Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
We had a sleep in then headed back to the City Wall to attend Christmas Mass at the local Catholic Church. It was a small church (building wise) so the service was held outdoors with about a thousand people in attendance. Though we didn’t understand what was being said, we got the gist of the service through the various ritual gestures. The interesting part was at the end when the priest held a small statue of baby Jesus and the worshippers lined up to kiss it and donate money.
From there, we headed for the Muslim Quarter for street food lunch. We tried fried squid, crab, meat skewers, bananas, sugar cane and coconut drinks and weird rice balls (?) that were put in dry ice and when you breathe out, a vapour stream came out like you were breathing out smoke (only it wasn’t). The kids also haggled (with the help of Mum) for cool bags they’d been eyeing off. Shae and Anai bought bags that retail back home for $120 for $10 each (good convincing fakes!).
We then headed back to the apartment to shower, chill and pack ready for our overnight train trip to Chengdu.
At 6pm, the apartment’s owner and his brother drove us to Xian South Railway Station. It was quite far away – 90 minute trip in very congested traffic. We arrived at 7.30pm in readiness for a 9pm departure. We got some tasty noodles from a local restaurant for dinner and had interesting conversation with a guy named Zack Lee (an interpreter).
We organised sleeper seats on the overnight train K385.
2025-05-23