Tongren

Introduction

Tongren, called Rebgong by Tibetans, sits in the historic Amdo region and serves as the capital of Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, China. It is the second smallest administrative subdivision in the prefecture by area, so you can think of it as a compact base for exploring this part of the Tibetan plateau.

Before you go

Tongren sits on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, in the region historically known to its nomadic inhabitants as Amdo. The town grew up around the Longwu Monastery several hundred years ago, and under the Ming dynasty it developed an administrative system that blended Buddhism with Chinese dynastic rule. Set your expectations accordingly: this is a place with a long religious history rather than a polished historic centre, and much of the surrounding town is given over to modern, bland architecture, with the old charm surviving only in a few crumbling corners.

Most travellers come for the nearby Wutong Monastery, whose community of monks is known for its Thangka painting galleries. The Cultural Revolution destroyed almost all of the original structures, but the renewed monastery is active, with monks chanting before glittering Buddhas, so plan your visit around seeing it rather than the town itself. Bring modest dress for monastery visits, and expect to spend your time on foot between the sights.

Getting there

Tongren is reached by a single road that zig-zags along steep mountain sides, drops into precipitous valley floors, skirts rushing rivers and crosses rolling green grasslands. The journey in is one of the most beautiful in the region, and it will keep you awake and looking out the window.

If you have time to spare, you can break the trip at any of the many monasteries and mosques along the route, including a former residence of the Panchen Lama. When you are ready to move on, return to the road and put your hand out — all roads lead to Tongren. Foreigners are a rare sight at these places, so the monks are liable to be startled by your arrival, which makes for a genuine experience.

• From Xining: Buses leave roughly every 30 minutes from the southern bus station on Jianguo Lu, opposite the train station. The ride takes about 4 hours. Drivers who gather at the Jiari Hotel (假日宾馆) can also take you to Xining in about 2 hours; they leave once they have four passengers and can drop you at your hotel.
• From Xiahe: Two buses a day leave from Xiahe main bus station. The trip is stunning and takes about 2 hours.
• From Linxia: One bus leaves for Tongren from the west bus station. The ride takes about 4 hours.

Getting around

The central districts of Tongren are compact and flat, so walking between key points downtown is entirely practical, and on foot you'll get the most out of the streets and markets. The city bus network fills in the rest, with routes covering most main buildings and avenues; note that route maps and signage are usually in Chinese only, so a translation app with photo and voice functions is genuinely useful. Mobile payment is the norm, with Alipay and WeChat Pay widely accepted, though international cards are not taken everywhere, so carry some cash for small purchases. For the outlying sights and county towns, walking from the centre isn't an option — use buses, taxis or the train instead.

• Taxis are cheap and plentiful, with low metered fares; circling the city centre costs only a few yuan. For trips out to Yuping or Jiangkou counties, drivers typically charge a per-passenger rate and wait until the car is full before departing, so allow for waiting time.
• Chinese car-hailing apps, integrated with mobile payment, are the most convenient way to get around and sidestep the language barrier of explaining a destination. For longer private transfers, agree the fare in advance or stick to official apps, and avoid unlicensed drivers who approach you at stations and attractions.
• Several bus lines serve Tongren Railway Station, making the bus a cheap link between the station and downtown. Be aware that Tongren South Railway Station, used by high-speed services, is out in Yuping County rather than the city centre, so plan onward transport and extra time if your train uses it.
• Long-distance coaches run from the city's various bus stations to neighbouring cities such as Huaihua and Kaili, and toward Guiyang, Zunyi and destinations in Hunan. For reaching Tongren from Guiyang, train or plane is generally recommended over bus, since buses take considerably longer for only a modest saving.
• Tongren Fenghuang Airport lies northeast of downtown in Songtao County. An inexpensive airport shuttle reaches downtown in under half an hour, city bus line 20 also serves the airport with a longer journey, and taxis are the quicker, more flexible choice.

Tongren has a humid subtropical climate with frequent rain, so carry a raincoat or umbrella, and non-slip shoes are advisable if you're heading to mountain sites like Fanjingshan. Carry your passport at all times — it's your ID for train tickets and hotel check-in — and set up Alipay or WeChat Pay before you arrive, since it's the default payment method for transport, taxis and most purchases.

Where to stay

Most of Tongren's sleeping options cluster around the monastery and along the main commercial streets. In the few blocks north of the monastery you'll find plenty of cheap binguan, though many are selective about accepting foreigners; expect basic bathroom facilities, possible early curfews, and a very low price per bed. For more comfort and a better chance of English-speaking staff, head to the bigger hotels along Zhongshan Lu and Dehelong Nan Lu, where you pay accordingly more.

• On Maixi Road, in a courtyard with a painting of a monkey riding an elephant, a super-basic place suits travellers counting their kuai who don't mind sleeping among families of Tibetan pilgrims; rooms are sparse but clean, with a shared toilet down the hall and no shower.
• The Huangnan Hotel on Zhongshan Road is usually where guidebook-toting travellers head first after stepping off the bus; worn furnishings, gloomy interiors and dirty toilets may send you elsewhere, but soft beds, thick blankets and strong heating make for a comfortable night once the lights are out.
• The School Guesthouse on Zhongshan Road, the choice of visiting officials, offers huge wooden beds in spacious, clean rooms, though the bathrooms are tiny and strictly utilitarian.
• The QH-Tibet Yadu Hotel on Dehelong Nan Road has classy gold wallpaper in the foyer, big warm rooms with soft beds and clean ensuite bathrooms with hot-water showers, and friendly, helpful staff.
• For a splurge, the Telecom Hotel on Zhongshan Road provides comfortable but characterless rooms, spotless bathrooms and in-room internet.

Food & drink

Dining in Tongren isn't especially varied, but the town's restaurants make up for it with warm welcomes, generous portions and plenty of people-watching. For a local snack with a drink, try dried sheep's head, a curiosity favoured by residents: it's mostly bone on the outside, so you probe the cavities for the tasty bits, and roadside vendors selling them will assure you it's delicious. Yak milk yoghurt is made fresh each morning and sold along the roadside, usually by young Tibetan girls; the flavour is rich with a tangy, sometimes citrus bite, and you can add a spoon of sugar if you prefer it sweeter.

• Number One Noodle (8 MaiXiu Lu, on the corner; look for a sign with red characters against a snowy mountain) — the proprietors are very welcoming to foreigners sticking their head inside, and helpful point-and-eat pictures on the wall mostly give prices. Check before ordering any dish without one, or you may find it suspiciously expensive at bill-paying time.
• The name-changing Hui restaurant (Dehelong Zhong Lu, opposite the QH-Tibet Yadu Hotel) — easily identified as the most brightly lit place at night. Servings are huge, the dishes are the usual capsicum-laden Hui fare, and the mianpian looks like a mess but is filling and good.
• A Tibetan restaurant (Dehelong Nan Lu, near the monastery gate) — a newish-looking place packed with low, painted Tibetan-style benches, serving only momo, jiaozi and baozi. The momo are delectable but heavy with fat, so you may want a jug of yak butter tea to follow.

For a drink, Qinghai's beer of choice is Huang, which comes in various incarnations of modest strength; if a shelf-temperature bottle from the supermarket in your room isn't your idea of a night out, try the Tibetan restaurants, though your drink is unlikely to be any colder. Drinking isn't permissible at the Hui restaurants. Most Tibetan places serve jugs of frothy yak butter tea if some is already made, and since quality varies widely, it pays to try a few different places.

What to see and do

Longwu Monastery is the anchor of any visit, an active Gelukpa complex spread around the foot of Xishan Mountain on the south-west edge of town. Behind walls set with squeaking prayer wheels, Chinese and Tibetan styles mingle across halls and monks' residences, and it is easy to lose a few hours wandering. The monastery was founded in the early fourteenth century and greatly expanded under the Ming, though everything standing today was rebuilt in the late 1980s after the Cultural Revolution; the present state of upkeep gives the architecture a weathered character of its own. Look for the Future Buddha Hall, which holds a large Jampa statue in an elaborately decorated three-storey building, and the fortress-like Hall of Bodhisattva Manjusri.

• Head about 10 km north to Wutong Monastery in Sangkeshan Village, known across the Tibetan world for its centuries-old thangka paintings and the resident artists still working in the tradition. The complex splits into upper and lower monasteries, each with prayer halls, courtyards and studios; some halls hold thangkas monks say are several hundred years old, saved during the Cultural Revolution by being turned to the wall and given a decoy portrait of Chairman Mao on the back. Note that women are not allowed to enter during the summer months.
• Walk out to Tongren Bridge at the east end of Zhongshan Road, the town's most significant structure, which gives a good view up the valley and back toward town.
• Make your own fun: locals gather at the corner of Dehelong Nan Lu and MaiXiu Lu for a three-card-style dice game played with oversize dice painted with tigers, yaks and cows.
• Hike the western hills rising beside town. A network of trails leading off from the thangka sunning terrace behind the monastery is a good starting point, climbing mellow slopes high enough for views of distant snow-capped mountains.

When to go

Tongren has a mid-subtropical monsoon climate with four distinct seasons, so what you pack depends heavily on when you visit. Spring brings swinging temperatures and frequent drizzle, with plenty of damp, grey days rather than steady warmth — bring layers and rain gear. Summer is hot and sunny, and July is the hottest month, so plan outdoor sightseeing around the heat and take sun protection seriously. Autumn cools quickly and turns cloudy and rainy, so be ready for cool, wet conditions that arrive fast as the season progresses.

Winter is relatively mild, with a long frost-free period and January the coldest month, making it a manageable season for a visit — though cold spells still call for warm clothing. Across the year, the damp, changeable spring and autumn weather means you should always have rain gear within reach.

Three days in Tongren

Day one: Start in Tongren itself, the small town at the heart of this Tibetan region of Qinghai, and get your bearings along Jianguo Lu, where you can arrange transport and change money via Mobile, Alipay or WeChat Pay. Tongren is also known as Rebgong, and it is the main base for exploring the surrounding monasteries. Settle into the Jiari Hotel, then spend the afternoon acclimatising gently and sampling the town's Tibetan and Chinese food.

• Base yourself in Tongren (Rebgong) and use Jianguo Lu for practical errands
• Jiari Hotel is the obvious place to stay

Day two: Give the day to Longwu Monastery, the great Ming-era centre of Buddhism in this part of Amdo, where you can watch monks at work and see thangka painting. Most visitors find the monastery the highlight of the region. If you are interested in thangka, ask about workshops in town, where painters still practise the craft that survived the Cultural Revolution.

• Longwu Monastery: the main monastic site, with thangka painting to see
• Look for thangka workshops in Tongren

Day three: Head out to Wutong Monastery, a smaller and quieter site in the surrounding hills, and take your time over the walk and the Buddhas and chapels there. Bring cash for local purchases. When you are ready to move on, buses run from Xining, and drivers can also take you onward from Xiahe or Linxia; foreigners should carry their passport. If you are travelling further into Qinghai, Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is the wider region to explore.

• Wutong Monastery: a quieter half-day trip from Tongren
• Onward transport: buses from Xining, or drivers from Xiahe and Linxia