Exchanges help us understand people from different backgrounds

At first, it seemed like we'd come to the mosque for nothing.

My Chinese friend and I were spending the National Day holiday in Xining, Qinghai province - a destination delightfully free of crowds thanks to the province's far-west location and sparse population.

The mosque was huge and architecturally imposing, with square minarets at its front corners and Arabic script on the eaves of the Chinese temple-style roofs inside.