Xining
The capital city of the province. Here I got to try a buffet style hot-pot, which I’ve never seen anywhere else in China. You pay a flat price and then you can go look and carry back all the different foods you want to cook. Then you put them in the hot-pot for a few minutes and then eat.
Xining is the last stop on the train before Tibet. My original plan was to go to Tibet and continue on through Nepal and India. Unfortunately, that requires you hire and car and a tour guide for each day in Tibet and that gets expensive. Chinese people aren’t affected by these rules, only foreigners.
Kumbum Monastery
My first taste of Tibet was Kumbum Monastery. Well, not actually Tibet since this is in Qinghai province. I did get to see a fair number of Tibetan people plus this is one of the famous Tibetan monasteries, the place where a famous teacher, Tsongkhapa, was born. They did have a lot of rules on photography here. (photos)