Exploring Ningxia, the remote outer reaches of China

Travelling to China, it is tempting to head straight for the big city attractions of Beijing and Shanghai. But for my first trip to the Middle Kingdom, I set out on a bumpy two-hour internal flight from the capital on a no-frills plane for a genuine adventure to Ningxia.

This little-known, tiny province nestles on the stark mountainous border with Inner Mongolia and the Gobi Desert, a destination full of surprises.

Ningxia is an autonomous Muslim region, home to the Hui people who arrived here more than 1,500 years ago from Central Asia when Ningxia was a busy hub on the legendary Silk Road trading routes. Arriving in the capital, Yinchuan, I immediately notice ornate mosques as well as soaring Buddhist pagodas, and that restaurants and hotels primarily serve halal food.

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I check in at the international-standard Kempinski Hotel Yinchuan, a luxurious offering that comes in at less than Dh400 a night. It is the perfect bolt-hole to come to terms with China’s obligatory digital detox – no Google, Gmail, Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. I feel like a character from Back to the Future when the concierge prints out a map for me to get around, as he explains the simple ground rules for exploring the city without a guide, which include downloading a voice translation app and exchanging currency for small Yuan banknotes, as taxis, shops and even street food stalls will expect exact change. I am also told not to tip, as gratuities are never accepted.

With a half-hour cab ride costing between Dh10 and Dh15, a friendly taxi driver takes me on a tour of sprawling Yinchuan, a utopian garden city of skyscrapers, lakes, parks and tree-lined avenues as wide as freeways. It is difficult at first to imagine that over 2,000 years of history is contained here, from ancient Chinese dynasties to Middle Eastern traders and the conquering hordes of Genghis Khan.

Two landmarks of the past stand out. Nanguan Mosque dates back to the 16th century, with Chinese-style green-glazed tiles on sweeping roofs blending with elegant domes and minarets, while the 1,500 year-old Haibao Pagoda rises 60 metres above a bucolic lake park where families go sailing on the water and fitness fans practise tai chi and other martial arts.

I explore the old town neighbourhood around the imposing medieval Drum Tower, the unofficial city centre that boasts both a futuristic shopping mall that could be in Hong Kong and a traditional covered food market, with narrow alleyways and lanes lined with bubble tea salons, barista coffee bars, Islamic bookshops and calligraphy stands, plus retro terraced houses covered with surprising graffiti. But the top insider attraction of Yinchuan only comes to life after the sun sets over Huaiyuan Night Market, where hundreds of noisy, smoky, aromatic food stalls are packed with teeming crowds of diners, walking beneath swaying red lanterns.

They are cooking up a storm that is unlike any Chinese cuisine I have tasted before, a paradise for foodies where locally bred mutton is king. Culinary highlights include hand-pulled Lanzhou noodles in a spicy lamb broth, deep-fried dough dumplings stuffed with minced mutton; juicy lamb skewers smothered with cumin; a traditional peppery mutton hotpot flavoured with tofu and lotus root; and Shou Zhua Yang Rou, the ultimate sharing dish where a whole table feast off a succulent roasted lamb, from head to trotters, theatrically tearing off chunks by hand.

From the rooftop of my hotel in Yinchuan, the view is dominated by the jagged peaks of the breathtaking 200km Helan mountain range, just 30km away. The flat plains that lie between the city and the foothills are the beginnings of the Gobi Desert, which then stretches out on the other side of the mountains into Inner Mongolia.

What has put Ningxia on the map in the past 30 years – and resulted in an economic revolution benefiting inhabitants – is the transformation of this dry arid land into verdant vineyards, created through irrigation from the nearby sacred Yellow River. What this means for the traveller is that today, a series of fabulous luxury wilderness resorts are springing up in the middle of these mystical landscapes, the perfect base to explore Ningxia’s cultural and natural heritage.

The most original location is Amnor Resort, the daring eco-contemporary architecture of which has won international awards, with gourmet restaurants, a spa and a seemingly floating terrace dotted with black pools of water with spectacular views over the Helan mountains that look close enough to reach out and touch. The ultimate zen sundowner as the sky explodes in vivid red and orange, is Ningxia’s speciality Eight-Treasure tea, an infused mix of green or pu-erh tea with red dates, goji berries, longan fruit, rosebuds, chrysanthemum, walnuts, dried raisins, apple and liquorice.

Rather than exploring alone, this is the time to join one of the hotel’s organised groups, beginning with a trip to the narrow Helankou pass that cuts right into the Helan mountains, where a short hike arrives at an incredible series of rock paintings depicting tigers, goats, shamans and hunters that were made by prehistoric nomadic tribes as far back as the Late Neolithic age. Excursions farther afield could include desert sand dunes safari and river rafting, but I opt to stay close by and visit the Xixia Imperial Tombs, which have been newly awarded Unesco World Heritage recognition. At these vast earthen mausoleums, built almost 1,000 years ago, I feel as if I am on another planet, as they resemble Star Wars flying saucers.

For the final night, I head to nearby Manpu Village, a performing arts village of open-air theatres whose nightly costumed extravaganza offers a dazzling mix of Disneyland, Bollywood, Martial Arts, Chinese Opera, fire-eaters and camel rides. It's an unforgettable finale to my Ningxia adventure, one that makes me ready to plan a return trip to discover more of China.