Before my departure for China, my hosts had mailed me to ask if there was anything particular I would like to see during my visit. I answered that one day I hoped to see Lhasa but of course that was too far away and that as this would be my first visit to the Chinese mainland anything and everything would be of great interest to me.

I thought no more about it, and a week or so later I arrived in Lanzhou. After a couple of days, my hosts announced that at the weekend they would be taking me to Xining, capital city of Qinghai and near which is the Tibetan Tae'r Buddhist Monastery, the most important Tibetan monastery outside Tibet itself. I was very touched by this, showing as it did how attentively they had read my casual comment about Lhasa.

The monastery is in fact a whole complex of temples and other buildings, a working and living religious community that has also - in the nature of things - become a tourist attraction, too. The "monastery" is actually a large complex spread over and up both sides of a small valley. There are 30 or so temples on the site and more under construction, plus other buildings used for different purposes.

There is a large plaza area in front of the monastery, which is next to a small village. The monastery has a lot of tourist visitors, and the entry price isn't cheap! This may explain why there seemed to be a fair number of cars inside the monastery complex, clearly belonging to the monks and others who lived there. There were a few beggars inside, and I saw a monk give one several banknotes.

Outside the front gates of the monastery complex I was soon accosted by a group of people seeking to sell me things. The stuff they had was mostly Tibetan craft artefacts, extremely well-made. I bought several things according to my budget and what seemed commonsensical, but of course they'd have preferred me to buy more. In the end, my minder Kevin helped me evade the pedlars and we went into the monastery.

This was quite a moving experience, though not entirely new. Modest of resources though I am, I was clearly far better-off than the people trying to sell me things, so one feels quite awkward and of course mean if you don't buy everything they have, which isn't practicable.

I was struck by their very dark, red faces. This is normal for those who live in Tibet, which is of course "the roof of the world" ....

Though not a religious person, I found my visit to be very moving and I took a considerable number of photos ......