Saturday June 9, 2012

Today Namnang, his friend and I visited Kumbum Monastery (or Ta’er in Chinese), which is just outside of Xining. It’s a really big tourist spot, and I even saw some Americans. There was a huge weekend crowd, and I felt like I became part of the tourist attraction because during the time we were there about ten people asked to take a photo with me.

There are many buildings there and they date from the 1500s. I took pictures where I could since they weren’t allowed in some areas, especially the most beautiful interiors. They were doing lots of work around the area, paving and painting and rebuilding some parts. I loved all the colors used for painting and the fabrics. Everything is decorated. Inside each building there are lots of butter lamps and incense burning and it smells really wonderful.

 

 

 In the afternoon, we went to the Tibetan Medicine Museum of China and the Qinghai Natural History Museum. The museums are really impressive and must have been very expensive, so I was amazed how few people there were on a Saturday.

 After that, I met with Yixi Dolma downtown and met her brothers and a few friends for a drink down by the river. We walked Central Square and went to the shops, and got a sweet potato and corn cob which are really popular snacks here. I've eaten so many potatoes here! Later in the evening, we met some of her friends. There was a singing competition on the outdoor stage along with fireworks which was really enjoyable, despite the enormous number of people. We couldn't actually see the people on stage, but they were on a big screen as well.