ChenChen is a guy I met while I was looking at displays in the Jade Emperor Pavilion (aka bell tower). After I had climbed up inside that tower, there was a room with lots of historic photos side by side with modern photos of various sites around Yinchuan.
I noticed a photo of a cool looking building I had not seen before and was wondering what and where it was.
Seeing a young man taking some photos of the displays, I asked him to look at that photo and tell me if he knew where the place was.
After a short conversation he offered to accompany me to the site so that I would not have any trouble finding it.
We took a bus to get there.

Then we decided to go to the “Chengtian Monastery” site where there is a famous tower. I had tried to get inside the grounds of Chengtian on two previous occasions when I was in Yinchuan , but had always arrived after the entrance closed.
Well, we got it this time!
ChenChen insisted on paying my admission, including a fee to also be able to climb up to the top.
OMG! The steep stairs on the inside were not even really stairs… narrow treads… almost like 11 floors of ladders!
Well, it was an exhausting climb, but the stair was extremely stout and in no danger of falling apart. And there were plenty of handholds to grasp!
Then we ate a modest lunch (which he also insisted on paying for…)
Before parting, he took a selfie with me. Obviously he is a really nice guy.

Chengtian Monastery is not actually a monastery anymore… it is a museum

A view from inside at the top

A bit later, I began walking back to my hotel.
On my way I was accosted by a group of three overly ” helpful” teens who insisted on giving me directions on how to get to my hotel. The directions were not quite correct, but their intentions were good!

Based on a recommendation, this morning I visited what was essentially a giant farmers market with every type of vegetable you can imagine…
Oh that is not right. Here in China they have some strange vegetables and other foods that we westerners couldn’t even imagine!
Plus fish… plus this, plus that..
A really great place.
Wow, I felt like my life is so phony and the people packing that place were real!
Overcome with hunger from all the foods present, I bought two types of pastries… no, three. Two moon cakes, a pair of others (hard to describe)… and then I saw some pastries that appeared to have raisins in them. mmmmm they looked yummy! So I asked how much one cost. He said 10 yuan. It seemed kind of pricey, but they looked yummy. So I forked over a 10-spot. OMG… it was 10 yuan for a big bag of them! ha ha. I saved a few for myself and later gave the rest to a wrinkly old beggar woman I saw. She was happy.

Yep, those are the ” red” tongue numbing peppercorns

Well, you get an idea of the wide variety… but the place was huge! This was just a fraction of the vendors. And as the hour progressed, the place became really packed with buyers!

Shopping for Babao Tea (八宝茶)
On my earlier (Spring) 2024 trip to China, my good friend Bamboo had sent me off from Shanghai with a generous gift package which contained all sorts of goodies! Included were two big boxes of Babao Tea. When I got back home to Colorado, my wife Rhonda and I quickly became totally in love with this treat!
This tea was developed over the centuries by Muslim traders along the silk road. Literally, “Babao” means “eight treasures.” And those eight ingredients add up to a wonderful beverage.
The boxes of tea that Bamboo had given me came from Yinchuan. So I figured that since I was back in Yinchuan again, I should search out some Babao tea to take back to Colorado. Bamboo gave me hints of places to shop, but in the end I had no problem at all finding plenty of stores selling it. So, armed with my perfectly pathetic knowledge of the Chinese language, along with the translator on my phone, I went on a quest.
(My Chinese friends will be polite and understanding, but I am horrified to hear my terrible speech! Oh, well, I guess what counts is that I had success. So much success that in the end I had to buy an extra suitcase to carry all the tea I bought!)