I had already committed to meeting up with a friendly front desk clerk from my Linxia hotel. He he wanted me to try local specialty mutton. In American English “mutton” seems such an ugly word, and conjures up thoughts of terrible British food.
He told me he was taking me because he wanted to practice his English. But I think it was actually that he was a very nice guy.
After I had gotten back to the hotel (he was off today) I texted him to see what time he wanted to eat.
What I was thinking was that there were a couple sights I wanted to see. And if he was going to be delayed I’d go see them first.
But, he said hey, he’d like to go see those places too.

We went to the first on my list, which was the oldest mosque in the city. We arrived and I was asking him about the history of the mosque, when a young guy nearby inserted himself into the conversation.
The new guy (Ali) spike English pretty well (better than my new friend Junhua from the hotel) and we all decided to visit the places together.
Ali is Muslim and spoke to an old guy with a big beard to help get info.

After learning a bit about this mosque we went in to a Daoist temple and then a Sufi mosque. Ali was great and explained some things about the difference between Sufi Muslims and some other groups.

Then the three of us went to eat dinner before moving on to the “8 squares and 13 lanes” city landmark.
The restaurant that Junhua had chosen was phenomenal. The food was delicious, and to start things off we had Ba Bao Tea (eight treasures tea). Ali mixed the ingredients up for us from bowls of the individual components, talking all the while.

All three of us had a great time, and then moved on to the landmark neighborhood of “8 squares and 13 lanes”.

Linxia was truly a wonderful and interesting city! I’d really like to go back there sometime soon!