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)
 
 

Here are some photos of the places we visited on a three-day trip to neighboring Shănxī (陕西) province (spelled Shaanxi in pinyin, to distinguish it from Shānxī 山西 province).


Dāngjiācūn (党家村) 

 
XIAHE REOPENS? 10/18/2008
 

Due to the riots in march, for the past several months travel to Xiàhé (夏河) Tibetan Autonomous County in south Gansu has been restricted for foreign visitors. Those who did manage to slip in found they had nowhere to stay. Even foreigners with residency there found travelling around almost impossible.

Well, after reading a few online reports that restrictions had just been lifted (and the Labrang Monastery resuming allowing foreigners to join their tours) I phoned the south bus station to get more information. I was told that foreigners could indeed now travel into the area, as long as they provide photocopies of passport and visa when they buy the bus tickets. 

I'll keep looking out for any reports that might verify this. 

South Bus Station
Bus times: 07:30; 08:30; 09:30; 14:30
Tickets: 49.5 yuan

Here are some recordings and photos I made on my last trip there in 2007:

 
 

DUNHUANG
From Xining we returned to Lanzhou, and took the N857 overnight train to Dunhuang.

 
 

We hired a driver through Tibetan Connections, and drove around Qinghai Lake for a couple of days...

 
 

One of the advantages of being based in Lanzhou, is that China's 'remote' northwest is actually pretty close by.

Xīníng (西宁), capital of Qinghai Province, to Gansu's west, is around 3 hours away by train (50 yuan, soft seat).

We left on the 7.42am train, and by lunchtime had checked into our hostel.

We spent the afternoon at Tă'ĕr Sì (塔尔寺), the Tibetan monastery nearby, by taxi (45 yuan each way).