Xi'An Trip Day 11: The Zoo

The main goal for the day is to visit the Zoo, which is closed to an hour travel. We arrived quite late (in the afternoon) as most animals tend to return to their living quarters in the afternoon instead of the 'open area'. We further experienced "accident" as Hong Xin fell into the frozen pond (which delay our visit for another hour). However, we did managed to see the two main animals- Panda and Red Panda. On top of that, we also see the Gorilla, Llama, White Kangaroo, Monkeys and various birds. Conclusion, the Red Panda is the cutest. We bought a soft toy Red Panda/Panda and llama as a result. 

Xi'An Trip Day 10: 永兴坊

 A busy day with three main objectives: SAGA Shopping Mall, Luo Ma Walking Street and 永兴坊。

SAGA Shopping Mall is a beautiful high end shopping mall with a big waterfall and the longest escalator in Asia.

Luo Ma pedestrian is a suitable shopping location for us. There are many good value clothing. We end up buying some good value items such as Duck Dow Jacket for myself and some clothing for Sacha.

The last visit for the day is 永兴坊. It is very weird as the place, which is nicely built, is very quiet with very little visitors. This is very different experience as we just came back from Luo Yang and Kai Feng, which is very crowded. 

Xi'An Trip Day 9: 回民街

Probably the lightest schedule for the trip. We woke up late, play around with some ancient people costumes and then took a train ride from Luo Yang to Xi'An. We then spent the rest of the day hanging around the hotel area, which is the Muslim Street Area. Plenty of food options.

Xi'An Trip Day 8: 开封

An ambitious day for us and surprisingly we managed to achieve all target. First of all, we have to take an early train from Luo Yang to Kai Feng. Next, we go to the first destination - 开宝寺琉璃塔. It is an old unique tower in a newly built park. We hire a self drive car for this experience.

Next up, we head to the very famous 开封府. The place is newly built and bigger than expected.

The following destination is - 清明上河图园. This place is huge. We could easily spent another couple of hours here if we didn't have a return train to catch. 

Xi'An Trip Day 7: 洛阳 - 龙门石窟

It is the 7th day of the trip and we are a little fatigue therefore we spent a lot more time on the bed and the hotel. Today's visit 龙门石窟 has the most visitors in the entire trip. It is so crowded that we make the visit "casually" and skip many interesting sites. 

Xi'An Trip Day 6: 洛阳- 应天门， 古镇

It is the first day of the year- Jan 1st, 2026. Following an iconic count down in snow walking in downcity city, today we took a new beginning by going to another town- Luo Yang using a high speed train. Luo Yang is full of visitors, probably from Xi-An due to the holiday. We can feel it the moment we reach Luo Yang train station. Here are a few things we notice about Luo Yang.

1. The city is very crowded.

2. There are more ancient people than ever

3. The food here is more salty and deep fried therefore more to our liking

4. The people here has very difficult 'accent' to understand. 

The main area that we visit today is 应天门, 洛阳老街 and 洛邑古城.

Xi'An Trip Day 5: 华山

The plan to visit 华山 knowing it will snow is a difficult decision for me. I am fully aware of the cold and the difficulty of the hike during the snow. Eventually I was convinced by the family that we should as it would be a wonderful experience and it turn out to be. The hike itself is indeed difficult as we only managed to summit two of the five possible peak (but including the highest South Peak). However, everyone is having so much fun with the snow, the hike itself is of less importance. 

Xi'An Trip Day 4: City Wall & Museum & 大唐不夜城

 Another day with lots of self planned program.

The first target is to 小雁塔 but we couldn't get in as it closed for the day.

The next goal is to visit the City Wall. Pretty cool here, although we have to share two bicycles as under 12 is not legally allowed.

We also managed to have a short visit to the so called "Must visit" Museum and did some so called learning.

The last two plan for the busy schedule is to 大雁塔 and 大唐不夜城, which is next to each other. 

Xi'An Trip Day 3: 华清宫， 兵马俑， 长恨歌。

One of the two days that we join a tour group. Its a busy day and we cover plenty. 

First stop- 华清宫

Bought a good souvenir too. 

Next up is  the highly anticipated: 兵马俑

The very important 兵猫俑

Interesting building

The Virtual Reality 地宫 is very cool. 

The last agenda for the tour is the highly anticipated 长恨歌. The show is impressive but the fact that we have to sit outdoor at night in Winter around 0degree, I think we, the audience are equally impressive.