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Gansu Bike Tour Food: Yugur Lunch and Tibetan Market

What we ate in a WEEK biking through North China's barren landscapes

Destination:ChinaProvince:GansuCity:Zhangye

What we ate in a WEEK biking through North. This was filmed by Katherine's Journey to the East 阳离子东游记. Watch the full journey and explore the filming details and destinations on this page.

Katherine and her husband try Gansu bike tour food on the road from Zhangye toward Jiuquan: market mushrooms, a Yugur family lunch and very dry local bread.

--- Katherine's Journey to the East 阳离子东游记
October 31, 2026, Autumn in China

Travel Guides & Tips in this video

Katherine and her husband continue their year long bike tour of North China, riding from Zhangye toward Jiuquan. The vlog covers a town carnival with rodeo and tug-of-war games, a Tibetan-influenced market, local mushrooms, a lunch with a Yugur family and an explanation of the two Yugur languages, apricots, a desert and farmland crossing, dry local bread, a roadside accident, kids asking for help with English homework and offerings at a temple. They end by putting their folding bikes on a train to skip empty desert.

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What we ate in a WEEK biking through North China's barren landscapes

A town carnival and the road to Sunan

Katherine, an American, and her husband are partway through a year long bike tour of North China, riding from east to west. The vlog opens at a town carnival and a temple that looks like a giant wedding cake. They then leave Zhangye toward the mountains and reach the town of Sunan, where they see a croquet court.

At a market in an area with a small Tibetan population they find yak butter balls, mini prayer wheels and a shrine to caterpillar fungus. They buy mushrooms for 68 yuan. The creators are not mushroom fans, but they say these taste vinegary and sour and are pretty good. The plain local meat, eaten with or without chili powder, strikes them as tough and flavorless.

Gansu bike tour food: a Yugur family lunch

On the grassland they stop at a small Yugur family restaurant after calling the number on its sign to check that it was open. Katherine explains that the Yugur are about 10,000 people with two languages, one Mongolic and one Turkic, and that most young Yugur speak Mandarin. Lunch is home-raised mutton with noodle squares, potatoes and cilantro, and the restaurant lady later gives them a huge bag of apricots. Katherine says the fresh apricots are the best she has ever had.

Desert roads, dry bread and a truck accident

Later they spend several hours crossing desert, with sharp lines between farmland and sand. At a stop with a Uyghur family they get a free sample of nut cake. They also try Xinjiang chicken with wide noodles and very dry bread topped with a curry-like yellow seasoning that Katherine likes. On the road they pass a truck accident where only the driver, who was wearing a seatbelt, was uninjured, and they tell viewers to wear their seatbelts.

Kids, a fair and the train

In a small Tibetan village, children ask them for help with English homework. In town they watch a rodeo with a cow on a stick, strength games, a neck tug-of-war and booths where you can win chickens at ring toss. They visit Wen Shu Temple, where people leave buns and whole watermelons as offerings. They end by putting the folding bikes on the train to skip about 2 weeks of empty desert riding.

FAQs (From the traveler's perspective)

Q: Who are the Yugur people in Gansu?
A: The creator says the Yugur are a very small group of about 10,000 people with two languages, one Mongolic and one Turkic. She describes them as a blend of Uyghurs who fled south after their empire fell in the 800s and Mongolic-speaking groups.
Q: Do Yugur people still speak their languages?
A: According to the creator, both languages survive mostly among the older generation. The average young Yugur grows up speaking Mandarin, and the language has no written script.
Q: How much did the local mushrooms cost at the Tibetan market?
A: The creators bought mushrooms for 68 yuan and say they were pretty good, a bit vinegary with a sour flavor. They did not know whether that price is cheap or expensive.
Q: What food can you try at a Yugur family restaurant?
A: The creators had the family's own home-raised mutton with noodle squares, potatoes and cilantro, plus fresh apricots. The little restaurant only operates in the warmer months.
Q: What products can you find in a Tibetan-influenced market in Gansu?
A: The creator saw yak butter balls, mini prayer wheels, a shrine to the caterpillar fungus, yak milk products such as yogurts and little cheese snacks, and huge bricks of local bread.
Q: What games are held at the town fair?
A: The creators saw a rodeo with a cow on a stick, a strength test where whoever pulls hard enough lifts the other person off the ground, a neck tug-of-war, and ring toss booths where you can win chickens.
Q: What offerings do people leave at Wen Shu Temple?
A: The creator saw buns, whole watermelons, cherry tomatoes, noodles with vegetables, melon, dragon fruit and wine, and says offerings vary regionally depending on what produce is available.
Q: How did the cyclists avoid the empty desert in Gansu?
A: They brought folding bikes and put them on the train to cross what would have been about 2 weeks of empty desert riding, because the desert there is very flat and uninhabited.

Previous travel video:

Gansu Bike Tour Food: Yugur Lunch and Tibetan Market

Cycling northern Gansu from Zhangye toward Jiuquan, a couple try market mushrooms, a Yugur family lunch, dry local bread and desert roads before a train ride.

Attractions in this video: Wen Shu Temple, Hexi Corridor, Loess Plateau, Tibetan Plateau, Rainbow Mountains