Hills of Xiahe


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Asia
June 12th 2011
Published: June 19th 2011
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Looking back at my photos of Xiahe a week after returning to Beijing I am struck by the blueness of the sky and clarity of the air. In the week that I have been back I haven't seen so much as a patch of blue, let alone the views or the scenery I experienced while in Western China. Although I only stayed there for three full days, this region ranks very high on my list of favorite places in Asia, and certainly has the best natural environment I have seen since coming to China in January.

I left Beijing nearly two weeks ago on a Westbound train headed for Lanzhou, Gansu Province. Because I procrastinated big time about buying train tickets, I ended up with a ticket for "hard seat", the lowest class available on the 20 hour journey. Well, the good people of China's railways certainly were not joking when they described the seat as "hard". I soon found myself sandwiched into wooden bench with just a little bit of padding that did not recline at all. There was a small table in the middle and then another bench facing mine. Legroom is a luxury that was not included
Hui MosqueHui MosqueHui Mosque

built in Chinese confucian style
in this class of travel so I got to get very cozy with all of the people sitting around me. Luckily, the other passengers were all migrant workers returning to their hometowns in Western China. Most of them were very curious to see a foreigner and we were soon drinking Baijiu (cheap Chinese liquor) and eating instant noodles together. I somehow managed to get a decent night's sleep - probably an effect of the Baijiu - and woke up the next morning a bit sore but ready to continue on my adventure.

I had been told by several people that Lanzhou itself was not worth visiting, so I planned to to take a bus directly onward to Xiahe. Lanzhou, an industrial city in a very narrow valley, once had the distinction of being named the World's most polluted city. To improve the city's air quality party officials decided to demolish one of the mountains at the end of the valley to improve air flow and cause the pollution to drift onward to other parts of China. While this did decrease the amount of industrial contaminants, it actually increased the amount of fine particulate matter floating around. Fortunately for the
Hui MosqueHui MosqueHui Mosque

more traditional style
local officials though, a couple other cities' pollution levels soon overtook Lanzhou so the mountain demolition was ultimately deemed a success.

With this in mind I expected to find a bleak industrial wasteland akin to a Radiohead music video. Strangely to my surprise, I arrived in a fairly laid back Chinese city complete with blue skies and views of surrounding mountains. Sure the skyline was still made up of smoke belching chimneys, but in between lay an interesting and multiethnic cityscape. During the few hours before my bus left I walked around a predominantly Hui neighborhood. The Hui, one of China's minority groups, converted to Islam during the days of the Silk Road when they worked as traders with merchants from the Middle East and Central Asia. Among one of the more interesting things I saw in this neighborhood was a Hui mosque built in the style of a Chinese Confucian temple. I stopped at a local noodle shop for lunch, where a group of Hui men formed a circle around me and watched me eat my noodles, staring intently the entire time.

After lunch I took a bus onward to Xiahe. Xiahe is a small town in the Gannan region at the foot of the Tibetan plateau. Sitting right near the historical border of Han China and Tibet, Xiahe has been influenced by both cultures, though the surrounding countryside is decidedly Tibetan. As the bus began to wind its way up the mountain roads the air became noticeably clearer, the sky markedly bluer, and goats, sheep, and gompas could be seen dotting the landscape. I soon found myself in a town with only one main street, and a higher percentage of monks than I've seen almost anywhere else in my travels. I soon found a reasonable guest house staffed my a monk, who seemed both a bit intrigued and taken aback when I addressed him in Mandarin Chinese. I settled into my room and for the first time in months shivered in the cold clear air.

Xiahe is probably most famous for its Tibetan Buddhist monastery, which is 2nd in importance only to Lhasa within the ranks of Tibetan Buddhism. I spent much of the next morning walking around the Kora, a circuit around the monastery made by pilgrims. The Kora featured a 3 kilometer long prayer wheel. While most of the pilgrims simply walked around
Gansu CountrysideGansu CountrysideGansu Countryside

Just outside of Lanzhou
the wheel spinning it as they went, some more devout followers did the entire circuit stopping every 2 steps to lie prostrate on the ground as an act of devotion. Although the views of the monastery itself were amazing, I always feel intrusive taking pictures in these type of environments, so I do not have very many pictures of the monastery itself.

While I found the Tibetan Buddhist culture of the monastery to be very interesting, my real reason for visiting this region was to simply hike in the hills and explore the surrounding countryside. After 5 months in smoggy Beijing I was ready for some fresh air and some time to just relax outdoors. Luckily Xiahe is located at the beginning of the Himalayan foothills. Although relatively high in altitude(Xiahe itself is at around 3000m/almost10000feet while many of the hills reach up to 15000 feet), most of the hills are not particularly steep and many can be climbed without any equipment or technical expertise. I spent most of the next 3 days hiking around the countryside, taking pictures, and admiring the views.

It was while hiking here that I had some of my most memorable travel experiences in Asia. On the first day I hiked out to a ridge line a good distance outside of town that was probably close to 4000m/13000feet in elevation. The sky was a deep shade of blue that only the thin air of the mountains can bring about, the sun piercing, and the silence tremendous when suddenly I heard distant shouting and giggling. Looking up I saw a group of nomadic women working on the steep side of a slope planting some seeds. They started doing jumping jacks and cat-calling for me to come over. I sat down with them and we began to communicate, both of us using broken Chinese and a lot of hand gestures. After a moment one of the women noticed I had hair on my arms - a fact that fascinated all of them. Soon I had no less than 6 Tibetan nomads pulling at my arm hair, giggling, and shrieking. After several minutes they seemed to lose interest in my arm hair and asked me if I had anything to eat. I pulled out an unopened bag of peanuts, which they quickly grabbed from me, ripped open, and divided amongst themselves. I was given some doughy Momo and a bag of barley flour in return. Before I left they asked for my phone number, which I gave to them, not knowing that they would call me over and over for the next 24 hours. I have to imagine that they don't see too many foreigners up on the ridge a 4 hours' hike from the nearest road.

Over the following three days I had many more encounters with the local farmers and nomads, though few as animated or as lively as the first one. I met everyone from shepherds high up on the slopes who beamed with delight to an older monk who seemed far more interested in the fact that I had chest hair than he did in spiritual pursuits. I experienced intense sun, rain, wind, and even a few flurries when hiking up one of the higher slopes. Above all, I enjoyed the views of the higher snowcapped mountains a good distance further on, slopes of purple wildflowers in full bloom, and the eye level views of clouds forming that only high altitude can provide.

I also enjoyed just hanging out in the town at night. One of the nights, while hanging out with the few other Westerners staying there we were sitting in a small restaurant when an extended Tibetan family came into the restaurant for a special dinner. In all there were about 20 people seated at the next table when one of the older men started to sing. It was a hauntingly beautiful folk song that must have covered about 5 octaves. When he was done singing the whole restaurant broke into applause. Upon noticing the group of foreigners in the corner, the family grabbed us by the hand and forced us all to come up and sing songs for them. We were completely awful, myself especially, but none of them seemed to care. After each of us sang another family member from the group would get up and sing, each one as good as the last. While our shoddy renditions of the Beatles paled in comparison, the whole night was great fun and the locals singing amazing.

My journey back to Beijing was more comfortable than the outbound trip. This time around I had a proper sleeper, which I thoroughly enjoyed after three days of hiking outdoors. I arrived back last week and have finally had time to write up a blog and post some pictures. Most of these pictures were taken hiking in the hills around Xiahe between 10 and 13 thousand feet in altitude.

Enjoy








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