Day Seven: Visiting the White Pagoda

This morning everyone was loaded onto a bus for our first sightseeing as part of the group. This coach was much more comfortable than those taken around the city discussed earlier! We were taken to several places in the course of the day, the first was a park in the rapidly developing Anning District. Cranes reach into the sky as numerous new buildings are developed to attract further investors into the burgeoning Lanzhou economy. This green and tranquil park, largely walking tracks over ponds, is in amongst all of this development and we were told that most of it has sprung up in the last two years.

Our next destination was the White Pagoda Mountain. En route were many more spectacular sights. Again, many new buildings were passed, amazingly looking like clones of one another, not only side-by-side, but many blocks deep also. Lanzhou is definitely growing, and quickly.

We arrived at the Yellow River Iron Bridge and proceeded into the White Pagoda Park. This stretches up the mountain and many fantastic views can be seen along the ascent to the White Pagoda. Looking down was the Yellow River and Lanzhou City, looking up provided insight into the climb ahead with many terraces and brightly coloured pagodas along the way. At various intervals were fantastic brick carvings and murals. Near the top was a shrine to Buddha, resplendent with flowers, candles, charms and incense. Through here lead to a final terrace on which the White Pagoda presides with two of the three original 'Treasures': The Drum of Elephant Skin, and The Bronze Bell. Sadly, the third treasure, The Chinese Redbud tree, whithered away years ago. Never-the-less, the White Pagoda Park is a must-visit.

Also seen in the park was this Tibetan violin/fiddle player: