ok so spent a full day in xian
people think we are celebrities and they want to take our pics and hold their children in pics
went to see the terra cotta army
there is so many terra cotta figures everywhere kinda takes away the appeal
looks reminiscent of egypt in the clay pits

i had actually bought a box set of warriors at the great wall for 130 yuen
now some guy is offering the same box for 20 so i bought a second one and got most of the group to buy one too
just came back from a dinner dance show
it was really nice, in the geisha type costumes and twirling ribbons
made some videos
this is actually on tv everyday so have been watching quite a bit of it

went back to see the muslim bazaar and the great mosque
there are actually two mosques, the arabic style one and the pagoda style
the great mosque is pagoda style like a buddist temple
it was prayer time so i got to pray and made some videos too
everyone was looking at me for taking pics but they didnt mind

xian was the start of the silk road and dates back to before greek times
this was the seat of the emporers before beijing
lots of silk rugs in china, not what i expected
the first muslims came here in the 7th century
i found a picture of musharraf at the great mosque too
the mosque was built in the 7th century also, hard to believe its that old

bought some food in the bazaar area
the guy looked european and i asked if he was turkish but he said he was from xinjiang province
also tried buying a muslim hat for me and the baby and gathered the whole street trying to figure it out
the hats are very decorated with beads so i was trying to ask if it was a boys hat or a girls
they dont speak english so it was quite interesting
also bought some naan bread
lots of meat and central asian dishes, not chinese noodle style
took lots of pics and videos

xian is definately the highlight of the trip and much better than beijing
aside from the terra cotta army, xian is a walled city in a rectangle, 5 miles by 3 miles
at the centre is the bell tower and drum tower
behind the drum tower is the muslim food street
to the right angle of that is the muslim quarter which is a quarter of the walled city

there is so much history and culture here, more traditional of asia what you would expect
the alleyways and rickshaws, street vendors
then the muslim quarter and mosque which gives it a whole other dimension too

anyway, onto shanghai tomorrow
lots of shopping and skyscrapers there