Sunday, 17 November 2024
We have been planning our China trip for a few months. After much planning, we decided to do a 2 city visit, starting with Xi’an, followed with Beijing. Our AirAsia flight was scheduled at 6PM on 17 November 2024. We arrived at KLIA2 at 2:30PM. I collected our roaming wifi from Roaming Man. After checking-in, we went for lunch at Oriental Kopi. I love the feeling of being in KLIA2 as there are a lot of shops. It’s literally like a shopping mall in an airport.
Our flight departed on time at 6PM. Despite being on AirAsia’s premium flatbed, there was no in-flight entertainment. Good thing I downloaded a number of movies on my iPad to keep me occupied.
We landed at 11PM. There was no visa required for Malaysian visitors, we get to stay up to 15 days visa-free (at the time of my visit).
We took sometime to go through immigration as there was a queue. As we exited customs, our tour guide, Lina, was there waiting for us. She greeted us and took us to our hotel.
In Xi’an, we stayed at Holiday Inn Express, a new hotel in the city.
We reached the hotel around 11:30PM so we went to bed right after checking-in.
Monday, 18 November 2024
Breakfast was just average at the hotel. It was a Holiday Inn Express anyway. I wasn’t used to Chinese style breakfast so I just grabbed some toast and coffee.
After breakfast, Lina took us to our first visit of the day, the Xi’an Bell Tower, which was located in the middle of the city. It was built in 1384 during the Ming Dynasty.
Prior to this trip I had studied Chinese history through a few books (photo above). These books gave me a good high level understanding of what transpired throughout their 5000 year history. With that, I am able to appreciate the historical events and sites I visited during the trip.
The weather at the Bell Tower was pleasantly cold, roughly around 9 – 10 degrees.
From the Bell Tower, we walked to the Drum Tower. Lina explained the history of the 2 towers and about the local communities. It’s a dense area with lots of buildings and people all around.
From there, we walked towards the Muslim Quarter. The Chinese Muslims, also known as Hui Chinese, have a thriving business section in the middle of the city.
We visited the Grand Mosque of Xi’an and had zohur prayers there. Built in 742 CE during the Tang dynasty, the mosque complex retains many of the original architecture. We also met the imam, Haji Muhammad. Interestingly enough, he was able to speak some simple Malay, and said his daughter is currently studying at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM).
From the mosque, we continued walking through the Muslim quarter. We had lunch at one of the restaurants in the area.
At the restaurant, the Muslim owner explained that the Arabic Halal sign has been banned by the Chinese government. It was the government’s effort to sinicize the local Muslims and to eradiate all “foreign” influence. Instead of the arabic Halal sign, the local muslims uses the characters 清真 (Qing Zhen) which literally means “clean pure”, but is understood to mean “halal” or “muslim food”. The 清真 characters are normally on top of the restaurant’s name if they serve halal food.
After lunch, we walked around the muslim quarter and bought some snacks.
From the muslim quarter, we went to the Great Tang All Day Mall. It is a pedestrian street lined with replicas of Tang dynasty buildings. Before exploring Tang Mall, we stopped by for a quick coffee at Luckin Coffee, which was near the mall.
We walked along the Great Tang Mall, admiring the night scene, the lights, and the Tang dynasty themed buildings. The boulevard was wide and very long, almost 1.5KM. We walked about two-thirds of the length before turning back for dinner.
For dinner, the tour agent took us to the Silk Road Restaurant. It was a short walk from the Great Tang Mall. The restaurant served Uyghur food and it was delicious.
Related posts: China 2024 part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5
Imran Jaafar 