Two and a half days in Xining

On this trip to Tibet, I will fly to Xining first, and then take the train from Xining to Lhasa.

August 1, the plane from Qingdao to Xining at 6: 25, 1 1: 25 arrived at Caojiabao Airport in Xining and booked a hotel at Xinning Road.

We took the airport bus from the airport and got off at Xining Central Square. After searching the navigation, I knew it was not far from the city express hotel, but I really didn't want to go, so I took a taxi. The driver dragged us along a road similar to Qingdao Expressway. After a while, I felt something was wrong, so I reminded the driver that it was not that far. The driver asked which express hotel you were going to. When we told him, he said he thought we were going to an express hotel on some road. After explanation, the driver turned around and came back. I wonder if there are any express hotels on the road in Xining. I thought about turning on the navigation if I took a taxi in the future, but I never did. I don't think I trust drivers.

Stay in an express hotel and come out for lunch. Ask the waiter at the front desk. The waiter introduced a restaurant near China Construction Bank, saying that its beef noodles are the best. I'll eat. After the beef noodles were served, there was no beef. I asked, is this beef noodles? Where is the beef? The waiter said he wanted to see the bottom. I didn't find the bottom, and I was a little unhappy. The waiter went in and put two or three small diced meat into my bowl with a spoon. After eating two or three bites, I got up and went to the counter to ask if I wanted to buy beef separately. It turns out that this is true. Meat is meat, and noodles are noodles. Meat needs to be bought separately (the same is true for eating beef noodles in Lanzhou on the return trip). So I bought another beef and thought, why not explain it to me? After all, not all tourists know that noodles without meat should not be called beef noodles.

I chose the City Express Hotel because it is close to the provincial museum. My plan is to visit the Qinghai Provincial Museum in the afternoon. I am no stranger to the scenic spots in Qinghai. Ta 'er Temple and Qinghai Lake were visited more than ten years ago. I passed through Xining this time and wanted to visit Xining. As a result of Baidu, Xining really has nothing to see. Once Baidu actually said which hill to go to see the night view of Xining at night, which is not very attractive to people who have seen the night view of Qingdao and Shanghai.

According to my sense of orientation, I can reach Xinning Square less than 200 meters south from the Express Hotel, and the Qinghai Provincial Museum is on the east side of Xinning Square. This is the only place where I think I might gain something by staying in Xining. However, the museum is closed. I walked around the huge museum, thinking that the west gate does not open the north gate, the north gate does not open the east gate, and the east gate does not open the south gate. However, no door is open, only one or two people like construction workers are walking around the south gate. I visited this scenic spot through Baidu in advance, and wrote in a Baidu content on June 9, 20 19: "The Qinghai Provincial Museum is under maintenance, and the specific opening time has not yet been determined." I don't know when to start closing for maintenance. I didn't expect this Baidu content to be maintained one year and two months later!

I'm disappointed.

Near the museum is the Qinghai Provincial Art Museum. You can't see the museum. Let's visit the art museum. The architecture of the art museum is slightly shorter than the surrounding buildings, showing its unique artistic style. The billboards around are still 20 19, as if the time is still stagnant at 20 19. Art, often a symbol of modern culture, can not see the shortcomings of museums, and may be made up in art galleries. After checking the ID card, health code, mask and other procedures, I got the ticket and entered the Qinghai Provincial Art Museum. Facing us is the achievement exhibition of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Qinghai, which is the biggest exhibition in the whole art museum. After reading it, I want to see some works of art. On the upstairs floors, I saw the new Qinghai Spiritual Highland Theme Education Exhibition Hall. I feel refreshed when I see the guide board of the artist's corner. I think this is where Van Gogh chats with my artist friend Jia. I didn't know until I got closer. Is this probably a place to sell drinks or a dummy? The corner of the artist separated by two black lines is empty. In a small room on the third floor, several paintings were finally exhibited, mostly landscape paintings, with uneven levels and little attention paid to mounting. This is a proof of an art gallery.

I called my colleague Cui Dong and asked if there were any interesting places in Xining and places like Xi 'an Huimin Snack Street. Cui Dong is the second generation of Qing (Qinghai), and his father was an educated youth who went to Golmud, Qingdao in the 1960s. He recommended several places, saying they were famous and had surnames. We went to the most famous Mojia Street. Mojia Street is very wide and has no charm of "small" snack street. Moreover, shops are sparse and there are not many tourists. There is only one busy place, Ma Zhong Hotel, which seems to be the only one in the whole street. I lined up to buy stuffing, asked for a few more, and sat down to eat. It is also planned to appreciate the folk customs of Xining. Unfortunately, I just didn't feel the bustling atmosphere of the market.

The train to Lhasa is August 2nd 13: 50. In other words, there is still half a day to spend in Xining tomorrow. Where are you going? Dongguan Mosque is one of the great mosques in the northwest of China, which can be visited. Ma Bufang Mansion is something special. I want to have a look. After seeing these two places, have lunch, and then rush to the railway station, calmly.

The next morning, I went to the mosque first. I saw two upright minarets in the distance. I walked into Dongguan Street with great interest and found the gate of the mosque, but it was closed. Next door is a shop selling local specialties. I asked the shopkeeper if he didn't open the door, so I looked into the mosque through the glass doors and windows in the shop, but I couldn't see anything vaguely. The Great Muslim Temple was built in the Ming Dynasty, and has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. It was once closed during the Cultural Revolution, and was later called "Working People's Cultural Palace in Chengdong District of Xining City". 1979 reopened. In 20 12, 300,000 Muslims prayed at the same time. Regarding the cause of the epidemic, I can't see it this time.

An unexpected harvest is Dongguan Street! I'm complaining that I haven't seen the streets and lanes that truly reflect the customs of Qinghai, but I don't want it hidden here. There are many commercial shops on both sides of the street, and there are all kinds of groceries such as pasta, snacks, beef tendon and mutton tendon that highlight the characteristics of the Hui nationality. Middle-aged women wearing black headscarves and old people with white beards sitting by the temple wall to enjoy the cool are bright and comfortable colors in this scene. Entering Xining, just like entering many cities, seeing high-rise buildings makes people lose interest in the city instantly. Dongguan Street is struggling to resist the vigorous development of real estate.

Go east along Dongguan Street, and then go north along Hehe Road. On the right side of the road, there is a road that is not wide, which is Weimin Lane. Walking in is the last place you want to see when you pass through Xining-Xinlu, Ma Bufang Mansion.

You can tell it's Ma Bufang Mansion from a distance across the mansion door, because there is a long, thick and high wall beside the road. Before I got to the door, I saw a stone tablet that read: New Road, a provincial cultural relics protection unit in Qinghai Province, 1986 was established by the Qinghai Provincial People's Government on May 27th. When I walked to the door, I found two wooden signs, which read Qinghai Xinlu Cultural Relics Management Office and Qinghai B&B Museum. Look at the window next to the fare. I began to wonder if I wanted to buy a ticket, but there was no one at the toll booth. We walked straight into the yard. There are about five or six tourists in the yard, talking at the gate of Ma Bufang's former residence. Why not let them in? It turned out that this scenic spot marked as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit was not open. A huge willow tree in front of the mansion shows its antiquity and majesty. The two gates of the mansion are not tightly closed, so they can be staggered by a gap. Two children are trying to get in through this gap. We walked a few steps back and forth in the yard, looked at the remaining earth wall on the east side, and then went back the same way. A youth hostel by the roadside, I went in to have a look. I rented some antique houses in Ma Bufang Mansion, so I got a glimpse of the mansion.

I didn't know the name Ma Bufang before, but I went to Xining this time to know that he was an important figure in the northwest during the Republic of China. He besieged the Red Army, took part in the civil war, and later served as the ambassador of Taiwan Province Province to Saudi Arabia. Ma Bufang House was designated as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit on 1986, and was rated as a national AAAA tourist attraction in 2007, but the scenic spot was delisted on 20 16 and 12. Ma Bufang Mansion is the best preserved building in Qinghai Province during the Republic of China, and it is also the only mansion built with jade in China. It is a pity that it can't be visited because of its high historical relics value and rich local ethnic and cultural characteristics. In Xining, I met nails all the way. I don't know whether they are all related to the epidemic, but I am sure that the closure of Xinlu has nothing to do with it.

In the afternoon, I boarded the train to Lhasa and bid farewell to Xining.