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Taking a rest at one of the corners of the wall
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Today was a day to roam the streets of Xi'an to get our bearings. We're lucky our hotel is in central to everything and inside the city walls. Today, we decided to roam Xi'an's city walls. These city walls were built during the old Tang Dynasty (610-907AD) and is one of the complete city walls that has survived in China. From what I read, people recommended biking the city walls, which is about 13.7 kilometres in length all round. So I thought, why not! Let's say after about 10 minutes, I was puffed out! Hahaha goes to show how unfit I am! What was also funny was that the bikes were only hired for 100 minutes so we had 100 minutes to soak in the sights and bike ride. You were able to return the bikes at each end of the wall. Although I felt like giving up, Lee told me to power on, and we managed to bike ride the whole city wall in about an hour and a half. That was a record for me and my exercise for the rest of the trip! It was a great ride. Having the wind on you while you bike and seeing the sights from above and below was amazing. To know that the wall was used as a military defence system was also amazing. It was a great experience!
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| Part of the wall. Yep, we rode all the way! |
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| Another part of the city wall. Amazing! |
We decided to head to the Muslim Quarter and the Great Mosque. The Great Mosque is one of the oldest and best preserved Islamic mosques in China. It was really interesting to head into the Mosque as it was a clash of both cultures. There was Chinese architecture with Islamic writing on the structures. It's so weird every time we head into a temple or the Mosque, it just feels so serene. There's no street noise. It all seems to be blocked out, and you can feel a sense of history and can imagine what it was like back in the day. Anyway, at the end of the Mosque was the prayer hall (although we weren't allowed to enter.) It was so interesting to see a mosque in the middle of Xi'an!
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| The entry into the Mosque |
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| The actual mosque. You can see the arabic writing on the sign |
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| Inside the mosque |
Around the same area was the bell and drum tower which is central to Xi'an. I wanted to see both as we didn't get to see the bell and drum tower in Beijing but unfortunately they are both under construction until Feb 2013. Do'h!
So we walked around Xi'an's muslim quarter. Looking around, you can really see the strength of Muslims in this area. Around this area, you can see street vendors selling everything, plenty of street food, cheap scarves and trinkets and attached to the Muslim quarter was a market. Yay! There are men street vendors wearing white caps, and women wearing the traditional hijab in bright colours! Such an interesting area to see in the middle of one of the oldest cities in China!
-V
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| Part of the Muslim Quarter Pedestrian Street |
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| A lot of people, food and cheap clothes! |
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| The muslim quarter at night |
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