XI'AN MUSLIM QUARTER

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Day 9: Pingyao - Xi'an: Xi'an Walls, Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Muslim Quarter, Xi'an Mosque

Today is a day like any other since we started this trip to China for free, so the alarm sounds at 6:30 in the morning and is that today we leave Pingyao, where we arrived yesterday, to go to Xi'an in a fast train, where this afternoon we want to know the Xi'an Muslim Quarter among other places of interest.
There are two options to do the route from Pingyao to Xi'an, the first night train with a journey of about 9 hours or fast train that although it is more expensive, you arrive from Pingyao to Xi'an in 3 hours. After 2 nights by train, we did not doubt that the second option was the best for us.

After eating some cakes that we bought yesterday in a store we left the Pingyao Cheng Jia Hotel.

Red on the streets of Pingyao on the way to the station with our Gladiator suitcases

As soon as we get to the main street, we ask about the price to take us to the old Pingyao station, which is where the fast trains to Xi'an leave from and not the new station that is where we arrived from Datong yesterday. The first thing we do is show the paper written in Chinese in which it indicates every word for word that Helen gave us from ChinaDIYTravel along with the tickets and the man with whom we are talking tells us that by 10RMB they take us by motorcar. So without thinking another second, there we go.

Road to Pingyao Station

When we realize the man is taking us to the new station of Pingyao, not to the fast train station, luck of the CityMaps2Go where we are seeing where we are going and where we are approaching.
When we ask him, showing him the paper again and based on signs, he tells us that from here we have to take a taxi or bus number 103 to get to the other station. Apart from telling us when we are going to pay you that it is not 10RMB but 10RMB per person.

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We understand that we have "cheated"and despite the fact that I was upset, Roger who is much more practical in these cases, tells me to let him pass, that total is not so much money and that we stop a taxi to leave.
Seen what we saw and that we are not going to get anything, we do that and after stopping a taxi, show him the paper and say that it does take us for 30RMB, we got on it hoping it would not take long to arrive.
We arrive at the old station of Pingyao at a quarter to 9 in the morning and the first thing we do after passing the lockers is to go in search of a coffee, as necessary at this time as breathing.
And surprise! Throughout the season there is absolutely nothing to drink a coffee, a tea or anything at all. Only a small store where there is a girl playing with the mobile, something we are seeing everywhere and is that the mobile here in China seems to be an addiction, even more than in Spain.
We spend the time we have left reading and reviewing the planning of today in which we have to visit the Xi'an Muslim Quarter among many other places and when there are a few minutes to 10:05, which is when our train leaves, we pass to platform number 2, which is from the road where the train leaves train from Pingyao to Xi'an.

Pingyao fast train station

Punctual as a clock arrives our train and we ride in our second class car, since although we had asked first, there were no more left when Helen booked the tickets.
Second class is very good, not to say perfectly, on high-speed trains, we have not yet seen first, well yes, in a kind of video they have put in and it looks like business of a flight, but for a 3-hour trip, It is more than enough, if not perfect. We would pay for this space on a plane.

Second class car on the train from Pingyao to Xi'an

We enjoy the journey by train, recreating in the landscapes that we are going through and taking advantage of to review the occasional photo and at 13:12 noon we arrive at Xi'an, which we hope is another of the cherries of this trip to China for free.
As soon as we leave, we go in search of a taxi, assuming that taking the subway will be a difficult task in a city like this and more newcomers, so we follow the signs and take an official taxi with a meter.
Once in it we took the papers from the Xi'an Traveling With Hostel An Yuan Men reservation and we saw that right next door we had a subway station !! These are the mistakes made by not reading all the information before leaving home or making decisions.
In the journey of about 10 kilometers between the station and the accommodation we already have a little idea of what Xi'an is like. Another city similar to Beijing to which we had become unaccustomed in Datong and Pingyao these days ago.
We arrived at the hotel at almost a quarter to two in the afternoon after paying 36RMB for the taxi from the station to the city center, which is where we are located, and seeing that they have a restaurant and cafeteria we do not think much and decided to eat here Before going to visit the city. We check in quickly and after leaving our luggage in the room we go to the terrace where we order a pasta dish, a fried rice plus water and beer for 70RMB that replenish our energies.

Eating in Xi'an

Although we do not finish perfect since they have damaged the coffee machine and we can not do the desktop we expected, so after resting for a while in the room, we start again, this time on the way to the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower, both located in the center of the city, once past the city walls.

Xi'an Walls

As we move along the main street we hallucinate and more remind us of the days we spent in Tokyo in Japan. More and more stores and more and more atmosphere at every step we take.

Before arriving at the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower we see a McDonald's and take the opportunity to have the first coffee of the day for 25RMB that make us return to be people in the first sip.
At 5 we go back to the streets of Xi'an to approach two of its most emblematic places, the Drum Tower and the Xi'an Bell Tower, located next to each other.

Drum Tower in Xi'an

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Bell Tower

We had the idea of entering since the guide states that from the top there are fantastic views of the city, but seeing that they are almost close and that they are modern buildings, we decided to pass by and enter the Xi'an Muslim Quarter, without a doubt the icing on the cake today and one of the best known places in the city.

Xi'an Muslim Quarter

The Muslim Quarter of Xi'an is located north of the Drum Tower and it is practically impossible not to identify it since as we get closer we will discover the hundreds of alleys that have been home to the centuries hui community, Chinese Muslims from Xi'an.

Xi'an Muslim Quarter

The narrow streets of the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an are full of butchers, sesame oil factories, small mosques, men with white hats and women with headscarves.
Undoubtedly a unique place to spend an afternoon of the most entertaining in the city.

Food stalls in the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an

Streets and streets and more streets full of colors, smells and flavors that excite any of our senses and that as the afternoon falls they become much more lively.

Xi'an Muslim Quarter

A network of streets where gastronomy is mixed with handicrafts and shops of everything you want to imagine.
And this is where we get lost for more than two hours, aimlessly, only guided by the smells until the afternoon falls and the Xi'an Muslim Quarter It becomes another party, just as lively but completely different.

Night falls in the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an

Definitely a must see if you are in Xi'an that you will not regret. After these hours we have discovered that Xi'an has much more to offer than his Terracotta Warriors.
At 8 in the afternoon we start the way back to the Xi'an Traveling With Hostel An Yuan Men, going back through the Xi'an Wall, at this time already illuminated.

Xi'an at night

Xi'an walls at night

Knowing that tomorrow it is early to see Xi'an's most famous attraction, its Terracotta Warriors, we bought some sweets in one of the many bakeries we have seen, so that we can have breakfast at the hotel.
Although we go several times around the hotel, in this area we did not find any place to have dinner that no longer has an English menu, if not at least photos, so we decided to have dinner at the hotel some dumplins (which we saw as they did today at noon) and a pizza plus beer and coke for 70RMB.