Last year, the Adams and I journeyed up north to Qingdao and Dalian (read about that adventure here) and it was a week long adventure that took me to cities very different from Hangzhou. Originally, Adam and I had plans to ride camels through the Gobi Desert but because this is one of the craziest times to travel in China, train tickets were sold out within the first five minutes of them going on sale so we decided to go with our Plan B: Xi'an (西安).
Xi'an is one of China's oldest cities with more than 6,000 years of history. At one time, it was known as Chang'an and was the capital of a united China and remained the capital through several dynasties, including the golden Tang Dynasty (618-907AD). Because the Chinese are so good at building walls, there is a wall around the old downtown area first built in 194BCE and the one that still stands today can be traced back to 1370. It was the start of the Silk Road that connected Asia to the Middle East and Europe which dates back to the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) and ran 4,000 miles long. It is also home to Hua Shan and the mysterious and ancient terracotta army. This city is just dripping with history and I love it.
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| The China of the Tang Dynasty... much different from what it is today! |
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| The blue was the water trade routes and the red was the Silk Road where goods like silk from Hangzhou were brought to Xi'an and where then brought to India, Persia, and Europe. |
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I worked until 4:40pm on Tuesday, September 30th--the day before National Holiday. Throwing my bag on my bed and picking up my backpack, Adam and I turned around and hopped on a plane that took us from the very Chinese town of Hangzhou to the very Middle Eastern town of Xi'an. We arrived in downtown Xi'an around midnight (because it is an unspoken law that no flight can leave on time in China) and began our search for our hostel. If any of you have ever traveled and stayed at a hostel instead of a hotel, you know that they can be a bit difficult to find... We spent almost three hours walking around downtown Xi'an in a three block radius in the rain, walking past the actual hostel twice until we finally found it. Off to a rough start.
The first thing we made sure to see in Xi'an was the Muslim District. Just like when you visit New York City and make your way to Chinatown or Little Italy, you find that small neighborhood for special foods, souvenirs, and a chance to meet people from a different country. You walk through a green archway with Arabic written across it and the Chinese translation underneath. Beer is no longer available in stores, you see bright colorful scarves wrapped around the ladies heads, and all of a sudden you're seeing different foods that you have never seen in China. If you can push your way through the crowds, then you are in for a treat (both literally and figuratively).
Tarts, cider, bread, meat, pastries. So many foods that you associate with halal foods and other parts of the world have found their way into the very heart of Xi'an, one of the biggest cities in the Chinese Interior. Meet stuffed into flaky buns. Pomegranate juice made from freshly squeezed pomegranates. Sticky rice on a stick, painted rice patties. Turkish ice cream and bread that actually tasted like bread--not the crumbly, sweet stuff they try to pass off as bread in Hangzhou but real, dense bread (and sometimes with curry mixed in). Needless to say, we ate our way through the Muslim District!
Another part of Xi'an that we knew we had to visit was the wall surrounding the city. Just outside our hostel across the street, was the wall so we were nice and close! Paying 54元 (太贵了！), we went through the North gate (which is, ironically, in the south of the city) and began to make our way along the uneven cobblestone path. The wall is so wide that it doesn't seem too crowded. You can take a trolley car or rent a bike to help you make your way all around the wall. Sadly, Adam and I only made it halfway in about four hours before we decided that we were too tired to keep going!
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| Always touch the doorknobs for good luck!! |
Xi'an is also quite a religious city, despite the fact that China is an agnostic (or even atheist) country. Taoism and other ancient Chinese religions have a strong influence not only in Xi'an but in the region as well with the holy Mount Hua (华山) about 75 miles away. There are several churches and a heavy Islamic influence with seven mosques in the city. There are also several Buddhist temples within the city walls and without. There are two Buddhist pagodas just outside the city walls--either a short metro ride or a long walk away--called the Small Wild Goose Pagoda and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Adam and I approached the question of which one to go see with, "Go big or go home," so we took the metro outside the city walls and made our way to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the original pagoda was built during the Tang Dynasty in 652AD but was rebuilt in 704AD and has survived several devastating earthquakes (even though it does lean to one side now). Today it is surrounded by a flea market, people trying to take photos of you in traditional Tang Dynasty outfits, a huge fountain, and girls dressed in Communist uniforms (complete with a Chairman Mao bag) selling green tea ice cream.
Our feet tired from the walk to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, I decided to take Adam to something that is a must if you ever visit any Asian country--the Kissing Fish Spa. I first heard about these "spas" in Japan where you would go to the "fish doctor" and submerge your entire body into a warm pool where little fish would eat the dead skin off of you. Apparently, these spas are all over Asia, though most of them just focus on your feet. I visited a kissing fish spa in Yangshuo during Spring Festival in January (which you can read about here) and loved it so when I saw one in the Muslim District, I knew I wanted to take Adam there. His reaction was similar to mine: panic, shock, and then nervous laughter as the fish swam between his toes. We sat back for the next half hour and just enjoyed the slightly masochistic sensation of fish eating the skin off our feet.
Right across from the Kissing Fish Spa, was the Great Mosque, the largest mosque in Xi'an. Since Adam's interest in Islam has been heightened since his visit to Turkey, we knew we had to go in and 25 元 later, we realized that the Great Mosque looked nothing like what a mosque would generally look like. It appeared to be just another Chinese temple with a single arch with Arabic written across it. A bit disappointing but sadly expected. We just need to get out west to Xinjiang to see actual mosques in China!
There are some delicious foods that you must have when you are in Xi'an and the Shaanxi province in China. The first is kind of like a hamburger--meat stuffed into a flaky bread bun (I ate WAY too many of these). They are known for their dumplings as well as a fat, flat noodle called biangbiang and a delicious curry/mutton/noodle (because China always needs a noodle or rice)/super thick, dense bread soup called Yangrou Paomo that is the most delicious thing I have ever eaten in China. Where the food in Hangzhou is like white Wonder Bread--boring, flavorless, and flat--the food in Xi'an is like a multigrain pita--thick, dense, filled with different tastes and textures.
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| Adam in his happy place. |
Biang noodles and the character for biang noodles with 58 strokes... CRAZY!!
You rip the thick bread apart yourself and then they add the magic to the bowl!
The holiday in Xi'an was relaxing, enjoyable, and showed me a city that I really had little desire to go see but one that I quickly fell in love with. The different people, faiths, food, and language make it a fascinating place to visit. It is a mecca for history buffs and a gateway for thrill seekers... Nearby was the ancient terracotta warriors and the sacred and holy Mount Hua...
Stay tuned for those adventures!!
国庆快乐!!
Happy National Day!!
Until Next Time,
Amanda
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