the traceability of culture is like this. resemblance.

After leaving the temple, we went to several local food spots, Mojia Street, Snack Street and Shuijing Alley. The types of food were similar. The more famous ones are hand-picked rice, peeled sweet potatoes, and yak yogurt. Almost all the meals have a strong flavor of beef and mutton. Maybe this is the flavor of the Northwest.

 

 

The city center of Xining is relatively old, giving me the feeling of returning to the county town where I was a child. The place is not big, and there are many streets and alleys. There are quite a few staff selling real estate and fitness cards on the street, and I was stopped along the way. Several times, I was very curious as to how they could figure out how I could afford to buy a house. When I first went out, for the convenience of traveling, I tried my best to pick some old clothes with dull colors to wear. Every time I looked at myself, I looked like a man moving at a construction site. Brick migrant workers.

After walking around, I slowly returned to the hotel and saw a group of aunties dancing in the square. However, the dance here was a folk dance, which looked like Mongolian dance. In addition to the aunties, there were also some young girls and boys. A group of people hold hands, with smiles on their faces, and some onlookers join in from time to time. Maybe this is the charm of dance, which can make people forget their worries.

We bought some food from the supermarket and went back to prepare for our trip around the lake the next day.

For a 6-day tour of Qinghai Lake, we signed up for a small group, an old couple from Northeast China, a young couple from Guangzhou, plus the two of us and a driver. The disadvantage of signing up for a group tour is that you can never control the time you wake up, and The gap between your teammates and you.

On the morning of 7th, the driver and tour guide drove a 7-seater van and drove to our first stop, Kumbum Monastery. Kumbum Monastery is the activity center of Tibetan Buddhism in northwest China and is famous in China and Southeast Asia. Butter flowers, murals and embroidery are known as the "Three Wonders of Art". Lamas and believers can be seen praying and turning prayer wheels everywhere in the temple. It is said that some particularly devout believers have kowtowed in the temple throughout their lives.

 

 

My companion and I walked around various small temples and discovered that there are stories behind the Buddha statues in Kumbum Monastery. We should have known them in advance so that the visit would be more interesting. However, according to my analysis of the customers present, 80% of them are just here to take photos and souvenirs.

My friend and I discussed taking advantage of this trip to take more photos and videos, and run our new media account. Maybe with traffic, the sponsor father will come to visit, so that we can travel and make money at the same time. But it turned out that it was just another dream. By the end of the trip, very few people had watched the video. This also cut off my dream of being a travel blogger.