I got to visit an ancient capital of China, Xi'An, during my recent trip. When I went, I saw many pretty things at night. Above is a picture of two long kites flying over one illuminated building, and below is a portable telescope you can pay to look through.
One of the neatest things that I visited was the Xi'An city wall. The wall has been maintained and partially rebuilt, and so many people walk or bike on top. When I was in Xi'An the City Wall Lantern Festival took place. The lantern festival started at sunset, so in the photo above there are many people sitting at the top of the wall waiting for the lights to turn on.
Beneath is a picture from the city during the day, to compare with one from the festival at night.
Above there is a lantern in the shape of a monkey because this new year in the Chinese zodiac is The Year of the Monkey. In China monkeys are thought to eat peaches, and so instead of bananas, there were many peaches throughout the festival.
I think that the illumination of the buildings on the city wall near the gate was the most beautiful part of the festival.
Away from the City Wall, Xi'An was still very busy at night. Above is a picture of a street with a lot of street food and shops.
In Xi'An, and other places in China there is a food called Rou jia mo. I knew it as Xi'An Hamburger, though my friend in Xi'An assured me this was not the Chinese name. Below is a picture of a soup-like dish made from the hamburger, and the last photo is of me eating one of them. It was very good.
