Grand Mosque, Bell tower and Drum Tower

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Hi All,

So we took the train from Zhengzhou to Xi'an on Sunday morning. The train was really excellent. Fast, speeds of 330 km/h, clean and comfortable a journey of around two and a half hours. It struck us as to how green everything is here even though there is this blistering heat at the minute.
Arrival at Xi'an went smoothly and we found the hotel without any problems. After a little snooze we decided to venture out and see what we could find. We went into the town centre to see the drum and bell towers. In olden times the bell was rung at dawn and the drums were sounded at dusk. From there we went to the Muslim Quarter to find the Grand Mosque. This is one of the biggest Mosques in China. It was really beautiful inside. We love the temples and mosques here as there is always peace and quiet. Unfortunatly tourists are not allowed into the main prayer hall, unlike the mosque in Keifang. From the Grand Mosque we then took a stroll around the Muslim Quarter. It has seemed very odd on this trip as there have been masses of foreigners and lots of Chinese speak English, very different from here in Zhengzhou. The Muslim Quarter is full of little alleyways and streets and great fun to walk around and people watch and try out the street snacks. The chicken kebab in a sesame seed bread is to be recommended as well as steamed chilli bread.
So that was the first day. We hope you enjoy the photos and I'll post more as soon as we've sorted through them.

Jah bless you all

David and Dany

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[Malc Dixon]

fruity markets
that fruit, was it plums?