There are two possible routes to travel from Zhangye to Lanzhou; one, through the Hexi Corridor is shorter and relatively flat, whilst the other, through Qinghai province, is longer and mountainous. Needless to say, we chose the latter. Though undoubtedly hard work, we've really enjoyed the cycling in this section. Arid desert has been replaced by rolling green hillsides and fields full of yellow rape seed, the lingering dust replaced by pleasant summery smells and the sound of wildlife and trickling mountain streams all around.

Although not within what is now called the 'Tibet Autonomous Region' (a name which perhaps rivals the 'Democratic Party of Turkmenistan' for credibility), Qinghai province lies almost entirely on the Tibetan plateau and was part of Greater Tibet before it was carved up in the middle of the last century under Chinese rule. Being on the edge of the plateau the terrain is not quite as severe as it is further west, but it's still pretty hilly by all accounts; we've been over several passes higher than 3500m including a trip record of 3800m (12,500ft). In the countryside there is still plenty of evidence of Tibetan culture, with many nomads' tents adorned with colourful prayer flags and surrounded by herds of yak and flocks of long horned mountain sheep. Cafes in rural villages serve butter tea, a rather unpleasantly greasy mix of green tea and yak's butter. The ugly, sprawling provincial capital of Xining on the other hand is dominated by Han Chinese, with a few Hui Muslims thrown in as well. We did enjoy our wander through Xining's food market though, taking in the range of turtles, toads, eels, chicken's feet and other such delicacies on display.

With this section being a diversion from the main path of the Silk Road, it definitely felt like we had got rather more off the beaten track. Arriving in Minle, on our first day out of Zhangye, we were just tucking into a delicious lunch when a group of young faces began appearing at the window staring in at us. The Chinese have a peculiar ability to appear out of nowhere in great numbers when you least expect it, and soon there were thirty or so schoolchildren gathered outside, silently staring in. Eventually a couple boys plucked up the courage to creep inside, say hello and ask us our names, before scuttling back out again. Emboldened by their success, the rest of the crowd quickly followed suit and we were soon faced with a seemingly endless line of school notebooks to sign and write messages in. When we eventually managed to satisfy them all, we just had time to wolf down the rest of our food before their teacher appeared to ask us if we would give the class a short talk in English, which we agreed to do. From this I have gained a great deal of respect for anybody who manages to teach the overexcited mob that passes for a class in China; I don't think a great deal of English was learnt in the ensuing 20 minutes, but it was certainly quite an experience for us.

From Xining it was downhill all the way to Lanzhou, following a tributary of the famous Yellow River. Unfortunately, not only did the road go downhill, but the scenery seemed to follow suit. Whilst China undoubtedly has some areas of incredible natural beauty, it also does industrial holes better than pretty much any other country we've seen so far. One moment we were cycling through a pretty gorge right next to the river; the next moment we turned a corner into a horrific mess of industry and power stations surrounding a town consisting mainly of auto repair garages and piles of coal. Unpleasant towns for some reason seem to breed unpleasant people and in particular bad driving habits; fortunately the 'colloquilisms' section of our phrasebook comes in handy at moments like this. A brief respite through some densely farmed fields gave us our first real glimpse of agricultural China, before a return to chimneys and factories on the run in to Lanzhou; fortunately heavy smog meant we couldn't actually see much of it for the final 30km into the city (zoom in on the satellite view of Lanzhou to see the smog!).

Lanzhou itself is squeezed into the river valley and sprawls out for miles along it, being boxed in by mountains to the north and south which perhaps goes some way to explaining why the air is so polluted. The city centre is a typically Han affair of neon lights, white tiled buildings and shops attempting to gain kudos with badly translated 'Chinglish' signs on their frontage. Though we were disappointed to find that we still haven't got far enough east yet to find a Pizza Hut, we did manage to get a break from noodles at Dicos, the local McDonalds/KFC clone. Inside was the most obvious sign yet of the Chinese one child policy, with table after table of parents treating their 'Little Emperor' only child to a Western fast food meal - an expensive luxury in China. £3 might not seem that much for a meal, but when you consider we each spent about the same yesterday for two restaurant meals of noodles, a few beers and a night in a hotel, it's a pretty significant cost.

Tomorrow we shall be escaping from the city for a couple days visiting the important Tibetan monastery at Xiahe, and enjoying the surrounding countryside, before returning to Lanzhou to take on the final 1000 miles or so to Beijing.