Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, features not only the Kum Bum monastery (one of the major Tibetan Buddhist lamaseries) but also a pretty good museum on Tibetan carpets and thangka (Tibetan Buddhist religious paintings). And, I got to see a yak!
Xining is the capital of Qinghai province, perhaps best-known for the Kumbum Tibetan monastery nearby. It’s the birthplace of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism (there are two sects, Red Hat and Yellow Hat), and was the former home of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, before China invaded Tibet.
We stopped by the local park for a climb, then the Grand Mosque, where we spoke to a very friendly Chinese Muslim priest, then to the Kumbum monastery. On the way back, I got a photo with a yak! They are way cute.
The Dongguan Grand Mosque in Xining. (Photo courtesy Mike Magin.)
A closer look at the mosque.
A closeup of one of the details in the great square of the mosque. We couldn't take photos inside, but I did catch a photo of the elaborate painting in Arabic.
We stopped by a park in Xining, and saw this lovely dragon before a lake covered in waterlilies.
Horse and rider at the park. I never did find out what it was about...but it was pretty.
Prayer wheels at Kumbum monastery. We couldn't take photos inside most of the temples, but I got some photos outside.
Beggar at the Kumbum monastery
Another beggar at the monastery.
Thangka (Tibetan Buddhist religious paintings) are painted starting with an elaborate, penciled-in design such as this one. I didn't take photos of the thangka because it was impossible to do them justice in the low light, but the ones in the museum were gorgeous.
A Tibetan loom. Tibetan rugs are neat, usually made of wool rather than silk, coarser than the fine silk rugs we saw along the route. Bright colors, beveled edges on the designs - very nice indeed.
We saw yak in Xining! They are soooo cute...I got to touch one!
Me on a yak.
(Photo courtesy Mike Magin.)
