XiaHe, China- 夏河， 中国

XiaHe is a small town in the Gansu province of China. It has a population of around 600,000 and they are predominantly non-Han ethnicity; most of them are Tibetan and Hui ethnic backgrounds. Apart from Lamaism/ Tibetan budhism, Muslim also has a strong following.

The town is essentially founded along the Xia river, and the township extends 3-4km along the river. The town centre really has only 1 main street where all the business and shops are located. As the demographic is drastically different from the other Chinese cities I've visited so far (Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an and Lanzhou), the town has a completely feel and offers a strikingly different sights and experiences. Walking along the road, there are a lot of Tibetan monks in their red robes, and also there are lots of kids. Being a rural township, there is a rudimentary elements to it.

As the whole town is centred around Lamaism, its presence can be felt everywhere and it's because of this the town is very colourful.

Lamaism culture is the foundation of the town, and its presence cannot be missed.

The town is located 3000m high in altitude, and hence the air is a lot cleaner than other parts of China. The lack of heavy industry also helped.

The most important selling point of the town is Labrang Tibetan Monastery. Apparently, it is one of the six major Tibet monasteries and one of the only 2 located outside of Tibet. Its importance to the religion means that Tibetan would travel here for pilgrimage.

Getting to XiaHe is a bit tricky and can only be reached by bus. I arrived here after visiting the famed BinLing Cave Temple (subject of another blog). Closest big city is probably LanZhou which is the capital of GanSu Province. From LanZhou, it is 5 hours of bus ride.

Being 3000m up from sea level, the weather is a bit more temperate. It's cool in the morning and night, but during the day when the sun is out it is a comfortable 20-35 degree celsius, which has been a welcomed relief for me after having to cope with the intense heat and humidity in ShangHai and Xi'an, and to a lesser degree in Beijing prior to this.

Visiting the Tibetan monastery, esp Labrang Monastery, has been a profound experience. Currently, the monastery has about 800 live-in monks!!!! The tour of the place was guided by an English speaking monk but it only happens once a day at 10.30am. The monastery is nothing like I've seen before. There are many different parts, and surprisingly there are electricity and lamps. However, most parts of the temple are still very dimly lit. It was a very interesting experience looking the monks and the buildings.

Monks would spend the day chanting, meditating and of course eating. Food are prepared and donated by the locals. From what I could see, their diet consisted of bread, yak butter, local yoghurt with sprinkled sugar. I was also told (which I found hard to believe, that they are also allowed to eat certain meat, but not drink alcohol or get married).

It was quite an enlightening experience to be amongst hundreds of chanting monks. Unfortunately, it coudn't be captured with my camera, in any case I doubt any camera can produce photos or video clips to accurately replicate the experience. Nothing can beat the sensory experiences of physically being here.

The monastery contain many buildings, all are architectually elegant and distinctive. Most buildings would contain giant budha statues, and all the walls, ceilings and beams are beautifully and colourfully painted and carved. Once again, once inside photography isn't allowed. However, once you have seen them it will be really hard to forget.

Something that the Lama told us, which I would do well to remember, is that suffering comes from 3 things- hatred, ignorance and desires.

Local cuisines are also distinctive different from Chinese Han versions. As with a lot of northern parts of China, dumplings seem to be quite popular, but the filling is mainly lamb/ mutton. I've chosen to see at a street side stall because of the food which were represented. They were all cooked on a coal stove and it was quite beautiful. The first night I had some dumplings in spicy soup, the dumplings were freshly prepared in front of me. The second night, I had some satay/ kebab or rouchuan (肉串), and topped up with a lamb vege noodle soup cooked in a claypot. If my stomach was bigger, I would have sampled more of local cuisine.

I also had a chance to visit the grassland on which the local indigenous Tibetan people roam and live. I was able to ride a horse which was a first for me.

When I first arrived in this rural town, and the first time I set out to explore this place on foot, I was quite anxious and full of trepidation as the people and religion were nothing that's I've come across before. It didn't take long before I was completely immensed in the utter natural beautiful that this little piece of heaven has to offer. The people, be it monk, muslim or otherwise, all seemed to get on with their daily lives fervently, and they all seemed to work so hard. They seem to live so happily with minimal materialistic comfort.

I have seen and learned so much just being here; it has been a blessed experience.