China - Xi An : What to eat in Xi An

Xi An - Sep 2015

Drum Tower 西安鼓楼 is located in the heart of Xi An and offers incredible views of Xi An. 

It is next to the Muslim Quarter 回民街 where you can easy settle for dinner after a long day. You can find all the traditional must eat food in Muslim Quarter . 

Osmanthus flower tea cake 桂花糕

Kabobs 烤串儿

Soup Dumpling (灌汤包)

Yogurt milk 酸奶

Pork Sandwiched Between Pita Bread (肉夹馍). The queue was crazily long but it cleared up very fast. This is one of my favorites.

Stir Fried Bean Jelly  炒凉粉

This is my favourite of all but it was abit oily though. 

Cold Noodles 凉皮

This looks very carnivores.

HAHA it has this weird hairclip trend going on then.

I bought myself a couple of those. I think I looked like a mad woman LOL

stirred fried chilli potato

Biang Biang Mian looks our our mee hoon kuay

"Biang" is one of the most complex chinese character which does not exist in the chinese dictionary.

How the character came about:

一点上了天

黄河两道弯

八字大张口

言字往进走

你一扭 我一扭

你一长 我一长

当中加个马大王

心字底

月字旁

留个钓搭挂麻糖

坐着车车逛咸阳

Lastly, this was our last mac breakfast - luncheon meat crepes, soya milk and hashbrown.

China - Xi An : Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum + Qian Ling Masoleum

Xi An - Sep 2015

Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum 秦始皇陵

The Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang is the largest imperial tomb in China with the richest buried objects. It is situated about 1.5 km east from the Terracotta Warrior Museum.

The tomb mound itself at present days still remains largely not excavated but a number of high technologies were used to explore part of the site. The underground museum has been located at the center of the mound. 

According to the scientific exploration and partial excavation, they found a significant amount of metal is present in the underground which constituted a very good drainage system that appeared did not has any flood incident before.

However, some believe that if the underground museum is fully excavated, it would cause the mercury to volatilize quickly. China's current technology is not able to deal with this large scale of the underground excavation yet.

Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum 秦始皇陵

Entrance fee: March 1 - end of November: CNY150; December 1 - end of Februay: CNY120

Opening hours: March 16 to November 15: sell ticket from 08:30 to 17:00, stop check-in at 18:35; 

November 16 to next March 15: sell ticket from 08:30 to 16:30, stop check-in at 18:05

Qianling Mausoleum 乾陵

Qianling Mausoleum is the joint tomb of Emperor Tang Gaozong and his Empress Wu Zetian (the only Empress in the Chinese History).

There are pairs of winged horses and rose finches along the sacred path. Ancient Chinese supreme rulers wanted their afterlife would be prosperous so they often had propitious creatures, birds, beasts placed in front of their mausoleum to guard them. 

Unlike other tablets located at the site, this tablet has no written inscriptions. This is the tablet of Empress Wu Zetian. Usually tablet would bear a description of the deceased's achievement, however the Empress believed that her achievement should be written by her future generation instead of by herself.

Qianling Mausoleum 乾陵

Go to railway station east square and take Tourist Bus #3 to QianLing masoleum (2hrs ride)

Bus ticket: CNY18

Entrance fee: March 1 to November 30: CNY 122; December 1 to the end of next February: CNY 82

Opening hours: March 1 to November 30: 08:00-18:00; December 1 to the end of next February: 08:30-17:30

China - Xi An : The Ancient City Wall of Xi An

Xi An - Sep 2015

Xian is one of the oldest cities in China and has thousand years of history. 

Xian City Wall was built in the 14th century Ming Dynasty under the regime of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. It is now still the most complete city wall that has survived in China and also one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

View of Drum Tower from the city wall

One of the best ways to cover the whole City Wall (13.7km in length) is to cycle around the four corners. It takes around 1.5 to 2 hours for a full cycle. Bicycle rental services is available on the top of the wall.

.

 The bicycle deposit is CNY 200. The single bicycle costs CNY 45 for 2 hours. The tandem bicycle costs CNY 90 for 2 hours.

Here we go~

Entrance fee: CNY 54 for adults.

South Gate: 8:00 - 22:00

East/North/West Gate, Wenchang Gate,  Heping Gate, Shangde Gate:

Apr: 8:00 - 18:00; May to Oct: 8:00 - 19:00; Nov to next Mar: 8:00 - 18:00

Hanguang Gate: 8:00 - 17:30