China, Xiahe: Yak Lunch with Tibetan Monks

Xiahe is located in the Gansu province of China, at the northeast corner of the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau. Its location in this part of rural China was one of the reasons we decided to venture there during our 6 weeks in China; the other reason was due to the makeup of the town and surrounding areas, with half of the population being Tibetan and the other half being either from the Han or Hui tribes. With China being such a vast country, we wanted to see some parts that not only appeared geographically different, but that also had a different ethnic composition. Xiahe definitely fulfilled our desire and the visit there was one of the top highlights of our trip to China.

To get to Xiahe, we travelled from the large city Lanzhou, which has been touted as one of China's most polluted cities. Therefore, as our 4-hour bus journey took us farther and farther away from Lanzhou, we were quite happy with the improved quality of air, despite it getting thinner and thinner as we climbed to an altitude of about 3000 metres (over 9000 feet!), and with the fact that the colour of the sky changed from a dingy grey to a bright blue and then even brighter blue. Of course, there was some cloudy time in Xiahe when we were there; a trip to a new destination in China for us would not be complete without some or all of the days being hazy. At least this time it was not due to pollution, as it was solely Mother Nature herself that was colouring the skies of Xiahe.

Everyone in the village was hard at work, so we didn't bother anyone by stopping and talking for too long

Our arrival in Xiahe was marked by a very hot day with a clear blue sky. We walked from the bus station to Overseas Tibetan Hotel, where we had booked a room; during the walk we were both out of breath every couple of minutes due to the extremely thin air. Since Xiahe was located around 3000 metres above sea level, our bodies were not yet used to the altitude change. Luckily, the town was not very large and only had one main street running through it, so we found our hotel in ten minutes and only had to take a couple of breaks whilst carrying our heavy backpacks.

The main sight in Xiahe was the famous Labrang Monastery, which was the largest Tibetan Monastery outside of Lhasa (in Tibet), founded in 1709. At its peak, the monastery housed nearly 4000 monks but today has only around 800 living inside its walls. Thanks to Chairman Mao's Cultural Revolution, the monastery was destroyed in the middle of the last century, but since his rule ended, it has been on a slow road to recovery. Since we didn't have time to travel to Tibet on this trip, we thought the next best place to visit would be Xiahe, and we were not disappointed with our choice, for similar reasons as stated in the first paragraph above, as it was completely different from the other destinations in China that we have visited.

The staff at Overseas Tibetan Hotel were all very nice; the owner was from Nepal and spoke really excellent English. The food in the small restaurant attached next door, Everest Cafe, was good and we enjoyed a Nepali curry on the first night we were there, which reminded us of the food at Masala Zone in London; it was served on a large tin plate with several bowls of curry and vegetables. It was some of the nicest food we had in Xiahe as the rest of our meals there ending up consisting of yak by-products - read further down and you will understand this a bit more.

On our first night in Xiahe, we wanted to relax in Everest Cafe as we had been travelling all day; we had taken a flight from Chengdu to Lanzhou and then a bus to Xiahe. While we were having dinner and working on our travel journal, the restaurant filled up with a huge group of extremely loud American students who were studying somewhere in China. There were 56 kids, all shouting a few decibels above the normal speaking range, and they must have been between 15-18 years of age; we were ecstatic when they finally left Xiahe the next evening, as were other guests staying in the hotel who were not part of the American students' tour group.

For the first night in the hotel, we stayed in a dormitory room with a shared bathroom and the temperature inside the room was freezing cold. We decided to upgrade the following night to a twin room with a private bathroom that was much more comfortable and still well within our accommodation budget. By the way, we had to avoid showering and using the toilet in the shared facilities as they were both really disgusting; if you are thinking of travelling to Xiahe, don't stay in Overseas Tibetan Hotel's dorm rooms; the private rooms are much nicer and not that much more expensive!

For our first full day in Xiahe, we headed to Labrang Monastery at 10:00am so that we could be given a tour around the complex by an English-speaking Tibetan monk. The tour was quite informative, at the times when we could understand what the monk was saying, and we were able to enter many temples and colleges inside the large monastery. The entire place was fascinating; we enjoyed walking around for several hours on that first day. The thing that stands out most in our memories were the many groups of buildings that were used as accommodation for the monks. These buildings were put together in a basic fashion with bricks, mud and straw and mostly painted white; the very simplistic design was striking against the mountain background and clear blue sky.

The last building that we walked through during our tour was the largest temple on the grounds of the monastery. There, we saw over 100 monks chanting and praying whilst exchanging money with each other. We didn't exactly understand why they were doing that when we walked through the temple, but our guide did mention something about the younger monks giving money to the older monks. The most amusing thing was watching some of the monks texting people or making calls on their mobile phones. The dimly lit temple was conducive to this activity, to some monk's lack of attention to their prayers, but on occasion the monks committing such offences were caught.

Outside one of the temples we visited, we saw a group of young novices rehearsing a dance which would be performed as part of a large festival that is held annually in Xiahe during the summer. They were combining a form of dance and chanting, using musical instruments and what looked like crude weapons. It was interesting and very unusual, but the most unusual and interesting thing that we experienced during the tour was the smell inside the temples when we walked through them.

The candles that were used by the monks and people visiting the temples to pray were all made from yak butter. Therefore, when they were lit, a buttery aroma was given off, causing our nostrils to flare and our tummies to rumble. Of course, this was before we ended up eating too much yak butter and other yak products, and if we were to visit the temples now, our stomachs may think twice before making all the commotion. One of the temples at Labrang was devoted to yak butter sculptures, which were carved and painted by resident monks for festivals and other important religious activities. The sculptures were amazingly detailed and colourful, and the room they were in smelled really buttery. We didn't know what they would do when the weather heated up, as the sculptures would melt; we assumed that they would bring in fans to keep the room cool.

After the tour was over, we went back to the area outside the museum we had visited during the tour and the friendly monk who ran the museum invited us to have lunch with him. We were pretty scared when we sat down on the grass outside his house, which was next to the museum, as we saw what was on offer - a large leg bone with chunky bits of meat, gristle and fat hanging off of it. We pretended that we were vegetarians to avoid eating it and, once he understood this, he didn't try to serve us any of the meat. However, he then went inside his home and brought out some more food for us to try.

The food he brought out was served in a bowl and consisted of rice mixed with yak cream, bits of yak meat and sultanas. We don't know what the monk's definition of vegetarianism was, but Dan ended up eating some of the food anyway, including the yak meat. He didn't like the taste of the yak cream as it had a really strong gone-off taste to it, so he handed the bowl to Kyle. Kyle actually liked the taste but he didn't want to start eating meat after stating so adamantly that he was a vegetarian, so he gave the pieces of yak meat to Dan, even though it looked pretty tender and tasty, and was, by Dan's recollection.

A couple of other monks had joined us, and the new monks poured some yak milk over the bowl of food and mashed everything up into a doughy paste before giving it to us to try. Kyle thought it tasted okay but Dan was having major yak flavour issues by that point. His saviour was the hard bread that was served with the meal; he ate a lot of that whilst sipping on some fresh green tea. The tea was nice, despite us having to spit out the leaves that kept getting stuck in our teeth. After filling up, we had to say goodbye to the monks, but not before promising to bring them some printed photos of our lunch group before we left Xiahe. We held true to this promise and gave them each a copy of the photo before we left a few days later.

We left Labrang Monastery and headed back to Overseas Tibetan Hotel to pick up the basic bicycles we rented for the day. Our goal was to ride to the Sangke Grasslands that afternoon, and the altitude-ascending 14km journey, on bikes without gears, in the very, very thin air was not an easy one. We made it in just over an hour, though, and we would have gotten there earlier had we not stopped to take several photographs of the fantastic landscape. Alright, if you need to take a break from reading in order to check out the photo album for this journal entry, you may now do so, but we expect your eyes to be back on this spot soon so that you can continue reading about the rest of our adventure.

There were many herds of animals outside Xiahe, and many small villages with friendly people hanging around. There were a couple of occasions during our bicycle ride where we spotted dead animals on the side of the road, where we think they were hit by a speeding vehicle. We also spotted our first yaks during the ride, and were a little disappointed as we thought they would look a lot bigger than they did. They really just reminded us of ragged, hairy cows.

When we finally arrived at Sangke Grasslands, we were surprised at how quiet it was. We seemed to be the only visitors when we arrived, and we think that the people working there were surprised to see us. A young Tibetan man greeted us and asked if we were hungry. We said yes, as we had built up a large appetite during the ride. He led us inside a small square building, which we had to ourselves during the meal, and brought us a menu that was written completely in Tibetan and Chinese. He spoke a little English so we were able to order without too much difficulty, and we made sure to order a few Tibetan dishes that were recommended on the back of our Sangke Grasslands entrance ticket. The room was really comfortable and set up with a couch and chairs lining the walls; with the sun beating through the glass windows of the building, we were both pretty dozy while waiting for the food to arrive.

The food that we ordered included some steamed yak dumplings, which were not too bad when dipped in the slightly spicy soy and vinegar sauce that was served with them. We also tried a traditional dish called tsampa, which was made with barley wheat, yak butter, yak cheese, sugar & water; it was not completely cooked and a crumbly biscuit of sorts. The tsampa was edible but not as good as the bowl of sweet rice that was cooked with brake fern. We gobbled that up very quickly and washed it down with our yak milk tea.

Yak milk tea was heated, fresh yak milk that had been thinned with boiled water, and inside our tea cups were little sticks of what looked like tree bark. It tasted better than it sounds, but that was as far as our enjoyment went with regards to yak drinks of any kind. Our meals at a Chinese restaurant across the street from our hotel, and also at Nomad Restaurant on our last night in Xiahe, were full of disgusting yak items; keep reading to get to that part of the story.

The journey back to Xiahe was expected to have been easy, since the road ran slightly downhill all the way. However, we didn't account for the wind that decided to blow directly in our faces for the entire 14km, making our cycling even more difficult than our outbound journey was! We felt beaten and tired by the time we returned to Xiahe, but decided it was all worth it since the afternoon was such a great one. With our faces bright red from wind burn and our lips dry and cracked from getting chapped during the afternoon's ride, we were ready for some warmth and relaxation in Everest Cafe before we made our way to a new place for dinner.

Xiahe shut down early each evening and it was hard to find a place to eat that was still open after 10pm, when we started looking. Across the street from our hotel, we saw a Chinese restaurant that was still lit, but a young woman was mopping the floor. We entered the place and she said it was okay to eat there; we felt really bad because they were clearly ready to close, but we were also hungry, so the ill feelings disappeared quickly.

The family-run place served us sweet and sour cabbage with steamed rice and a plate of "fried potatoes the French way". This last dish was not what we expected, a plate of really thick french fries. Instead, we were served a plate of homemade crisps ("potato chips" for the Americans reading this). We certainly didn't complain because we have come to truly appreciate anything resembling fried potatoes so far during our 5-month Asian adventure. What we could complain about, though, was the yak butter tea that we ordered and that sounded much better than it actually was, it was so vile that we couldn't get past a couple of sips of it. Ewwww...

The next morning, we had booked a car to travel 35km to Ganjia Grasslands. The definition of a grassland is an area where grass is the primary vegetation - as if you didn't know - and the grasslands surrounding Xiahe were large, open expanses of pastures surrounded by tall mountains, some of which had quite rugged peaks. The grasslands are home to many villages and farmers who make a living off of their animals - sheep, yaks, goats, cows and pigs. Vegetables are not that easy to grow around Xiahe because of the type of soil found throughout the land as well as the increased altitude and harsh, semi-arid weather.

Ganjia Grasslands were farther than Sangke, so we had to have a car to get there. Once we were on our way, we quickly realised that a bicycle was out of the question, as the road became very bumpy and broken. The driver who took us around that day had a four-wheel drive vehicle that easily manoeuvered the potholes and dips on our route. He was also a little pervy, as his car was equipped with a TV screen in the passenger seat visor that displayed VCDs of his choice. His choice mostly included soft porn films; even though it may appear that the TV was in his car for his passengers, we think it was really there for him to watch "films" whenever his passengers were hiking or walking around the grasslands.

During our trip to Ganjia, we stopped several times to take photos before we arrived at Tsewey Monastery and the ancient village Bajiao. At the monastery, we were given a tour by a very young monk who could not have been older than 18. He was very friendly and let us see inside all of the temples at the Tibetan monastery and take as many photos as we wanted. Inside one temple, a Tibetan herder had come in to pray and was astonished to see us there. We didn't think that he had ever seen foreigners or a camera, as he kept staring intently at us no matter what we did. When either of us tried to take a photo, he literally stood right next to us, staring down at the digital screen in amazement. It wouldn't have frightened us so much, had he not had a large knife attached to his belt, as most Tibetans seemed to have. We tried holding a conversation with him, but he not only didn't speak Chinese, he also seemed too dumbfounded with us being there to respond.

Behind the monastery, which was built on the side of a mountain, we climbed up the small peak to gain a view of the village next to the monastery and also of the ancient village Bajiao, in the distance. The climb up to the top was exhausting, as it was really steep and the wind was blowing harshly and persistently. Once at the top, it was freezing cold and we paused to catch our breath before continuing any further. Once we were ready to move again, the monk and our driver climbed back down and our driver said that he would pick us up further down the road, to allow us to walk out towards Bajiao and gain a view of the large mountains behind the mysterious walled village.

Walking down was much easier and we enjoyed seeing all of the herds of sheep and goats that were feeding on the grasses on the side of the mountain. Several of the goats had unusual horns that were straight but twisted like a towel would be if you were wringing it out. We got back to our driver, who quickly turned off the TV in the visor before we set off again. Our next and final stop for the day was Bajiao, an ancient walled village over 2000 years old; we were finally given the opportunity to see what was behind the enormous mud-brick wall.

Behind the wall, we saw many small houses that were also made of mud and bricks, each having their own little walled courtyard to house their animals and keep out the wind. On some of the narrow lanes between the walls of houses, we passed animal graveyards where villagers threw out used animal carcasses when they were finished removing the meat and other useable parts. There were scattered animal remains and bones everywhere, and it made the place look a bit creepy. We were glad to be there during the daytime and not after the sun had set.

Everyone in the village was hard at work, so we didn't bother anyone by stopping and talking for too long. We did make sure to greet as many people as possible, though, with the few Tibetan phrases that we had written down at Labrang Monastery the previous day. After walking around the village for almost an hour, we headed back to the car where our driver was sleeping heavily. We gave him the fright of his life by banging on his window; he laughed, we laughed and then we set out on the road, heading back to Xiahe.

That night we had dinner at Nomad Restaurant, which was across the street from our hotel. The restaurant served pretty much every Tibetan dish possible, and we picked out quite a few of their large collection of yak dishes to try. Once again, we found ourselves eating the poor hairy beasts and, this time, we both had gotten our fill. We almost "yacked" (haha) when we tasted a dish that was made solely of yak butter and yak cream; it actually tasted a bit like vomit. We had more steamed yak dumplings and the meat was not that good. Before eating the steamed dumplings, we tried fried yak dumplings which were edible and probably the best thing we had that evening besides the traditional Tibetan tea that we drank. Unfortunately, much of the food we ordered went uneaten as we both were pretty grossed out from eating so much yak over two days.

The next day, we had to travel back to Lanzhou. We had a bus to ourselves due to the fact that our hotel was sending their private bus to Lanzhou one the same day that we left, in order to pick up a group of tourists the following day. It had turned quite cold outside and the inside of the bus was freezing; the bus was also an older vehicle that was not very comfortable. Since the bus dropped us off directly at the rail station, saving us the hassle of travelling from the bus station to the rail station ourselves, we dealt with the inadequacies just fine.

At the Lanzhou rail station, we had to purchase overnight sleeper train tickets to Xi'an. Luck was with us as there were two hard-sleeper seats available and, after we booked our tickets, we had several hours in Lanzhou to spare before boarding the train. We found a nice restaurant on the main street that led down from the rail station where we enjoyed a huge feast for very little money. The place didn't have an English menu so the waitress ended up picking dishes for us; she did well except for the fact that each dish served was a monstrous portion and way too much food for our dinner. For 68 RMB (a little over £4, or $7), we had three huge main courses, unlimited green tea refills and a 1.25 litre bottle of ice cold Coca-cola.