The Yellow River 'Stone Forest' (黄河石林 Huánghé Shílín) is 145km north of Lanzhou (map). Take a bus to Báiyín (白银) from the East Bus Station, then change to a local bus, or negotiate a taxi (we paid Y120). Local farmers have rooms available for overnight stays. Trivia: Some scenes from the soon-to-be-released Mulan (花木兰) were filmed there (trailer). We were there on a very overcast weekend, so I put some black and white film in my camera. Here are some more colourful pictures. 
 
LINXIA SLIDESHOW 09/14/2009
 
Línxià (临夏) is around 2 hours south of Lanzhou, on the way to Xiàhé (夏河). Buses from the South Bus Station, see map. 
 
 
Bǐnglíng Sì (炳灵寺) is quite an adventurous stop-off on the route to or from Linxia and Xiahe. See map. It's a bit of a hassle to reach from Lanzhou (the west bus station only allows foreigners on the midday bus to Liújiāxiá 刘家峡), so you  better off doing it when traveling from Linxia to Lanzhou.
 
 
Píngliáng (平凉) is 5-6 hours east of Lanzhou (see map). Well-known in Gansu as a Hui muslim town, it is most famous for the Kōngtóng Shān (崆峒山) mountain. Buses depart from Lanzhou's East Bus Station. 
 
 
Tiānshuǐ (天水) is 3-4 hours southeast of Lanzhou by train, towards Xi'an.  You can see the locations of the following pictures on this map.

The slideshow includes: 
  1. Fúxī Miào Temple (伏羲庙)
  2. Xiānrén'àn Nature Spot (仙人岸), which is close by to Maijishan. There are some nice walks through the hills, which take you by some interesting temples under the overhanging sandstone cliffs. 
  3. Màijīshān Shíkū Buddhist Grottoes (麦积山石窟)
 
 
There is a small selection of imported foreign novels in the newly-opened 'Cubism' bookshop (书立方 shū lìfāng) in Anning District. 5 mins walk south of Jiaotong University, going towards the river, on the NW corner of the crossroads. See map. 2nd floor, Y40-80. For more bookshops, see here.

Anning District slideshow: