Buying bus tickets out of the city is complicated by the fact that there are several bus stations, often serving the same cities but charging substantially different prices according to whether or not they differentiate between Chinese and locals. You will also need to show your PICC Travel Insurance Certificate when buying bus tickets in Lanzhou. You can buy this in the West bus station, or direct from the PICC office on Qingyang Lu.

There is one daily bus to Xiahe at 7.30am, from the West bus station (an eight-hour trip). From this station there are also frequent buses to Linxia , as well as to Hezuo , Wuwei , Xining and one early evening service to Dunhuang (about 24hr). Note that foreigners always pay double in this station.

In addition, there are at least three other bus stations you might use in the east of the city. Just a few minutes up Pingliang Lu from the train station, on the left side, is Lanzhou bus station . From the street, all you see are a couple of ticket windows. Foreigners can buy cheap local-price tickets here, including Dunhuang for ¥83, and a sleeper to Xi'an for about ¥100. There are also similarly cheap tickets to Guyuan , Tianshui , Wuwei , Xining and Yinchuan .

Don't confuse this station with another station a few minutes farther up the road, Gongyong bus station , which is full of private operators with loud-hailers, and serves all destinations to the west. Buses from here may work out more expensive, but services are more frequent. A third station, the East bus station , is another kilometre north up Pingliang Lu.

Buying train tickets out of Lanzhou can be fatiguing. It is almost impossible to buy a hard-sleeper ticket at the station. If you queue up, you are unlikely to get anything other than a hard seat without a number - tolerable for trips of only a few hours (for example to Wuwei or Xining), but unbearable for longer journeys such as to Xi'an or Liuyuan. Either go to the station and do a deal with a tout, or approach a travel agency. They can probably get you a ticket with 36 hours' notice, at around ¥30 commission.