After Beijing, Ke and I headed to Xi’an. I love Xi’an! I’ve visited twice before and the biggest difference this time was we didn’t sightsee at night. Xi’an comes alive at night! Here are my previous posts on top things to do in Xi’an, the Muslim Quarter at night, and Xi’an during Chinese New Year.
Family and Food
This time around we got SUPER lucky with great weather and spent most of our time outside at local parks and eating out with family. For the first couple of days we stayed with Ke’s aunt and uncle. It rained as well so we had some time to relax. Afterwards, we got a large Airbnb so Ke’s other aunt and uncle, who lives about an hour from Xi’an, could spend some time with us and the baby.
My very first meal in Xi’an was niu rou bing! It’s my favorite Xi’an street food – beef, scallions, and some pepper in a crispy flaky bun. We also ate all of my favorite Xi’an staples – liang pi, hand pulled noodles, soba noodles with wasabi, lamb dumplings, and lots Xinjiang food.
Xi’an City Wall
During my first time in Xi’an, Ke and I rented bikes and biked around the city wall. This time, we walked a small section of it before heading down to enjoy the park on the south side of the wall. It was so beautiful and relaxing and also a great break from the shadeless wall.
The Muslim Quarter
The Muslim Quarter is probably the biggest attraction within Xi’an. The famous Xi’an bell tower and drum tower are located here as well as the Great Mosque of Xi’an. We came here super early on a weekday to enjoy the weather and the mosque, crowd free.
Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Tang Paradise
We spent an afternoon at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, followed by Tang Paradise. I’ve been to both places before but wanted to go again on a weekday to enjoy the good weather and no crowds. Tang Paradise is walking distance from the pagoda – this isn’t a must see attraction since it’s an amusement park haha but it is a ton of fun, especially during Chinese New Year.
Daming Palace and Bookstore
The new spots we hit up on this trip were Daming Palace and one of Xi’ans popular bookstores. Daming Palace is a gigantic park area north of Xi’an. It reminded me of Central Park. We went on a ridiculously hot day but hopped around shady areas.
Afterwards we went to a popular Instagrammable bookstore. Extravagant bookstores are becoming very popular in China and most large cities have a few beautiful ones worthy of a quick stop. We bought some children’s books for Noey and a couple of versions of Pride and Prejudice for me 😀
Next Stop
After Xi’an we headed to the Sichuan region, specifically Chongqing and Chengdu! I wasn’t able to live blog like I wanted to but can’t wait to catch up on blogging and share our photos from Sichuan!
