Four weeks on the road, still rolling strong! The flaming mountains of Zhangye are a lot nicer at daylight without he kitschy night illumination. Spent the whole morning in the park before the bigger crowds came in and the sun became too strong. Headed for Jiayuguan after a stop at the reclining Buddha in the Dafo Temple.
From Qinghai back to Gansu altitudes are becoming more nrmal again with ~1.700m, still I had to cross a pass with ~3.700m. Short after sunset I finally reached the Zhangye Danxia Landform, the famous so-called rainbow mountains which I will explore tomorrow.
Started a bit late after e-mailing several people to finally obtain the customs documents for my car. Heading for Caka Salt Lake I feared driving there in vain. Besides knowing that I was going there off-season I was also driving through snowfall and mist. But It all was worth the drive with some beautiful scenery and light, so I returned happily despite an extra 1.5 hr traffic jam from a major construction site...
Spent the morning at the famous Labrang Monastery. Decided to go for the unguided visit and explored only the freely accessible parts which is still a lot to see. With some rain coming in in the early afternoon I left for Xining in Qinhai province.
Today we have snow and rain! Found my car covered in white fluff this morning, and while it kept coming from above it slowly turned into rain. Thus, Langmusi Si monastery was less inviting than I had hoped for and I decided to move on to Xiahe where I’ll visit Labrang monastery tomorrow.
