For lunch I headed up from where the two main buddhist temples are to the muslim quarter. Already from here you could see arabic architecture in the distance. About a 10 minute walk north you are in the muslim district. The first thing you see is a giant white domed arabic structure. This is in fact a new musque under construction next to the old mosque. Unlike my visit to Xinjiang province in August, these are ethnic Hui Chinese Muslims, not Uyghars. Hui Chinese are the same as Han Chinese, just that they practice a seperate religion. They speak the same, eat the same food, listen to the same music. So no persian arabic influences as there was in Xinjiang except for some architecture as they are essentially 'chinese' people. If they dont wear traditional muslim clothes you cant tell them apart. The old mosque is for the Hui Muslim Chinese and built in traditional chinese style New Central Mosque under Construction. The minaret is seperate from the mosque and is a tall thin pagoda type structure. The main hall is a seperate building, as is the womens prayer area, and other community rooms. When I got there midday prayers were already in progress. There was also a private function for a wedding and I think the groom was in traditional dress welcoming people from the door. Some people in the mosque would stare at me, curious as to where I was from, others were brave enough to say 'salaam'. Video : Hohhot Hui Muslim Mosque
http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=oovK0-PBu4g A man, I think the caretaker, tried to talk to me, as people were curious about my appearance and why I was taking pictures. I kept telling him 'pakistan' but he didnt understand. So I had to explain to him and draw a map Xinjiang Province in China, the town of Kashgar which he understood, then pointed arrows south to afghanistan, pakistan, india, which he sort of understood now.
Outside the mosque are stalls selling baked goods Muslim Flat Cake Vendors. At first I didnt know what they were so asked to try one. They have flat items with printed designs on the top that come in various sizes from teacup size to pizza size. It was a shortbread biscuit on the outside with a filling of almonds, dates, fruits, and other nuts so quite tasty. I bought the pizza size one for 20Y ($3) but the smalles ones start from 2Y (.30 cents). Earlier I had another baked item for 2Y (.30 cents). I would describe this as if you were baking a cake and opened the oven door and it went flat, and you forgot to put in sugar. So they are giant flat muffin sized objects but tasted quite good anyway. The streets around the mosque are the muslim bazaar where I was looking for something to eat. I found one place but we couldnt communicate so we had to just point. She gave me two chicken dishes and rice for 10Y ($1.50). It was noodle chicken, peanut chicken, and tea. Video : Hohhot Muslim Bazaar
http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=8qBZb3K-tv4 Now that I had eaten I had time to wander around Arabic Styled Street. In the bazaar they were selling different types of roast chicken. They had chicken feet and chicken neck. They also had seperate chicken heads. Even more bizzare they had whole chicken which means the entire chicken roasted with its head, neck, and feet. The other side of the main street was a bridge leading to another mosque in the distance. Crossing the main street is an adventure with 4 lanes of traffic each way. Red lights and crossing signals dont mean its safe for pedestrians, just means cars may stop and pedestrians can walk with turning traffic and other vehicles. You slowly cross one lane at a time or go with other people to make less of a target. So I crossed the large bridge over the river to another mosque with a simpler interior. Coming back I saw a cathedral on the reverse side of the river I was heading back to so stopped in to look. Then facing the original side of the main street again I saw another mosque. I wandered thru a couple of side streets to here. There was a large wedding party going on one floor so I took pics from the doorway. People were telling me to go inside. I dont know if to take pics or to have a meal but I didnt think it would be polite either way Crossing Eight Lanes of Traffic. As I left I saw yet another mosque on the other side of the street again. So I had to criss cross this main street of 8 lanes of traffic several times finding all the mosques in a couple of city blocks. By this time I was tired from the morning visiting all the temples and took the bus back to rest. The bus went thru a shopping mall district that was completely packed like Oxford St in London. Later I tried to wander around the neighbourhood of the hostel. I found a KFC at one end of the stret. Most expensive item was 15Y ($2.25). Then I found a supermarket with some more of the moon cakes for 2Y (.30 cents). Then I found a restaurant street opposite the hostel street. They had two muslim restaurants facing each other. I had kebabs in the less fancy one for 5Y each (.75 cents). I planned to goto the fancy one the next day for a last big meal. Video : Hohhot Restaurant Street
http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=NRTnP-32BFI Mongolian writing is confusing as its like arabic turned sideways New Mosque. They even use some of the same letters. It confusing looking for a muslim restaurant and thinking the mongolian is a muslim one. As it got darker and more flashing neon lights came on both restaurants had a music war going on with their turkish style music. The fancy restaurant had more powerful speakers so drowned out the one I had kebabs at. Video : Hohhot Muslim Restaurants Music War
http://www.you tube.com/watch?v=lb1xm8H8_W8 Internet in the hostel was cheap at 4Y an hour (.60 cents) or 1Y per 15 mins. Surprisingly Hotmail was not blocked as it had been when I was in Shanghai and Xinjiang. Facebook was still blocked. Also everything seems calm, no army on the streets like in Xinjiang.
Tomorrow get to go on my overnights grasslands tour, sleep in the yurt, and ride horses so excited about that. ORIGINAL ENTRY WITH ALL PICS IS HERE Read more: http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-e ntries/londone7/1/1316369140/tpod.html# ixzz1cgpZh4t4