Xi'an Huimin Street- Food and Shopping

Huimin Jie (回民一条街) or Muslim Street is a very busy street at night! We stayed in Xi'an for two nights, and we strolled around the street and the surrounding area for both nights.  Muslim Street in Xi'an is the gathering place for Muslim community in Xi'an. Some sources stated the date of the street back to 206 BC, when "Hui" people started to gather around the area. If it is true, then the street is now more than 2000 years old!

The street is also called Beiyuan Men (北院门), around 500 meters long, its location, just in front of the Clock Tower of Xi'an. There are more than 60,000 Muslims live in that area, which the whole area basically transforms into a giant belt of night market after sunset. The street has a great collection of halal traditional food, snacks, drinks, local fruits and crops right from the farm, souvenirs with bargain-able price, and many more. Accompanying the dazzling light and the voice of the hawkers and retailers promoting their products- the never ending flow of visitors. Let us bring you around with our photos.

The Bell Tower during the day time. Both the Bell Tower and Clock Tower are icons of Xi'an.

Xi'an Bell Tower at night.

Xi'an Clock Tower is just 200 meters west of the Bell Tower, at the another side of Bell and Drum Tower Square.

We have no idea how the street looks like during the day. But we know how it is at night.

Most if not all, the stalls and hawkers are Muslims, selling souvenirs (upper left), assorted BBQ mutton, beef, and seafood (upper right), and noodle (lower right). The shop keepers can be easily identified by their white hats and head covering costume.

We tried many food and drinks along the street, including the local fruit drink and yogurt (upper left), meigui jinggao (玫瑰镜糕) (upper right), and guihua gao (桂花糕). All were good except guihua gao, which was for us, tasteless.

We stopped by the stall with deep fried banana and soft shell crab (upper left), fried cuttle fish (upper right), mutton pan-fried pie, and fresh cherry. All the food were really nice. The cherry was a bit sour but still acceptable.

Ling Shing's parents at the night market street.

Weiwei BBQ was the best for us. We couldn't stop taking the mutton and beef from the stall.

We visited a noodle station along the street and tried two different local dishes- biang biang noodle (upper right) and the beef noodle (upper left). The price for both dishes were not cheap (lower right) but the taste was "special" (nope, delicious is definitely not the word). To our suprise, there was no beef in the serving of beef noodle.  We came across the coolest Mandarin character, which pronounced as "biang". The word might carry the meaning of the sound "biang" when the noodle was made. Well, biang-biang noodle is shown on lower right, which cannot be found from the dictionary at the moment.

The streets around Muslim Street and the Bell Tower were safe at night. Or at least, we didn't feel threatened. There was one thing which we were quite worried- the battery-powered bike. The bike was really quiet on the road. Well, we learned that we should not avoid the bike when it was approaching from behind. The driver would usually avoid us quietly unless he sound the honk from a distance away, alerting that he wouldn't give way to the pedestrian.

Besides Muslim Street (Beiyuan Men), there are several other streets crossing each others, but don't worry, we won't get lost if we have good sense of direction. For souvenirs, the price was cheaper in the branching streets compared to the main street. A deal with 20% off was done when we tried to buy more. We bought a few key chains, clay-made terracotta warriors (about 2 inch tall), giant jujube, and some snacks as souvenirs. The price for the food however was quite standardized across the area.

Other than local delicacies at Muslim Street, we were also being arranged to dine in two different restaurants- Chuanyu Family Restaurant and Renren Ju Restaurant. Both restaurants provided good Chinese food. For us, Renren Ju Restaurant was better.  

Ramada Xi'an Bell Tower Hotel has unbeatable location. Situated at the center within the old city wall, many attractions and shopping malls are within walking distance from the hotel. By foot, the hotel is just 5 minutes away from the Muslim Street and the Bell Tower. It is 10 minutes away from the Clock Tower. The room was clean and comfy, with good amenity. However, the service was not up to the standard, especially the breakfast- very slow service and many plates were left empty, with no refill of food after 8:30 am, even though the breakfast time was far from over. The wifi connection was slow as well. Anyway, we weren't really bothered by the breakfast service or the online surfing speed. Location is the more important after all. For Xi'an, we would recommend to stay somewhere nearby the Bell and Clock Towers and the Muslim Street.

Located at 79 North Street, the hotel is indeed at the center of the city (upper left). The dining area (upper right) and the bedroom in the hotel.

After staying in China for eight days, we departed back to Malaysia from Xi'an International Airport, with a transit at Shanghai International Airport. The overall arrangement of the tour was great and we enjoyed it very much. China again? Definitely yes.

[Kaifeng, Henan One Day Trip] [Yuntai Mountain, Truly a World Heritage]
[Henan Museum and Huang He Scenic Area]
[Dengfeng Shaolin Temple and Guanlin Temple] [Longmen Grottoes & Charriot Luoyang]
[The Magnificent Terracotta Army of Qin Dynasty]
[Xi'an City One Day Trip] [Xi'an Huimin Street- Food & Shopping]

Xi'an City One Day Trip (Henan and Xi'an Trip Day 7)

Day 7, Xi'an. We visited Shaanxi Museum (陕西博物馆), Big Goose Pagoda (大雁塔), the old city wall (西安古城墙), Muslim Street (回民一条街), and watched the opera in the city. Xi'an was the capital to Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang Dynasty. It was the starting point of the olden Silk Road. The city itself has a history of more than 3000 years. Of course, we couldn't runaway from trying delicacies around, and took a night stroll along the street with historical towers.

Visiting a historical rich city, museum is the place that we couldn't miss. Similar to Henan Museum, the exhibited items showed the greatness of the past. Our tour guide told us that some of the artifacts were indeed found in the recycle centers or from dumping sites. Ignorant about these invaluable old relics, many were bought by the museum with low price from the locals as well. Completed in 1991, the museum is considered the first modern museum in China, with more than 370 thousand items exhibited.

The admission of Shaanxi History Museum is free, however entrance ticket is still needed. We departed early, hoping to beat the crowd. To our surprise, we had hundreds in front of us, and had to wait for 20 minutes to obtain the group tickets. We spent the next 1 hour 15 minutes in the museum. For us, the museum was not as attractive as Henan Museum, but it is still worth a visit. However, please be early to beat the crowd and to avoid tiring long queue.

The entrance of Shaanxi History Museum.

The queue under the hot sun at 9 am (upper left). The building of the museum is large, and is divided into 4 different halls (upper right). The lobby of the museum with a replica giant stone lion of Shunling Mausoleum- the tomb of Wu Zetian's mother (lower right). The internal design of the museum is quite similar to Henan Museum.

Murals in the museum.

Some of the items exhibited in the museum.

Dayan Ta (大雁塔) or Big Goose Pagoda was our next target, 10 minutes away from the museum by bus. Built in 652 AD in Tang Dynasty, it housed the religious material brought by Xuanzhang from India. Who is Xuanzhang? He was the real character of Tang San Zhang (唐三藏) in the story of "The Journey to the West" (西游记). After he returned from India which lasted for 17 years of journey, Gaozong Emperor appointed Xuanzhang as the first abbot of Daci'en Temple (built in 648 AD), the temple where the pagoda located. 

We couldn't deny the historical value of the pagoda and the temple. But the architecture design of the pagoda is simple, and can be meaningless if we have no knowledge about the epic of "The Journey to the West".  There was really nothing much to see there. Instead of paying CNY50 to enter the temple, you might want to choose to stroll within the shopping mall and pedestrian street surrounding the temple and pagoda. Anyway, one can always take photo with the pagoda outside of the temple's compound.

Big Goose Pagoda from the shopping mall. The pagoda was built with 7 levels, representing the highest hierarchy in Buddhism architecture. As a token of respect, we didn't take many photos inside the temple buildings.

The pagoda from the main entrance of Daci'en Temple.

It was a hot afternoon. Lucky enough, the trees provide shades for the visitors around the temple.

Close up to the pagoda.

Our next station after lunch- Xi'an City Wall or Xi'an Fortification. The city wall was built in 1370 AD in rectangular shape, covering an area of 13 square kms. The average height of the wall is 12 meters and the thickness of the top part is 12 - 14 meters. The city wall has four main gates facing four different directions. It is the most well-preserved city wall in China. The normal fee to the top level of the wall was CNY54 per person.

We entered the city through the east gate - Changle (长乐门), or the Gate of Eternal Joy. The elaborate building on the gate was an archer tower.

Climbing up the city wall was not a problem after a sumptuous lunch.

This is the barbican (瓮城) of the city. The barbican made the city extremely hard to be taken through the main gate. We can see how tall is the city wall compares to the buses.

The top of the wall is wider than a normal two-way road.

We have few options to tour around on the top of the city wall- by foot, bicycle, or by electric car. We chose electric car. The ticket counter is just nearby the city gate. The fee for the electric car was CNY80 per person for a round trip. Bicycle could be rented with CNY45 per person for 2 hours. Traveling by foot was free.

The buildings within the city wall cannot be built taller than the highest tower on the city wall.

The Xi'an Bell Tower built in 1384 AD in Ming Dynasty can be seen from the city wall. The bell tower marks the center of the fortification.

The moat can be seen from the archer tower on the Gate of Eternal Joy.

Bastions were built every 120 meters for more effective defense against attackers.

We strolled on the top of the city wall for around 2 hours. The sun shined proudly and the sky turned blue for us to take wonderful photos around the city wall. The weather however was not hot due to the strong wind.

After dinner, we went to Sunshine Lido Grand Theater for "The Grand Chapters of the Grand Tang Dynasty" show. The show was the combination of splendid costume and contemporary dances, featured by amazing dancers. However, the stage design and the sound system were a bit disappointing. 

Located at 29, South City-Ring Road, the theater is one of the oldest in Xi'an with a good track record of performance. However, with the ticket CNY180 for the normal seat, the show is considered expensive. It worth a visit of course, but only if we have extra budget for it. We can visit SUNLIDO official website for more information about the show.

Sunshine Lido Grand Theater at night and the show.

Tang Dynasty show.

Main dancers of the show.

Well, our advice, sitting at the last row might bed the best as we could stand up to watch the show without blocking other people. The arrangement of the theater was not very good as a tall person in front would block the view of the person at the back. All the photos that we showed were taken from the last row of the theater.

After the show, we went to Hui Min Street (回民一条街) or Muslim Street to buy some souvenirs and food until 11:45 pm. Next, we will share our experience in Hui Min Street, food, shopping, and our hotel in Xi'an. Follow us now.

[Kaifeng, Henan One Day Trip] [Yuntai Mountain, Truly a World Heritage]
[Henan Museum and Huang He Scenic Area]
[Dengfeng Shaolin Temple and Guanlin Temple]

[The Magnificent Terracotta Army of Qin Dynasty]
[Xi'an City One Day Trip] [Xi'an Huimin Street- Food & Shopping]

Longmen Grottoes and Museum of Charriot in Luoyang (Henan and Xi'an Trip Day 5)

Longmen Grottoes (龙门石窟) has a long history. 493 AD, Emperor Xiao Wen of North Wei (北魏孝文帝) started building the first grotto at Longmen Mountain (龙门山). Then, many emperors followed until the carving of grottoes stopped 400 years later in Northern Song Dynasty (some sources stated from North Wei to Tang Dynasty). More than 100 thousands of statues, 3800 inscription steles, and 80 pagodas were carved 1 km along the river of Yi (伊河), 12 kms from Luoyang City. Completely devoted to Buddhism, the grottoes show the stone work skills in China more than one millennium ago.

Endured the local vandalism and looting, destruction by wars, and damage by nature elements, Longmen Grottoes received the status of UNESCO Heritage Site in 2000. It was the third UNESCO Heritage Site that we visited in Henan Province. The entrance fee for the site was CNY100, with extra CNY10 for one way trip with electric car. Later, we took a boat ride with CNY25 per person back to the car park.

We stayed at Longmen Grottoes for around 2 hours 30 minutes. The shopping area outside of Longmen Grottoes offered various souvenirs and local delicacies. We bought two Chinese stone stamp with our names with really good bargained price there (about 1/2 of what we could get in our country).

The electric car stopped at the ticketing counter. Then, we had to walk for a few hundred meters to the entrance of Longmen Grottoes. We enjoyed the nice view of Yi River on our way to the entrance (upper row). The tourist center (lower left) is located near to the majestic entrance.

The weather was cold and comfy with few visitors. It was a lucky morning for us.

The caves were carved deep into the limestone cliff along Longmen Mountain. Stairs were built for the visitors to access the higher caves.

Our tour guide was telling the history of the sculptures in the caves.

The Buddha statue with "V" pose were believed to be built in Tang Dynasty by Tang Gaozong (唐高宗李治). The statue is one of the most popular photo spot in Longmen Grottoes (upper left). The cave housing the statue was exquisitely decorated (upper right). The uncompleted work by the last emperor of Song Dynasty (lower left)- Moya Sanfo Kan (摩崖三佛龛) revealed the process how a ordinary stone being carved into a statue. The stone wall of Longmen Mountain is dotted by many sculptures with different sizes.

Wanfo Cave (万佛洞） or the cave with ten thousand Buddha is another attraction at Longmen Grottoes. The wall of the cave is filled with 15 thousands sculptures.

What is the size of the smallest sculpture in Longmen Grottoes? These 1 inch tall sculptures in Wanfo Cave are really small, but still not the smallest.

Lianhua Dong (莲花洞) or Lotus Cave is another interesting cave there. The Buddha statue was carved in standing position with a hand holding a walking staff. There is a big lotus flower carved on the top of the cave as well. Another interesting thing to see in this cave- the smallest statues with 2 cm long caved on the both sides of the Buddha statue.

 The red arrow marks the location of the smallest statues in Lotus Cave.

The old name of Longmen Grottoes- Yique or the Gate of River Yi was carved at the entrance of Lotus Cave.

The biggest Buddha statues are located at the far southern end of Longmen Grottoes. To see them, we need to conquer the stairs.

This is the biggest statue in Longmen Grottoes- 17.2 m tall with the head 4 m long and ears 1.9 m long. Some local sources stated that the Buddha statue was built with the expression imitating Empress Wu Zetian (武则天), as a token of appreciation for her donation. With her donation, the statue was completed around 675 AD.

Panoramic view of the Fengxian Si (奉先寺) or Fengxian Temple- the temple where the colossal statues locates. Click on this photo to see the bigger view.

Guyang Cave (古阳洞) is the oldest cave in Longmen Grottoes. Built during the year of Emperor Xiaowen, the cave contains 19 well calligraphed inscriptions and exquisite stone works.

This is the last cave we visited- Yaofang Cave (药方洞) or the Cave of Prescription. The cave recorded 140 traditional Chinese prescriptions which can be used to cure more than 70 illness.

We took a boat ride from the end the grottoes back to the entrance. The boat trip gave us a nicer view of Longmen Mountain.

This is how the caves were built on the cliff of Longmen Mountain.

The former residence of Baijuyi (白居易) is located at the other side of Yi River, opposite of Longmen Grottoes. The tomb of this well-known poet is just next to his former residence.

Luoyang City was the capital for 13 dynasties with more than 100 emperors. The city has the history of 4000 years, starting from Xia Dynasty. Instead of the vibrant development with modern high rises, historical icons like Longmen Grottoes and Guanlin Temple scatters around the city. Back to Luoyang, we took our lunch at Kunyang Restaurant (lower right). We took our dinner the night before at the same restaurant (the one without ice cube). After lunch, we moved on to visit another thousand years old relics- the excavated pit at the Museum of Luoyang Eastern Zhou Royal Horse and Chariot Pits (天子六骑博物馆).

Museum of Luoyang Eastern Zhou Royal Horse and Chariot Pits (天子六骑博物馆), or we would like to directly translate it into Emperor's Six Horses Chariot Museum was built on the real sacrificial pit of Zhou Dynasty's Emperor. According to the ancient books, emperor's chariot was driven by six horses, while feudal kings five, ministers four, scholars and bureaucrats three, officials two, and commoners one. This record was proven by the discovery of the pit in 2002, during the construction to expand the Luohe Plaza. The museum now is located at the center of the Dongzhou Wangcheng Square (王城广场) or the Eastern Zhou Emperor City Square.

The museum entrance fee was CNY30 per person, while tour guide was available with CNY50 per trip, with opening hours from 9 am - 5 pm. The museum was quite small, with three different sections. The largest section was the burial pit itself. We spent 45 minutes in the museum.

The entrance of the museum is marked by a Chariot with 6 horses. The whole museum is located a level below the ground.

The surrounding area of the museum.

The burial pit of the museum, with the second chariot from the right was buried with six horses. There were other chariots with two horses and four horses. There were hunting dogs tied to each chariot as well.

Both Longmen Grottoes and Museum of Luoyang Eastern Zhou Royal Horse and Chariot Pits are must visit places in Luoyang as they carries important information from the past. The historical values of these sites are beyond measurement. For more information about these two sites, you can visit Tour-Beijing site about Longmen Grottoes and Museum of Luoyang Museum.

We left Luoyang at around 3:30 pm and took a three hour drive westward to Lingbao, a town in between Luoyang and Xi'an. We rested at Zingy Good Hotel and prepared ourselves for the trip to Terracotta of The Warriors and Horses in Xi'an.

[Kaifeng, Henan One Day Trip] [Yuntai Mountain, Truly a World Heritage]

[Henan Museum and Huang He Scenic Area]

[Dengfeng Shaolin Temple and Guanlin Temple] [Longmen Grottoes & Charriot Luoyang]
[The Magnificent Terracotta Army of Qin Dynasty]

[Xi'an City One Day Trip] [Xi'an Huimin Street- Food & Shopping]