Enchanting China (Beijing, Xian and Chengdu) : Day 1 – Niujie Mosque and Lunch/Dinner at Muslim Restaurant

Continued from my last post. After visited Forbidden City, our next destination was to Niujie Mosque, for two reasons; performed our daily prayer and lunch. Initial itinerary was actually to the Olympic Park first, however it’s already 4pm so we changed our plan to the mosque instead. As I mentioned in previous post, to find Halal restaurant in a foreign country, you will need to find the grand mosque first. As the idea is, lots of Muslim will definitely dwelling around the mosque, thus the restaurant is nearby.


iii) The Niujie Mosque

The Niujie Mosque, literally Ox Street Mosque, is Beijing's most historical and majestic mosque. It is also the largest mosque in Beijing. It is situated on the Niujie Street (Ox Street) in the city's Xicheng District, hence the name. First built in 996, the Niujie Mosque has a history that stretches back over a thousand years, during which time it has undergone numerous refits and extensions, and has greeted Muslims from all over the world to worship.

Address:
Cow Street Mosque (Qingzhensi), 18 Cow Street, Xuanwu District, Beijing.

Direction:
Option 1 : Chaishikou Station (Line 4).
- Exit A. Take Bus No.41 and stop when u see lots of people with kopiah and Halal restaurant OR
- Exit D. Turn left. Walk straight until found Guidu Hotel on right hand side. Proceed straight until found 4-way intersection. Then turn left. Food place located at Niujie Muslim Supermarket.

Option 2 : Changchunjie Station (Line 2).
- Exit C1, Walk 1.5km OR - Exit A, take bus no 10 & alight at 4th stop.

Entrance Fee:
There is a gate fee of 10 RMB.


From Tiananment, we took subway as per below route:
Tiananmen West Station (Line 1) ==> Xidan (Exchange Line 4) ==> Chaishikou Station (Line 4)

Arrived at Chaishikou Station.

From Chaishikou Stn, as we already tired to walk plus hungry and freezing, our brains couldn’t function properly to read the map so we decided to just took a taxi to the mosque instead. 😅😅

The 4-way intersection to Niujie Street.

High rise apartments dominated the street.

We knew that we almost there when we saw the building with some arabic architecture

Inside the taxi.

The taxi then dropped us here, 4-way intersection.

Finallly we reached to the mosque. It was nearly 5pm so we had all together jamak Zohor+Asar & Maghrib+Isya' prayers. It's winter so sunset was early, means maghrib time around 5.10pm.

Inside the men's prayer hall. Eh, did you noticed there was a message there written in Malay.

View on the mosque ground.

At the entrance of woman's prayer hall.

View of the entrance of the Mosque.

Prayer beads.

Time to meet the Al-mighty 🤲🏻🤲🏻

After pray, we took some times to observe the mosque area, walked around in the side areas and alleys. Part of what makes this building interesting is the architectural style and mix of colors. You can see Arabic script signs but with dragons or perhaps gargoyles on the roofs. The blank white tiles and fixtures look Muslim, but the intricately and richly colored Chinese roofs and designs add a Chinese look.

It was sunset when I took this photos, hence the golden view effect.

There is a small kiln house, and you may see bicycles parked around the courtyard.

More photos after sun sets completely...

So peacefull.

The Archway.

Layan jelah gambar lagi ok... 😜

The peace in the courtyard invite you to sit and rest for a moment forgetting the hustle of a metropolis like Beijing. In the backyard there are some 13 century tombs from imams.

View at the back of the Mosque

Prayer's time.

So after completed our responsibility and had enough viewing the mosque we made a move.

Exit.

Salam. Till we meet again.

Final photo before we bid goodbye.

View of the Mosque from the outside gate. Iluminated with colourfull lights. Beautifull..

It was amazing to see how 1000 years ago, some Muslim reached here and built the mosque (though it's not the same mosque that was built 1000 years ago). I felt very spiritual and also lost in the history while in the Mosque.

To sum it all, this mosque has a combination of Chinese and Arabic architecture. Amazing! Nice spot for photos shoot as well. Non-muslims are welcome but should wear proper attire. The prayer hall however is not open to non Muslim.


Next, we went to stroll along Niujie Street to find for Halal restaurant.



iv) Late lunch / Early Dinner at Niujie Street

Cow Street or Niujie in the district is the largest Muslim street in Beijing. Most of the street is dominated by high-rise apartment buildings, but there are many Muslim restaurants in this area.

A hustling bustling street..

Hutong = a narrow lane or alleyway in a traditional residential area.

We found this descent look restaurant located just next to the mosque and went in. Halal signed was spotted. So we went in and got in the queue.

Halal sign written in Arabic. We also have "learned" halal signage in Mandarin as well before came to China as preparation.

All the menus were in Chinese so how to order?? Chill... just look around on what the people there ate or look at the menu list / book (usually it have a picture of the dishes), so you just pointed what you want...

Jgn takut dengan muka "kerek" adik2 waiter ni...

They were friendly actually...take your time to order but just dont "termanggu2" so long... considered other people behind you also.

I had this tomatoes with eggs noodles. Reminds me off Spagethi Bolognaise but with no meat, swapped with eggs. Nice....

While visiting the street, you might want to try Lanzhou Lamian (Mee Tarik / Hand-Pull Nozzle). I must say this is a must... I made Nor ordered it so I could also tasted it.

Sejuk2 makan sup panas2 mmg layanzzz...

Besides drinks which we took orange soda (I know, we supposed to take hot drinks in that cold weather but either that the only available with picture in the menu or recommended by the waiter so we just ordered it), it also came with yougart as dessert, sprinkle with some sesame on top of it. Nice also....

Let's take a look inside the restaurant. It was quite descent restaurant, with nice decoration and lots of customers also.

Recharged.... Ada nampak hakak happy dah lepas makan :P

Ok mission accomplished, lets settled the bill....

Price ok, acceptable. Approx.RM14/person.

Opposite of this restaurant, we saw this butchery shop crowded with people. This is one of the place to get the Halal poultry and meats.

Inside the shop. Quite a long queue.

Next to our restaurant was a Muslim Supermarket. Obviously we were excited. We went in and bought some yogurts and biscuits.

In this neighborhood, we could see the harmony of the people here despite different religions. This place is a hidden gem in Beijing which must be visited by all.

Ok now perut sudah kenyang, hati riang… baru bole proceed to our next place. To be continued in next post.

Enchanting China (Beijing, Xian and Chengdu) : Day 1 - Forbidden City (Imperial Garden)

Continued on last post where we finally finished our tour inside the Forbidden City. We then walked to the Imperial Garden, which located at the northernmost point and the last part of Forbidden City before exit through the Gate of Divine Prowess.

Lets go.

Imperial Garden
The Imperial Garden was built for emperors and their wives to relax themselves and enjoy beautiful scenery. It was also used for sacrificial rites, keeping fit, book collections, reading, and other purposes.

It was originally built in the 18th year of the Ming Dynasty’s Yongle period (1420 AD). In later years, it was extended. Today, it still remains in the pattern designed when it was originally constructed.

The garden full with visitors by the time we reached there.

Cypresses and Chinese wisteria in the garden are all hundreds of years old. There are more than 160 ancient trees, which are distributed around the garden. In addition, this garden is also interspersed with various hill stones and miniscapes.

This ancient tree formed like an archway.

Another old tree and it's desription..

Infront of Piled Elegance Hill (Duxiu Shan). It is a 14 meters high artificial rockery made entirely from a pile of peculiar-looking stones.

The Hall of Imperial Peace is the dominant building in the garden and occupies the central position. Surrounded by a wall, it dates from the 15th Century.

We didn't went inside the Hall. Just took photo only.

Growing in front of the hall is a 400 years old pine tree. Known as the Consort Pine, it symbolises the harmony between the Emperor and Empress.

Beautifull.

At each of the four corners of the garden there is a pavilion. These symbolise the four seasons.

The Pavilion of Myriad Springs (Wanchunting) is the most famous and occupies the eastern corner. Built in 1535 and restored during the Qing dynasty, as its name implies, it is this pavilion that symbolizes spring.

Bamboos, cypresses and pines in the Imperial Garden are interspersed with hill stones, forming an evergreen landscape.

Beautifull landscape inside the garden.

It's all about door.. gate... door...gate, tapi tak exit2 pun 😅😅

Gate to exit Imperial Garden.

Exit from Imperial Garden to the Northern Gate.

Gate of Divine Prowess.

Through the Gate. Ok ni betul2 Gate keluar.... Huhuhuhu... 😂😂

Exiting from the northern gate, raising your head, you will find a pavilion with three-layered eaves perched on a hill. The hill is called Jingshan Hill ( Coal Hill or prospect Hill). Due to limited time we had plus hungry and tired, we skipped the hill. Jingshan Hill is an ideal place to have a panoramic view of Forbidden City and Beijing as whole.
*Nak menapak balik pun jauh lagi :P

Jingshan Hill up and above.

I think the word "Gate of Divine Prowess" written on that wall.

The moat surrounding the Forbidden City excavated during the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty are known as Tongzi He (the Pipe River) by local people. They are altogether 3,300 metres long, fifty-two-metres wide and 4.1-metres deep with a total capacity of 500,000 cubic metres of water. It was built for security purposes, so both sides of it have steep embankments, making it impossible to cross without some means of bridging it.

The moats / Tongzi River surrounding the Forbidden City.

Kembali ke pangkal jalan... Yeah u read it right, another 2.9km!!! 😰😰

After exited from North gate,we needed to walk back to Tiananmen Square or at least nearest Subway Station for the next destination. As far as we had walked inside the place, the same miles we needed to walk back to our starting point. Get ready for another adventure. That's why we skipped Jingshan Hill...

Luckily the view along the way was really2 interesting and beautifull. With the weather which was pleasant, we didn't felt much tired, however due to coldness, we tend to get hungry quicker. Furthermore, we just had light breakfast early in the morning. Can't wait to have heavy lunch!

Tour Service outside the Gate. There's a spelling error on the "Hud" word. It should be "Hub"!! 🤭🤭

Coated cherry.

Public buses were available however we didn't study about it so were uncertained to take it. We just continued to walk.

Just walked along the moat through Beichang Street.

Along the way, we had a great view of magnificent turrets of Forbidden City and its surrounding moat. There are four beautiful turrets of the same structure on the four corners of Forbidden City.

The Northeastern Turrets of Forbidden City and City Moat.

Such a serene view.

The water stood still, contained the memories of civilization of Chinese Dysnasty from then until now.

Each turret tower has nine girders, eighteen columns and 72 ridges. The two turrets on the northeast and northwest corners offer the best photo opportunities. The turrets however are inaccessible to visitors.

Much closer view of the Northeastern Turrets .

You're almost reached to the nearest subway when you saw this shop lots area.

Look at the street. Very clean.

Ok back to civilization...

A unique motor-car!

Another unique vehicle. A tri-cycle.

Finally we reached to the subway station. It took almost one hour walk..!! 😰😰

Bought the ticket.

Welcome back to the city life.

Ok our destination next was to fill our stomach. To be continued....