It was rather muggy out when we checked into the Bell Tower Youth Hostel upon arrival the next morning. The hostel walls were adorned with tags, illustrations, and country flags of the people who had stayed here.
As the name would imply, the hostel was right at the centre of Xi'an, across from the Drum & Bell Tower, so we ventured out to discover it for ourselves. To our surprise, these towers were more impressive than the ones in Beijing in that they were restored to its former glory with drum and bell performances throughout the day. We met up with a few friends we met here in Beijing to take part in the delightful concerts.
The Great Mosque was another attraction in Xi'an which was also walking distance from our hostel. Friends have told me that the food found in restaurants along the Beiyuanmen Islamic street are not to be missed, and they were right! We indulged in lamb kebabs, among other things, by the mouthful and returned to this Muslim quarter time after time for more great eats. The streets were also bustling with vendors hawking everything from t-shirts, trinkets, toys, fake goods, art, and novelty gifts. One of the more interesting things I found here was a traditional flute called Tao Xun, a bulb-shaped instrument made of pottery clay with small holes placed at the front and back of it, with a larger hole (the mouth piece) at the top. These flutes had various designs etched on the front of it. I bought one with a beautiful motif of a panda eating bamboo, another of a lotus leaf, and yet another one with cherry blossoms on it, all for only five kuai each! The other treasure I found was that of a beautiful woodcut print depicting an image of a man irrigating in a tall bamboo forest at night with another man holding up a lantern assisting him. This woodcut print stood out among all the rest when I walked into the shop owned by Professor Ding Ji Tang and his daughter. Marion, Corina, and I were drawn to his works of art and were further intrigued in his history in China as an art professor. This elder gentleman spoke in broken English about his post at the Chinese Ministry of Culture during Mao's Cultural Revolution and showed us newspaper and magazine clippings to paint a picture. We listened with fascination.
Our trip in Xi'an wouldn't have been nearly as fun as it was without the local CSers we met there. LEOYE and TONYART filled our evenings with dinner gatherings and several nights of clubbing with their friends and took us to their favourite restaurants and clubs in the city. Along with more pork and lamb kebabs, we also tried something called Belt Noodle, a wide and long noodle resembling a belt in a big bowl of spicy soup, which required some skill to pick up with a chopstick as it was heavy as well. Our three nights of drinking and clubbing carried on into the wee hours of the morning so we had to be considerate of our dorm-mates being as quiet as a mouse when returning to our beds at the hostel. As a result, we never really got to know the five other guests we shared the room with as they would leave for their own excursions just a few hours after our return.
We had one exception, however, with a friendly guy from India named Chou. A professional photographer here for only one night, we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors together. Seeing firsthand the rows of these soldiers, all of which had individual faces, was quite a sight.
From the Huaqing Hot Springs we visited afterwards to the Stone Tablet Forest and Xi'an History Museum on another day, not to mention the Big Goose Pagoda where monks were seen walking around with mobile phones to their ears, Xi'an offered us so much that we went back to the railway station to extend our stay from four to five nights! Much thanks to the Singaporean bar owner we befriended at one of the bars along the bar street for the round of beers on the house!
Needless to say, Marion, Corina, and I had the time of our lives. Xi'an, we miss you!
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