Zhongdian Travel Forum

1) If someone has already visited Xining (and around) and/or Xiahe, would it be alright to skip Zhongdian, due to time constraints? Or is Zhongdian something sooooooo unmissable? If so, why?

2) How much time and money should we allow for a round-trip Zhongdian -- Feilai Si (the place to watch Meilixueshan sunrise) by vehicle hire? Or what if we do the round-trip from Deqin instead of Zhongdian? We only need to spend 1 night at Feilai Si. Driver and accommodation recommendations would be welcome.

If it makes any difference, we would be going in a group of 2-3 of us, in the 2nd half of January. We're native speakers of Mandarin Chinese.

In my opinion, Zhongdian is worth missing if you've already been to Xiahe.

Good luck

Thanks! :) That's what I more or less decided on as well, after getting some responses from another forum.
Still looking for answers to the other questions though...

Hi, ellyse. I have not been to Zhongdian. I hear the scenery is enchanting. Photos online show a fine monastery and great mountain scenery. I have been to Xining. The city is not exciting unless you like "Eat-with-hand mutton" which is the local signature dish. The monastery, Ta'er Si, is not very interesting to me as its surroundings are rather shabby. The Muslim Mansion Hotel is really a good deal. The rooms are in the class of Holiday Inn. The lobby marquee price is 240 but you can bargain down to 100RMB. To get to it, walk straight out from the railway station a couple of blocks and then ask. In some of the Tibetan villages to the south of Xining, you can sample the local culture. Most of QingHai Province was part of the old Tibet before 'liberation'. QingHai Lake is big and not very interesting to me. Even Bird Island left me flat -- 6 hours to it by bus, scenery is so-so.

XiaHe is my favorite photo location in China. In my view, it is a must for any visit to Gansu. I went there twice even though the 6 to 6 1/2 hour bus ride out from Lanzhou is torture. Try to get on with a tour bus as the driver of the regular bus doesn't like to stop for a poddy break! If you must take the regular bus, don't go back on the last bus because after dark, the driver will stop and pick up anyone and evryone, over-filling the bus far beyond police regulations or passengers comfort. Oh, but you want to hire a private car. Never mind.

The Tara Guest house is the best choice in XiaHe. Rooms are of several configurations and priced from 40-100 RMB. Beds are kang style. From the city bus station, walk toward LaBuLeng Si. At the end of the Han area, on the left is a hardware-candy-whatever store. The sign above reveals it is also the not-so-direct entrance to Tara Guesthouse.

One more thing. Across from Tara Guesthouse is Nomad Restaurant (second floor, enter from the side facing the drainage ditch). Very good lunch and dinner. For breakfast, walk ten steps further along the dirt track beside the drainage ditch and look for the blue windows. That hole-in-the-wall has very good breakfast, Tibetan bread (baked, not steamed like Han style) and honey. Yummy. You can sit in the back room with Tibetans on sofas if you want to mingle with the locals.

Ask the motor-trike taxis if they will take you out to the grassland to visit the home of a Tibetan family. It's worth the trip. The yoghurt is the best in the world. Don't mess it up with too much sugar. I'll pass on the barley-nutter mix (sampa).

Thanks, I've already come back from my trip. We only spent a couple of hours at Zhongdian, in between arriving from Kunming (by bus) and getting on another bus to Deqin.
Yup I've also already been to Xiahe and Xining, but thanks for all the information anyway. :) Hope it'll be of use to future travellers who might do a search/browse and come across the information!
Have been to a Tibetan "family visit" on the grasslands (in winter!) near Xiahe. Tsampa's not really my thing.
Have not been to Tibet Autonomous Region,although I've been to Greater Tibet in Gansu, Yunnan, Sichuan and Qinghai provinces. Have already been to Tiger Leaping Gorge on a previous trip so skipped it this time in favour of more exploring in the Meilixueshan area.