Food
There are few dishes or specialties that distinguish the cuisine of the fort and its surrounds. What you can sample here are combinations from across China, which the local chefs are able to churn out with their ambidextrous hands--steamed dumplings from Tianjin, beef noodles from Lanzhou, Yangrou Paomo (mutton soup with bread) from Xi'an, kebab from Xinjiang and roast chicken from Henan, to name but a few. The main problems that non-Chinese speakers will have is in both finding a decent restaurant, since there are few in town, and in ordering a decent meal, since almost none have English speakers or menus.A good start for finding your ideal meal is to try some of the hotels in town, since although still without English, the service is mostly fair and the dishes varied. The best of the lot for selection is the Fulihua Restaurant in the Wumao Hotel (Wumao binguan), although the restaurant in the Jiayuguan Hotel (Jiayuguan binguan) is also good. For cheaper, and perhaps more interesting, food you should also try the Night Market on Jingtie lu, just past the Wumao Hotel heading southwest, where you can find a variety of fast cooked food, mainly noodles and kebabs. There are also some good restaurants in the area around the railway station, especially the Linyuan Restaurant (Linyuan jiujia) that serves spicy Sichuan cuisine at affordable prices.
Compared with its lackluster entertainment, shopping in Jiayuguan is more exciting. There are a variety of goods that can be purchased, most are very popular with the Chinese and, although not exceptional, are worth looking into. Best of the specialties include the "self-illuminating" cup, rubbings of Wei & Jin tomb murals, stone carvings and assorted Carpets.The most famous of specialties here is the "Self-Illuminating" Cup (Yeguan bei) that is made of jade from the nearby Qilianshan Mountain. These translucent cups, immortalised in thousands of Chinese poems, are so named because when they are filled with wine and penetrated by the ghostly rays of the moon, it shines with luxuriant brightness.The area around the city of Jiayuguan is filled with tombs from both the Wei (386-556 AD)and the Jin (265-420 AD)Dynasties, and many of these are home to numbers of colourful and vivid murals (Weijin bihua muhua tuopian). There is now a thriving trade in copies, usually Rubbings, of these original cultural pieces, and this is a good way to get some insight into those bygone days.For those with interests in Chinese calligraphy, the Jiayu Inkstones (Jiayu shiyan) have a history of over 1,700 years. As with the "self-illuminating" cup, the inkstones are carved from stone taken from the nearby mountains. The stones normally have strips of different colours, from a range including blues, greens, reds and yellows.This area is a stronghold on the new tourist Silk Road, and as such there are no lack of stores selling these handicrafts and more, at allegedly knock off prices. Since not always genuine, it is probably best to head to the more established stores, such as the state owned Jiayuguan Handicraft Shop on 8 Shibei lu.
There is really not much in the way of entertainment in Jiayuguan. The best that you can do is to head to the larger hotels in town, where, in most cases, you will find at least a bar and perhaps a disco. These places will not be packed out, and you should not expect to get the most modern in musical taste. The best place seems to be the Jiayuguan Hotel (1 Shengli beilu), where there is a disco, billiards, sauna and massage.