After our visit to the CWI we went back to the hotel room and crashed for several hours. It was raining hard and we used the time to just rest. After a while though we decided we needed to press on and take in a few more of historical must see sites before leaving Xi'an. So in spite of the rain, we loaded up and headed out to visit the Great Mosque. Islam came to China over the silk route and this mosque was begun in 742 A.D. It's a beautiful place and we knew it was close to the hotel. Tina had brought plastic raincoats and ponchos for us and it turned out to be a good plan.


Though the mosque is a very popular site and is central to the city, it's not easy to find. It is tucked away down a couple side streets in a vendor district that is loud and colorful.


It took us some hunting to track it down, but it was well worth it.






Not long after we got there it stopped raining!


It is a very beautiful and peaceful spot...




We saw the Muslim men praying.


As they were filing out of the prayer hall they stopped to check out Shen and Kai. They asked if the boys were "Chinamen" and gave us a thumbs up!