Xiahe (夏河), Gansu Province

In my travels around China, I have sometimes noticed that temples and monasteries seem more like museums (or, occasionally, construction sites) than active religious communities. While that’s what you would expect in a country that for decades tried to quash religion, it is disconcerting to visit a temple and sense not a shred of spirituality around you. That is emphatically not the case in Xiahe, home to the huge Labrang monastery. Early in the morning, the town’s main street fills with Tibetan Buddhists headed to complete the three-kilometer kora circuit. Later in the day, monks clad in deep-red robes are a frequent sight in the streets, as they go to and from Internet cafes, shops and restaurants. The town itself is a mix of Tibetans, Han Chinese and Hui Muslims, and each ethnic group has its own stretch of Renmin Xijie, the town’s main street. Most travelers stay near the monastery in the center of town, in between the Tibetan and Han neighborhoods.

The Labrang Monastery | Ganjia Grasslands | Eateries | Transportation | Accommodations

The Labrang Monastery

There is no best way to see the Labrang Monastery — you really need to go twice. First, wake up around 6 a.m. to see worshippers walking the kora. As they walk briskly clockwise around the monastery, they spin the wooden prayer wheels that line the outer wall. (Definitely go clockwise, and stay out of their way by walking a few yards away.) After you’ve finished the three-kilometer walk, head back to town for breakfast. Then return to the monastery at 10:15 a.m. for the English tour.

The tours are quite large, but that is the only way to see the inside of the monastery buildings. The monastery, one of the most important in the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) sect of Tibetan Buddhism, dates to 1709. Before the Cultural Revolution, there were 3,600 monks in residence; today, there are approximately 1,200. On the tour, you will see several of the main temples and the monks’ main hall. It was both fascinating and disconcerting to walk through the hall while the monks were seated for afternoon prayers.

One of the most interesting stops is an exhibit of colorful sculptures — made of yak butter! The brightly colored sculptures, some more than a yard wide and a yard tall, look more like Fimo clay than butter. They take two to three weeks to make, and are used in parades to celebrate Tibetan New Year. I only wish I knew what they do to the butter to keep it from melting.

Walking the kora is free, and no ticket is required. Entrance to the monastery, including the tour, costs 40 RMB. Tours leave from the ticket office, near the main entrance of the monastery.

Barkhang (Printing Press)

The Barkhang is the printing center for the monastery. A vast library of long rectangular plates are used to print new copies of important Buddhist texts and sutras. The rest of the building is a mess of ink and tissue-thin paper. The young monks working in the press were among the friendliest we met — after chatting a bit in Mandarin, they even taught us a few words of Tibetan.

The printing press is located east of the main monastery entrance on the north side of the road. You’ll need to turn down an alley go through a red gate to reach the Barkhang building. The entrance is on the east end of the building. Lonely Planet says there may be a 5 RMB charge to enter; none of the monks on duty asked us to pay.

Ganjia Grasslands

Once you’ve seen the monastery, you’ll want to explore some of the grasslands that surround Xiahe. The nearby Sangke Grasslands are supposed to be very touristy, so we headed to the slightly-farther-away Ganjia Grasslands (Ganjia Caoyuan). The drive through the grasslands is beautiful on its own, and there are a few interesting sites in that direction, listed below. We skipped one of the most famous, the Nekhang cave complex at Trakkar Gompa. A European tourist died there a few years back, and other travelers we met said it was still dangerous.

You’ll need to hire a cab to get to the grasslands. Our three-hour tour cost 180 RMB. Don’t book your trip through one of the travel agents listed in Lonely Planet — they charge 300 RMB for the same trip. As long as you have a list of the places you want to go (preferably in Chinese characters), you should be able to find a cab quite easily.

Bajiao (八角)

The 12-sided walled village of Bajiao, seen in the distance in the photo at left, was first built 2,000 years ago. Its name means eight corners, which is a bit of a misnomer — to have twelve sides and only eight corners would be quite a feat of geometry. The ancient dirt walls now enclose a small farming village. On our visit, we followed a goat into the small temple that sits roughly in the center of the village. An old woman immediately seized us, handed us each a rope, and directed us to pull. With each tug, a bell rang — it was the village’s prayer wheel.

Entrance to the village costs 15 RMB.

Tseway Gompa

Tseway Gompa is actually a Bön monastery, not a Buddhist one. Historically, Bön and Buddhism coexisted and competed in Tibet; today, Tseway Gompa is one of few Bön monasteries in Gansu. The monastery is undergoing extensive renovations, and at the time of our visit, few buildings were actually open. But the views from the ridge behind the monastery are outstanding. Walk as far as you can into the monastery and you’ll see a vague path leading up to a huge bouquet of prayer flags on top of the ridge. From there, you will have a fantastic view of the grasslands and of Bajiao.

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Eateries

East of the monastery, Renmin Xijie has a mix of Chinese restaurants and Western backpacker cafes, but they are hard to see from the street. Look up to the second floor of the arcades, above the shops — that’s where all the restaurants are.

West of the monastery, dining options are fewer. We ended up grabbing noodles at a shabby-looking second-floor restaurant where the only choice was whether or not we wanted meat in our noodles. Still, they turned out to be delicious.

Snow Land Restaurant

When it comes to famous Tibetan foods, there are tsampa and momos and seemingly not much else. But our group was mainly eating vegetarian, and two-thirds of the way through our trip we still hadn’t had a chance to order momos. So stumbling upon Snow Land Restaurant was especially welcome because they had vegetarian momos, filled with a delicious blend of zucchini and cabbage. The wait was long (we were the only ones in the restaurant, and they didn’t seem entirely prepared for us), but definitely worth it.

Dinner, including two vegetable dishes and two orders of veggie momos, cost 33 RMB, or around 8 RMB per person. That was more than enough food for four people — the momos are filling! I don’t have an address for the second-floor restaurant, but it’s on the north side of Renmin Xijie east of the Overseas Tibetan Hotel. Look for a huge sign hanging off the balcony.

Snow Mountain Cafe

Signs for this backpacker cafe proclaim that it serves real pizza and is “run by Americans, Peruvians and Mexicans.” We didn’t test the pizza claims, and the owners are no longer living in Xiahe. But regardless it is a pleasant place to spend a rainy afternoon. The pancakes may be frozen, but they still taste good!

The individual-sized pizzas cost ~35 RMB, but aside from that, the food is fairly inexpensive. A cup of instant coffee is a totally reasonable 3 RMB. The restaurant is located east of the Overseas Tibetan Hotel on Renmin Xijie.

Nomad Restaurant

The Nomad is another one of Xiahe’s backpacker spots. It’s a bit larger than Snow Mountain and has a bit of a view over the monastery. It has an extensive breakfast menu, making it a good option for a morning meal after you walk the kora. Coffee, yogurt and a hearty portion of toast cost 18 RMB.

Nomad is across the street from the Overseas Tibetan Hotel, just across the street from the monastery.

Everest Restaurant at the Overseas Tibetan Hotel

The Everest Restaurant’s set breakfast is a pretty great deal: coffee, juice, toast, yogurt and eggs for a mere 20 RMB. The quality is commensurate with the price, but you’ll definitely fill up.

The Everest is located on Renmin Xijie, off the lobby of the Overseas Tibetan Hotel.

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Transportation

Xiahe can be reached by bus from Lanzhou, Langmusi, Tongren or Xining. The bus station is about a mile east of the monastery and hotels.

Once you get to Xiahe, you will mainly rely on your own two feet for transportation. Nothing is very far away. If you want to visit the grasslands, just hail a taxi on the street and bargain.

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Accommodation

Overseas Tibetan Hotel

The only good things about this hotel is the price, a mere 20 RMB per bed, and the location, just a few yards away from the monastery. The dorms are crammed with as many beds as will fit, leaving less than a foot between you and your roommates. The staff is surly and reluctant to help with the most basic request. The common toilets are dank, and both water and power outages seemed common. On a more positive note: The showers (evenings only) have plenty of hot water, and they are spacious and clean enough.

A bed in a four-person dormitory costs 20 RMB per night. If you’re not in a group of four, you will have to share the room’s single key with the others in your dormitory. The hotel is located on Renmin Xijie (人民西街) just east of the monastery.

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