Today, we had a fun opportunity to take a stroll through the possibly famous or at least popular Muslim Quarter and market in Xi’an.

Very friendly, very safe, very colorful and entertaining area.

The hardest challenge in the market was to not purchase or sample some of the local delicacies.  Xi’an is known for its noodles and this was one shop that was hard to pass up, but we did not want to spoil our dinner plans.

Once in market, you can take a side street and go visit the famous Great Mosque.  It is certainly quite old, but represents a lot of history for the large Sunni population in Xi’an.

There are about 4 rings/walls or layers in the compound which are full of architecture and historical buildings.

You cannot enter the mosque, but it is setup for daily prayers for approximately 1,000 people.  You can see that they have prayer rugs for everyone and you do not need to bring your own.

Unfortunately, we were planned to only spend 2 days in Xi’an which is disappointing as it is a really nice city. We were really enjoying trying out some of the local foods.  Since we are taking a high speed train south tomorrow, we went to the local supersized grocery store to pick up some tasty snacks for the long ride.

The train station in Xi’an is massive in size.  There are not any shops or stores in the station like you would see in Beijing, but there are few local food stands if you are hungry while waiting for your train.  Unfortunately, we were so early, the popular “duck neck” shop was not open so we missed out before boarding our train.

I have to admit, the bathrooms on the train were actually decent in size and quite clean.  You are gently warned before using them that since they are sterilized, you MUST use them at ease!

Stay tuned to tomorrow, will be having some surprise updates planned!