I’ve been to Xi’an twice already, but that didn’t stop me from going a third time.
I went twice on my year abroad. The first time I went, I did all the main touristy things. I also fell in love with the Muslim Quarter. The second time, I only had about a day and a half, but I loved it just as much. This time was no different – we got amazing weather and had a really fun day or two.
We got in on the overnight train from Beijing at around 5am. We took a taxi to our hostel and collected ourselves.
We got Catriona on a bus to the Terracotta Warriors and then wandered around a bit in town. We decided to go outside the city walls to the newer part of town. There was supposed to be a good bookshop, so I wanted to check it out.
It was the big Xinhua bookstore south of the city walls. It’s so beautiful inside – very modern. They had a pretty cool (read: expensive) selection of stationery and quite a lot of books.
We then met back up with Catriona and went to the south gate of the ancient city walls to rent bikes and cycle around. I did this the first time I was in Xi’an, but this time it was warm and sunny instead of cold and smoggy. It was so much better.
We passed this woman running in 30C+ heat in all black. Her face and hands were even covered to protect her from tanning. She was wearing GLOVES!
We then wandered around the art district, which is just inside the city walls at the south gate – off to the right when you enter the city through the south gate. It’s a really great place to buy art supplies as well as calligraphy and art to hang up. You can also get someone to custom paint a fan for you – probably anything you want. It’s really amazing to see all the art there.
We then walked towards the Muslim Quarter. We took a break in a cafe to give our feet a rest and to cool down. We wanted to get to the Muslim Quarter around sunset/dinnertime.
We walked around and got some skewers and naan (馕) bread. I feel like they’ve really upped the prices there recently. You can definitely eat good food for less in Xi’an.
The next morning, we went to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda. Before we left our area, we made a stop at my favorite food stall in all of China. I also posted about this in the last blog post about Xi’an. It’s right at the corner of Beidajie (North St) and 5th Road. It’s next to the old-looking Xinhua bookstore. Their best thing is the potato and tofu sandwiches 土豆夹馍. Don’t ask for extra chili – I thought I could handle it but it is really salty and really spicy!
I have never been so excited to be reunited with food.
The pagoda is a bit far out from the city center, but it’s easy to get there on the subway. The whole place is really built up – I wasn’t expecting that. It’s also kind of expensive to get in, but worth it. The temple inside is really beautiful. There is some amazing artwork.
One room depicted the life of the Buddha with murals made out of jade. JADE! Those are the natural colors of the jade. I found that really amazing.
Some rooms were more grand and modern.
You could also see the space they use for meetings. It was so nice to visit a living temple, rather than one that has been preserved as a relic.
After the pagoda, we went back into town. We tried to go to the provincial art museum, but accidentally ended up in the provincial library, which incidentally had an exhibition on calligraphy, which was amazing.
We walked next door to the art museum. It was free to get in! There was a huge exhibit of artwork by local school kids which was pretty cute. Some of it was really impressive though!
There was also a good exhibit by the photographer Yu Ping. The exhibit was all photos of old houses from all over China. I really enjoyed it.
We then headed to the train station! We had a four hour journey on the bullet train to Chengdu! It was so nice to spend time in Xi’an again. It’s my favorite city in China and it’s always a pleasure to go back to my favorite spots. I hope I have time to explore more new places next time I visit.
