Day 6 - Beijing to Xi’an

Another early start - today we set off for the ancient and modern city of Xi’an - 1000 kilometers and 6 hours by maglev train from Beijing - very comfortable seats in the first class carriage though, and and time to rest! The journey passed quickly and on arrival at a cold and overcast Xianbei Station we were met by Ella, our new tour guide.

We checked in to The Eastern House Hotel , a modern hotel in the heart of the city, where we had an hour and a half to freshen up and have a mooch around the local shopping stalls set up in the narrow streets, and grab a quick coffee before our next adventure.

In the evening we met up with 10 British and American tourists for a ‘Lost Plate’ food tour - food by tuk tuk! - it was a fun and crazy experience! Cars, people, bikes, tuk tuks fighting their way through the busy narrow alleys! We had 5 stops tasting a variety of traditional dishes at small street food restaurants (we would never have found them on our own). The first few stops were in the Muslim Quarter, we stopped off to visit the Mosque and watch the Chinese Muslims arrive for worship.

First stop was Bang Bang Noodles - named after the ‘bang’ they make when slapped on the worktop while stretching them - in chilli (Phil) or garlic (Catherine), 2nd stop meat skewers, 3rd stop dim sum / dumplings, cold noodles and ‘hidden treasure’ porridge (nobody’s favourite) -the 4th stop was at a private dining area after a dark walk between some tower blocks - we were served a feast of chicken with vegetables in a broth, meatballs with vegetables, black mushrooms and walnuts, carrot salad with crispy bread, black tea and rice wine. Last stop - a microbrewery and a menu of beer! - so many different varieties to choose from - our guide had actually pre sampled them so she could recommend the best ones! All in a days work 😂 Cheers! 🍻Read more