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Last day in Xian (China)
Today we started after lunch with a city tour… the tour guide will take us around downtown of Xian (City wall, Bell Tower, Muslim community) before bringing us back to the Xian airport for a goodbye to “Xian”…
We found a really cool market by our hotel the night before. But the market started closing as it got dark, so we asked a shop owner what time the day market started?
But well, I wasn’t sure that we got the right answer because I wasn’t sure that they understood what I was trying to ask (I’m Thai, she’s Chinese, and we are speaking English). But it seems, this market is open every day starting at 9.00am.
I don’t know what to call this market, and our tour guide had no idea about this market as well (she said, there is only one market in Xian and it’s at Muslim community…so she doesn’t know about this one). So I took the picture of the Chinese sign in front this market, and sent to our tour agent. The tour agent read it out in English as “Shuyuanmen”….
I hope that helps…but if not, try like us! We walk from our stinky hotel to the south gate for a Subway sandwich (it’s an American thing).
In the morning we came to this market too early, it was about 8am and some sellers were just starting to set up their shop. So we walked over the street to the other side and it looked like a food zone!
So many kinds of food carts around this area, there are so many foods for you to try. But I’m ok with just Dunkin’s Donuts in the mall on the opposite site.
We walked back to the shopping area. I like this market, it’s kind of cool.
There are so many types of products, like Xi’an souvenirs including small copies of terracotta warriors, wood-carved Buddhas and dragons, Tang tricolored pottery, handmade paper cut outs, folk art, and also fake western products.!.
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But for me, I liked the personalized STAMPS CARVE shop made from jade or rock. They have so many styles of carvings in many sizes for your selection. Once your pick, they will carve the bottom of the stamp part while you wait.
I tried very hard to get one for “Somethingjam.com” but it’s hard and a long conversation to explain this, in the end I got just “JAM”…. It’s OK, I like it!
The one I picked has a happy Buddha on top. The seller wanted Y85 but I told him that I wanted it at Y50 ($8), and he’s OK with that 😉
But if you checked this out at the Chengdu airport the prices are about Y400++ each!
This might be a really good gift idea for someone. I don’t know what to call this but the sign said “Feng Shi Tao Xun”. It looks like an eggs but it’s an ancient musical instrument (at least that’s what they said… I’m not so sure about that one). The seller shows us how it works, and it’s a nice sounding flute.
I think they made it from clay (just like the terra cotta warriors) but it’s a nice picture etched in it, and it sounds nice (Chinese art, dragon, flowers…). Oh, it’s breakable!
The small size cost about Y100 each, but different cords have different prices, in other words “G” and “F” which will give you a different tone are priced differently.
We just picked the one that sounded nice and had a nice picture on top….
Shopping time!!! I think this is best time ever!!!
This is the shop of embroidery and silk screen pictures. I wasn’t sure that all the pictures are made from Chinese silk or not? But it all looks great! I got so many of them at prices as low as Y50 and up…
But we were not sure that our tour guide will bring us back in the afternoon, because she said she will take us to the only one market in Xian (and what about this one? Should be the same one?…). So we just shop as much as we could…and thought that we would come back here again (?).
Got more stuff to put in the same bags we had! It’s good that I have a talent about packing, so I can shop more…!
Next we met our tour guide at the lobby with all our bags because we needed to check out. Our driver put our bags in his car (I’m sure that he wondered that why it’s heavier!!!)
It’s time for our real program tour for today.
The guide took us to the City Wall first, and I just realized that I’ve seen parts of this wall already. It’s a real big wall that surrounds the city and I was inside the city wall for 2 nights?!?!?!
This city wall is more than 600 years old, don’t be confused with the Great wall in Beijing (that’s much longer!!!).
The city wall is about 39 feet tall, and about 8.7 miles distance!!!
I’m on top of city wall…it’s so wide about 2 big street lanes!
For snipers, it’s very high from the ground!
Our guide suggested riding a bike over the city wall, and this might be HIGHLIGHT if we can do it in the morning (while it’s still cool)!
We picked the twin bicycle (so romantic? But if you read more, you may think NOT AT ALL!)
The rent is Y80 or $14 for 100 minutes (you need to put Y100 for deposit).
See? It’s so romantic on the twin bicycle!
It’s so hot and a little far, 8.7 miles! (We had to ride until we got bact to where we started because the tour guide was waiting there).
We were so tried, and didn’t stop for sightseeing at all. So I would recommended you to go to the south gate and get the bike on your own time (no rush, and not hot!)…
Well, it took about 45 minutes for the ride.
After I got a nice sun burn on the bike, the guide took us for a short ride to the Bell Tower, the symbol of Xi’an.
The Bell Tower is a wooden structure topped with dark green tiles. It is an ancient building with traditional Chinese architectural, and beautifully lit at night.
The tower was built in 1384 by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang as a way to dominate the surrounding countryside and provide early warning of attack by rival rulers.
The Bell Tower, which is the landmark marking the center of Xi’an, and within the city wall (blue line) that surrounds downtown.
In the past, vehicles were allowed to pass through the arches and under the tower, but as the city has grown the volume of traffic has become too great, so a bright, spacious pedestrian subway has been constructed under the tower. The entrance to the tower is from this subway.
There are so many shopping malls surround the Bell tower, with the streets and walkways full of life, and people.
Before our guide stopped for shopping, she took us to the Muslim Quarters. The mosque of Xi’an is a surprise, without many signs connecting to muslim art and architecture!!
This mosque was built in 742 AD during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). This was a result of Islam being introduced into Northwest China by Arab merchants and travellers from Persia and Afghanistan during the mid-7th century when some of them settled down in China and married women of Han Nationality.
The entrance or exit way to Muslim is the bazaar, a wide area of stalls selling just about anything.. . Funny little streets with a hive of activity (almost like JJ market in Bangkok), carts being pulled, bicyles being ridden, people racing along, tourists shopping, kids playing – good place to visit!!!
This is the only market that our tour guide knew…but It’s a good thing that we did shop in the morning because we don’t have to worry to pack at the airport anymore…
It’s time to fly back to Chengdu, for our last night here…I stayed at the Shangri-La, I really loved this hotel – Five Star!
I hope you will enjoy this trip…
That’s all for our 5 days trip in Chengdu – Xian for this time, but this is not all about China…
Have you visited the “Forbidden City, or Great Wall” in Beijing, the capital city of China??? Stay tuned…for that update next!
