The Road to Lanzhou

Lanzhou was listed as one of the five worst cities IN THE WORLD for air pollution on another travel website. In the mornings you could see where smog hung thick near the mountains; however, the Chinese were busy blowing out the mountain to release the smog into the Gobi. Beyond this, Lanzhou was a beautiful, friendly city, and it produced our beautiful daughter.

Quick Tips:

I knew two phrases in Chinese before going, one for “cold beer” and one for “men's restroom.” There was no problem communicating with the locals, as long as we weren't trying to share philosophies of life. Shopping at the mega mall was a new experience: You show the salesperson what you want and he or she takes it to the register for you after giving you a slip of paper.

Best Way To Get Around:

Be careful crossing streets and roads! As our guide told us, "The traffic police officer is only there to mess things up."

A long marble floor lobby greets you as you step into the JJ Sun. On the second floor is a large restaurant/bar. The rooms are standard-sized rooms with narrow twin beds. Our room looked out behind the hotel where we could watch locals stroll or play board games. Every morning at roughly 8am, the Workers Song was piped throughout the city. It was repeated at lunch and then to signal the end of the workday.

I honestly wish that I knew where it was in Lanzhou and what it was called. Cindy, our Chinese guide, took the 13 families here one night for our routine family-style meals. Large tables with Lazy Susan’s filled with local fares. The best were these thin, spicy sesame-crusted chicken twists fried in oil. Those and a cold beer made the meal for me. I also overindulged in steamed buns and pork sandwiches.

Her social welfare institute/orphanage was near Lanzhou, up near the Gobi Desert. The airport is an hour by bus up in the mountains, and the city of 2 million rests in a valley by the Yellow River. Lanzhou surprised this big-nose Westerner; I was used to seeing desolate areas of China in books and magazines. Lanzhou was huge and modern, and had many American companies staking claims in it.

Westerners are a rare sight in Lanzhou, so it wasn't uncommon after we adopted groups to gather around us out of curiosity. Likewise, there were many interesting sights for us to ponder, such as the sidewalk tailors.

The people of Lanzhou are very proud of Water Wheel Park. It is a large wooden water wheel that turns in the current of the Yellow River. While we were there, Muslim men gave some of the group rides on sheepskin rafts attached to a thick rope. The rafts are actually built on top if the inflated carcasses of sheep. Our guide, Steede, told us that people carry the rafts and just jump on them to get carried down river to wherever they want to go.