Cycling The Silk Road In China – Linxia- A Muslim Tomb and a Peony Festival

We woke up in the town of Linxia, which is mostly populated with Uyghur people.

We went to see the Peony flower festival.
It was a beautiful annual festival, filled with smiling people, all who came to admire these large blooming flowers.

It was an amazing opportunity to do some ‘people watching’.
We saw old men with long beards, or gold rimmed huge round eye glasses, and old ladies with beautifully lined faces and head scarves.

We were just as exotic to them, as they were to us.
People asked to take my photos on every corner, or to take their pictures, standing beside me.

I’ve noticed that we are the ONLY Foreigners, or non Chinese persons around for days now.

We ate breakfast in a tiny hole in the wall, along the main road.
I ordered noodles with fresh forest mushrooms. It was yummy.

We went to see the ancient muslim tombs, up the hill from the town.
The attendants welcomed us with a smile and an invitation for tea.

One of them took us to a grand room which is kept closed.
In it, there were three delicately carved coffins, which houses the remains of the bodies of past rulers of this regions.
Some ruled more than 500 years ago.
The room had an amazing old silk carpet, with beautiful motifs and patterns.

After we took the obligatory group photos, we went towards the dam to catch a boat to see the 1000 Buddhas Grotto in Bing Ling Shiku.