The quiet side of Lanzhou, Gansu.

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After a very pleasant week in Beijing with Becky (and painful goodbyes), I took the train back to Lanzhou for the 2nd leg of my trip in Gansu Province, heading North West towards Xinjiang Province. But before getting on the bike and hitting the road hard, I spent one afternoon in Lanzhou city, visiting the quiet side of town. I hiked around the White Pagoda Mountain on the other side of the Yellow River. Lanzhou is not the most beautiful city in China, but it was nice to wander in this park and sit below large green trees and colorful temples. Old people were playing chess; young people were taking pictures with their iPads and children were flying kites. This park was built on the side of a very dry mountain and from the top we can see the modern city (skyscrapers + pollution) on one side and the dry and bare gorges on the other. It gives us a good idea of what Lanzhou used to look like before it became a major city of transit.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!

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Photos

I met this little boy in the train
he called me "uncle" and spent most of the train ride following me and asking me how to say things in English. Cute!

this is what I was actually looking for
enjoying the contrasts

tired eyes after a night in the train
and difficult goodbyes with Becky

Here is the White Pagoda, standing on top of the mountain
When Genghis Khan was broadening his map of the country and about to unify the great Yuan Empire, the influential religious leader of Sajia School in Tibet sent a famous lama to pay his respects to Genghis Khan. But the lama died on his way to Lanzhou. The Yuan Dynasty (1228) ordered that a pagoda be built in his honor.