We had an early flight, but we were ridiculously early. My roommate set his alarm for 3:30 to make a 4:30 departure, and was ready in 15 mins. We were at the airport at 5:00 for a 7:30 domestic departure, so we ended up queuing up waiting for check in to open.
Got to the airport to find free wi-fi, and lots of spare time, but my camera card attachments were in my luggage so it was all wasted. Surprisingly the plane was full - it's so remote that I suppose the locals go anywhere they need to go to by plane. I was offered a 'chinese' or 'western' breakfast, and when it came the western breakfast had a large 'muslim' sticker on it, so I guess thatt the sausages were not pork.
Bit of a mix up when we arrived at Xining. The guide had a sign with the names of tomorrow's tour group on it instead of us, and we only connected because we were the last people left. The guide herded us onto the bus, and the driver took off down the freeway continuously answering her mobile phone with the 'Happy Birthday' ring tone. Talking on the mobile is thought to distract a driver, but in this case I don't think it made any difference. I'm pretty sure that lines on the road are meant to denote lanes you drive in, but here I think they are lines for the driver to drive along. Stopped in town for the driver to sort out all of the paperwork, right outside the 'Souvenirs Optional' shop, which was next to the 'Clothing Optional' shop.
Half way out to the monastery we pulled of the road into a local house for lunch. Really nice, except that the guide's noodles arrived over an hour after our vegetables, so it was a very protracted affair.
More useless Chinese road signs - how about the freeway sign imploring you to leave 200 metres between cars.
Spent the afternoon at the Ta'er temple and monastery. It's supposedly the most holy of all Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, with about 9 or so temples in the grounds, and lots of buddhas, each of which our guide had to explain in detail. Very interesting, but there is only so much information that you can take in about the ten or so Dalai Lamas and their teachers before your eyes glaze over. The monastery specialty is Yak Butter Sculptures, which are then painted. Very clever, and quite unique, though it's a bit of a disaster if the refrigeration ever goes off. Lots of monks roaring around in brand new VW's, whipping mobile phones out of their robes when they rang. Guess they are excluded from the list of materialistic things in Tibetan Buddhism.
A couple of interesting facts distilled from it all. The Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama and the Karmapa Lama all came from this district; and the Yellow, the Yangtze, and the Mekong Rivers all have their source here. Finally got to the hotel about tea time. Rather tired. No internet, no wi-fi, kind of a restaurant which wasn't actually open and had no English menus, a non-functioning business centre, and no shops close by meant that it wasn't really the greatest place to be, but a bed is a bed.
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