Day 9: Xi'An / Hangzhou (Sun; 6 Apr)

 Tour 1; Day 5

The schedule:

• Visit the Muslim Quarter and the Great Mosque in Xi'An
• Eastern China Airlines flight from Xi'An to Hangzhou

 First (in my journal) a note that we were told the night before that the airline flight to Hangzhou had a baggage weight limit of 20 kg (44 lb).  This threw most folks into a semi panic as the limit into Beijing (last time we all flew) was 25 kg and we all had "acquired" more stuff than we sloughed off by this point in the trip.  Fortunately Donna had thought ahead to bring our baggage scale and our bags squeaked under the limit at 19+ kg.  The scale became quite popular at the airport amongst our fellow travelers and, as I recall, most of us were within the limit.  Also, as we were traveling as group, word was that they'd take the average baggage weight of the group.  I don't know who or how many, if any, folks were over the limit but we all got on the plane and no one was complaining that their baggage didn't make it.  Maybe a lot of hand-wringing for no reason...

So, on to today's adventure...

The original plan was to board the bus, go the Muslim Quarter (MQ), the Great Mosque (GM), go back to the hotel to checkout, then go to lunch on our way to the airport.  Donna convinced Stony (the tour guide) that maybe we should checkout first, do the MQ and GM, then go to lunch on our way to the airport.  He agreed so that was the new plan.... By now I'm thinking Donna would make a good tour guide in addition to a tour planner...

We boarded the bus at 9 AM for a short (20 min) ride to the MQ that was actually within the Xi'An Wall (as was our hotel).  We got off the bus and walked down the main street of the MQ towards the Drum Tower (DT), Bell Tower (BT) and GM.  There were no cars on main street and scooter traffic was extremely limited, which made the walk pleasant and interesting.  It was only about 10 AM but main street was already crowded (although, with the Terracotta Army crowd in our experience portfolio, this was a walk in the park...).  It was Sunday so maybe more crowded than it would have been during the week. There were vendors of all types along both sides of the street, it did seem that food shops, all kinds of food shops, were dominant though.  At the end of main street we came upon the DT and BT.  The Drum Tower houses a very large drum which is beaten at sunset, in contrast to the adjacent Bell Tower, which houses (you guessed it) a very large bell that is stricken at dawn. The GM is located here (at the end of main street) as well but a bit off of main. We walked through what appeared to be a vendor lined alley, turned a few corners and came upon the very understated, almost obscure entrance to the mosque - quite a contrast to most religious sites we've seen (in China and elsewhere).  The GM is over 1,300 years old and is roughly in the center of early/old Xi'An.  Muslim merchants gathered in the general area having traveled the Silk Road and thus the MQ evolved.  Also of interest, the GM was one of the few religious buildings that survived the Cultural Revolution, reportedly partially due to it's "highly commercial status". The GM was quite impressive.  After the GM tour we did some souvenir shopping then ate at restaurant that was in the MQ and on our way to the bus.  

I don't have any notes in my journal regarding lunch so I assume that it was Chinese banquet style that was neither excellent nor terrible...

The Xi'An airport was an experience I won't soon forget. First, my checked luggage got "tagged" for an extra inspection, apparently due to the non-bladed, "TSA approved" muli-tool that I thought was in my toiletries kit.  After some pointing and head shaking from the security agent and my subsequent rooting around in my suitcase (he didn't speak English and I didn't speak Chinese and at the time I didn't know what he was looking for) I finally dug the multi-tool out after I remembered I'd put it in one of my shoes, showed it to them, particularly the part about no blade, then he had me pack it all back up and re-scanned the bag and I was on my way. Another member of our group had mistakenly put a LiPo battery in her checked luggage - that didn't pass muster during her extra bag check so she put it in her carry-on and all was well.  Well, almost.  We all thought we were pressed for time (in fact, we were) and while she was repacking her suit case her boarding pass (and passport I think) fell into her checked suitcase.  By the time she realized what had happened the suitcase was gone and on it's way to the airplane.  As I was fully occupied immediately after my bag check I don't know how that dilemma was resolved but I think Stony, our tour guide, somehow handled it. I, in the meantime, was getting the full "up close and personal" inspection going through security. Donna waited for me during my secondary checked bag check so were way behind the rest of the group. I don't know how "personal" everyone else's inspection went, but mine was a full pat-down, and I mean a full pat down (I thought maybe the guard and I might be going on a date, or something, later...).  They also had me fully empty my carry-on bag and inspected my LiPo batteries for some time before they decided they were OK.  Donna got the full treatment regarding her batteries as well and they were particularly interested in her curling iron. After what seemed to be quite an extensive security check, we packed up and hoofed it down to the gate and were (I thought) the last to board.  No, the last to board was Stony and the woman who'd "checked" her boarding pass. Like I mentioned, Stony had to do some magic because I'm pretty certain they didn't take all the bags off the airplane to get her pass and passport.  Anyway, after a stressful boarding process we were on our way. I didn't think taking pictures during this process would be helpful - if I had I might still be there! 

Eastern China Airlines seemed to be essentially equivalent to Southwest, but with assigned seating and Airbus A320s instead of Boeing 737s. It was a typical 1:40 airline flight. We deplaned in Hangzhou, got on another tour bus and headed to dinner. There's nothing in my journal regarding dinner so I assume it was Chinese banquet that was neither excellent nor terrible (have you detected a pattern here...). I do see in my journal a note saying the Hangzhou night skyline is spectacular, rivaling (bettering) Las Vegas and New York.  I recall thinking I should be taking pictures of the skyline... but I didn't. The bus got us to the Zhongwei Sunny Hotel and our room was on the 15th floor. It was a very nice room.  We were beat and didn't get to bed until well after 10 PM.

Entrance to the Muslim Quarter

MQ Main Street.  I'm sure it has a real name but I didn't catch it. I was busy "following the flag"...

It seemed that you could buy almost anything here...

... especially food...

... both prepared and not...

... squid (squid-kabobs?) was particularly popular. No, we didn't try it...

The Drum Tower, I think... it might be the Bell Tower.  We ran out of time souvenir shopping so didn't go in either one (to see the big drum or big bell...)

Entrance of alley leading to the Great Mosque

Some of the vendor shops in the alley going to the GM had clever attractions to get you into their shop.  This, a "water-breathing" dragon (in contrast to a fire-breathing dragon, I guess...)

Dragons were popular...

The Great Mosque - we entered at the east end and walked west toward the Prayer Hall, which faces east, as I think they all do...

The entrance to the Great Mosque

Inside the gate there are several buildings.  The architecture was quite elegant...

... and, at times, complex - this, the underside of the roof in the picture above.  Although I don't recall anyone telling us, I think these buildings were all built without nails.

There was a center path leading to the mosque.  Here you're looking through at least 4 arches, gate-like structures, towards the prayer hall.

Or, you could walk down one of the paths on either side of the center path.

There were structures along both sides. I got the sense that some of them were occupied. The multi-story structures behind the immediate single-story buildings were not part of the mosque grounds and were definitely occupied

 

Back on the center path, I think (but memory is a slippery thing...) that this pagoda-like structure was a place to wash your feet prior to entering the prayer hall (but now that I think about it, it seems too far away to serve that purpose. Like I alluded to, memory is the second thing to go, I forgot what the first thing is...

We finally arrive at the prayer hall, somewhat underwhelming compared to all the buildings we saw along the way, but I suspect the prayer hall is much older. We were told by the guide that we would not be allowed to enter the prayer hall, being non-Muslims. He also said women were not allowed but we saw several women enter.  When we asked about that our guide (also a non-Muslim, I suspect) said he thought maybe women were allowed to enter and pray, but not allowed during the services by the imam. 

This is as close as we could get...

Lunch at a restaurant in the MQ - typical Chinese banquet style. The hot tea in the center was used to rinse our plates and utensils.  This was a standard operating procedure for virtually every restaurant we ate at (banquet style) during our entire time in China.  Although, some restaurants seemed more likely to need it more than others.

OK, so I added this picture one, because Donna took it (that's her foot in the picture) and two, because there was so much discussion amongst the women about toilets. This was one of the nicer squat toilets in that it had toilet paper and was clean - they weren't all this nice... For the guys it was "hey, what's the big deal?" as we could wait to do a pooh at the hotel (all of which had western (read sit-down) toilets).  And that's all I'll say about that...

I saw this from the bus on our way to the airport...

Here we are checking in at the Xi'An airport.  Stony checked all 29 of us in then handed out our boarding passes.  We then checked our luggage by setting it on a conveyer belt that weighed it before the airline agent tagged the bags.  Little did we know at the time what fun awaited (some of) us...

We got to Hangzhou, got on the bus that took us to this restaurant on our way to the hotel. At the restaurant I think we had, let me think... oh yeah, Chinese banquet. I have to admit we were never in want of food on this tour...