So this is what Xining is really like, it's a pity to just use it as a transit station

Summer capital on the plateau📍Xining should never be just a fleeting glance as a transit or starting station of the big loop. It's beautiful and delicious, and deserves a couple of days for you to savor carefully. Arriving at noon, the City Tour itinerary is set up as follows: 📍Tibetan Culture Museum ⬇️ 📍Nanguan Mosque ⬇️ 📍Dongguan Grand Mosque ⬇️ 📍Xiaonanguan Market A last-minute reservation failed to secure a visit to the Qinghai Museum (make sure to book in advance! Book in advance! Book in advance! Important things must be said three times ) Heading for the Guinness World Record Thangka, we moved on to📍Tibetan Culture Museum. The adult ticket is 60, and the child ticket is half price. You can see several other Tibetan culture-related exhibitions besides the Thangka, and the cost-performance ratio is quite OK. It's recommended to start from the fourth floor with the Guinness Record Thangka. The Thangka, created by 400 painters over more than four years, comprehensively displays the development of the Tibetan nation from perspectives of mythology, history, politics, religion, etc. As the hundreds of meters long scroll unfolds, the exquisite craftsmanship fully reveals the history of the Tibetan nation's development, which is breathtaking! After the Thangka, you can go down the spiral staircase to see permanent galleries themed around 'The Silk Road' and 'Tibetan Plateau Civilization', including Tibetan architecture, calligraphy, costumes, and carpet craftsmanship. Plus, the North Hall Tibetan Medicine Museum is free to visit, and it also takes a good half day to see everything in detail. We were keen on visiting the two mosques, so we had to leave in a hurry in the evening. 🕌Nanguan Mosque is located at No. 23 South Xiao Street in the Chengdong District, within walking distance from our hotel. It can be said that the mosque🕌 is deeply integrated into the marrow of this city: the believers' daily prayers are solemn and serious, yet the square outside the prayer hall is a place where citizens pass the time and children play freely. 🕌Dongguan Grand Mosque is located at No. 34 Dongguan Street in the Chengdong District. From Nanguan Mosque, you can walk🚶to Xiaonanguan Market, the entrance is right on the main street of the market. With over 600 years of history, it is the largest and oldest mosque in Qinghai, and one of the four great mosques in the northwest. It is a sacred Islamic site for holding holy ceremonies and studying sacred Islamic scriptures. Besides its religious status, the mosque itself is a magnificent architectural complex that blends traditional Chinese style with Islamic classic features. The architecture is beautiful, and the order inside is well-organized. When visiting and taking photos, be careful not to disturb the believers in prayer and study, and do not wear shorts🩳, skirts👗, or revealing clothes. After visiting Dongguan Grand Mosque, it's recommended to stroll around📍Xiaonanguan Market. This is also a century-old street. The hundred-meter-long street gathers Hui Muslim flavor food and ingredients, from Qinghai specialty snacks like niangpi, handmade yogurt, and lamb raft, to zongzi, sweet fermented rice, colorful seasonal fruits, and seasoning powders, as if you've entered a sea of colors. In the twilight's glow, a layer of faint gold dust is plated on the dazzling array of colors. Yak old yogurt is sold from five yuan at the storefront to three yuan at the street stalls. For two yuan in the tea shops, you can get a big bowl of sweet fermented rice, which is also a rewarding way to eat when sprinkled on yogurt. The street is crowded with local customers coming and going, but the vendors are not aggressively hawking their wares, and the alleys of the market are not vulgar. Wandering among them, one feels relaxed and happy. Staying in the old city area, these attractions are all within walking distance. 🍴Food recommendations: 1️⃣Qingzhen·Dexiao Kao Meat Shop: Their lamb stew pot is really unique! The crispy and tender lamb paired with crispy and soft potato🥔 chunks and sticky sweet potato noodles, you'll be reluctant to put down your chopsticks🥢 even after leaning against the wall. 2️⃣Huaxin Firecracker Barbecue Noodle Restaurant: A restaurant recommended by locals, the firecracker noodles are super flavorful, and the barbecue is also very fragrant. Located at the intersection of Xiadu Street and Gonghe Road, it's very comfortable to sit outside for dinner, and the cost-performance ratio is extremely high! 3️⃣Qingzhen Cunshou Beef Offal Shop📍No. 11 Huayuan South Street Next to the hotel, we stumbled upon the non-material cultural heritage🥢Qingzhen Cunshou Beef Offal Shop. This neighborhood shop, which has been open for over thirty years, has a strong sense of affection among the diners. Seeing that we were tourists, they enthusiastically introduced us to how to order and how to eat. On a cold morning, soaking naan bread in hot soup, a big bowl of it warms both the stomach and the heart. 🏠Accommodation: It's recommended to stay in the old city area, close to the city attractions and convenient for walking. The cost-performance ratio of accommodation in Xining is very good, chain hotels provide nice services, and usually, you get old yogurt for free when you check in. I'm Ashley, who loves traveling✈️ and photography📷. In the next article, I'll share the second stop on the loop after departing from Xining: the secret realm of Qilian⛰️.