Xian Day 1 – 10/25

Today we traveled to Xian (about a 2 hour flight). As one of the oldest cities in Chinese history, Xian is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. The inner city of Xian is surrounded by an ancient large stone city wall. As a tourist attraction people walk (4 hours), bike (2-3 hours), or take a golf cart on the top of the wall (1 hour). Knowing us you probably guessed that we took the golf cart. HA! You are wrong for once. Motivated by watching other people bike we decided that was the best choice. To our surprise it really took 2 hours of biking to make it around. It was amazing to think that people actually built this one hand laid brick at a time. After our bike ride (and complaining about how out of shape we are) we walked to the center of the inner city – the Bell Tower.

True to its name the Bell Tower houses a Bell. In ancient times the bell was hit at dawn to alert the town’s folk that the new day was beginning. If you think this sounds neat than you are in luck because you can pay to ring the bell too. Due to traffic driving circles around the Bell Tower you have to go underground to reach it. It is basically like a subway, but without the trains.

Around a block to the north and west of the Bell Tower was a restaurant I saw on television prior to coming to China which was famed as one of the best dumpling places in China. It is called Da Fa Chang Dumpling Restaurant. The restaurant has an 18 course dumpling meal where many of the dumplings are made to look like the food they are made from. The meal was good and the dumplings were quite cute.

After dinner we went to the Drum Tower which was about another block to the west. Like the Bell Tower it is named for the drum used to tell time. The drum was hit at dusk. Seemingly like all things in China the towers and city wall are lit up at night. Both towers also have stages (for musical shows) and shops in them.

After our trip to the Drum Tower we went to Muslim Street. Muslims in China? That’s right! Believe it or not Xian has 8.1 million people and 70% are Muslim (at least according to a tour guide). Muslim Street is both a day and night market. It is very crowed, but you will find the best deals on souvenirs in the city.

Take a guess what these dumplings were made of...