In and round Linxia

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We visited Linxia to get a feel of the atmosphere in this typical Muslim town. You can see this clearly in the way how people are dressed, in the many mosques and in the prayers through mosque loudspeakers. Another typical feature for Linxia, are the big glasses men wear.

We visited the Wanshou guan temple on the hills around Linxia. As you climb up the different stairs, you arrive at different temple areas. A brick stone pagoda and a temple bell stand on the top. We met some very friendly people: monks and frequent visitors.

While we were there they had the celebration of the 50th anniversary of town. The whole town was flagged. Ten thousands of people from town and around were trying to pick-up a glimpse of the official festivities on a location outside town. But these were limited to honoured guests who were been taking around in buses and private cars. Besides a brand-new water fountain, there was not much more to see for the big masses. We spent some time in a Taoist monastery, were we were kindly invited for a lunch and tea. The atmosphere was very real.

Een taxi in town costs 3Y, taxi meters are not used.



From Linxia we visited in near-by Hezhen, two paleontological museums: the existing one, and the brand new which is next to it. We took a minibus at the exit of the South bus station (Qiche nanzhan - 5Y - 45min). The museums are located before entering town, you can’t miss them at the right hand side of the road. We paid 30Y entrance fee for the existing museum, and in the new one we got in for free, as everyone else, due to the official opening. Locals were all interested to get in! Exhibitions are concentrated around the skeletons they found locally : most special were the elephants with a specific mouth, the small horses with 2 additional toe’s and the big sheep which are unique to Hezhen. Both skeletons and reconstructions are shown, the new museum has interactive displays available; only chinese.


There are lots of hotels in Linxia, we stayed at the Shuiquan Binguan - San dao qiao, Linxia, Tel: [phone]
Centrally located , on the first roundabout after the Yellow River bridge, at walking distance to the South bus station (Qiche nanzhan). 55Y doublewithout bathroom, 88Ywith bathroom. None of the rooms had air-conditioning, neither a fan. 24h/day hot water, no breakfast included. The rooms are small but clean although we had cockroaches. The bath room had his usual defects. Personnel was very friendly. The few foreign guests we saw in town, all stayed at the same hotel, also those who were visiting an expat, and those who were helped by Chinese locals
More photo's can be seen on our dutch Blog: Uitstapje naar Hezhen.

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