Lanzhou Danxia Landform, Yellow River, and Bingling Temple, 2017/12
See a set of 32 photos from a trip based out of Lanzhou—Danxia landforms, the Yellow River Stone Forest, Bingling Temple, and more.
The Yellow River runs through Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, and the river’s fertile floodplains mean that the area has been inhabited for millenia. There's a lot to look at in the area: natural landforms and scenery as well as human history. On this trip during the New Year holiday we checked out some of the sites around Lanzhou.
On the first day we started off with a tour of the Gansu Provincial Museum, a great way to get an overview of the long history of the area.
On the second day we drove out to the Yellow River Stone Forest, a massive canyon in the cliffs beside the river. Our transportation plan was rather comprehensive: we drove as close as we could, boarded rafts that floated on inflated sheepskins, hiked two hours into the canyon, and then rode out on donkey carts. Wow!
We woke up early on the last day to travel to Bingling Temple, a 1600-year-old site with cliff caves and a stone forest. On the way back we stopped for a hike at the Lanzhou Danxia Landform, very similar to the more famous Zhangye Danxia Landform.
Photos below!