Xi'an Surroundings | The Forgotten Yet Worthy Small City||!

||!. Xi'an Surroundings | The Forgotten Yet Worthy Small City|||"The river flows south through the pass in the interior, rushing against the mountains of Tongguan, hence the name Tongguan." Tongguan is both a place name and the name of a pass, serving as the eastern gateway to the Guanzhong region. It has always been a strategic military location, known as the "Number One Pass" and praised for its beauty. It is a historical small city that is slowly being forgotten, and it is also the birthplace of the Tongguan Roujiamo. 🚗 About an hour's drive from Xi'an 📝 Travel route: Depart from Xi'an ➡️ Tongguan County Town near Heping Road (for food and drinks) ➡️ Yuedu Scenic Area ➡️ Shuipo Alley ➡️ Tongguan Ancient City ➡️ Tongguan Ancient Ferry 📍 Tongguan County Town: Mainly for eating and drinking 🥣 Lao Tongguan Liang Xiwa Roujiamo (Tongguan Main Store), this store was recommended to me by local friends and has a different taste from the Roujiamo found all over Xi'an. The bread is baked crispy, and the meat is very fragrant, with pure meat for only 7 yuan. I also tried the duck slice soup, which was very fresh and the meat tender. 🥣 Huangjia Banquet (Main Store) I ordered the stewed pancakes and crispy meat, which were served in large portions. The oil here is very fragrant, and actually, you could have a bowl of duck slice soup here too, but since we had already tried it, we didn't order it again. This store specializes in the Tongguan Eight Bowls, which looked very good, and you can even have them vacuum-packed into gift boxes to take away. We packed two portions to take back as gifts. 📍 Yuedu Scenic Area It's not very famous, and I wouldn't have known about this place if it weren't for a local recommendation, but once here, you realize its charm. The name "Yuedu" comes from "Five Mountains and Four Rivers." "Yue" refers to famous mountains, and "Du" to holy waters. In the land of China, this is the only place where one can look up to Mount Hua and overlook the Yellow River, hence the term "Yuedu facing each other" originates from here. An 18-kilometer scenic trail, if you're not keen on walking, you can directly go to Yuedu Pavilion, which is the central area of this scenic spot. On a clear day, you can see the Yellow River, but the weather was bad when we visited, so we could only vaguely see the Yellow River. It's recommended to visit in summer. 📍 Shuipo Alley Right next to Tongguan Ancient City, it's much more interesting than the ancient city itself. Mainly because this is the only remaining old street in Tongguan Ancient City, with over 600 years of history, still inhabited by residents. It's very different from the modern imitation ancient buildings, with fewer tourists, so it's not commercialized and very quiet. We watched the sunset here before leaving. 📍 Tongguan Ancient City Tongguan Ancient City is also considered a tourist attraction, but the historical ancient city was demolished due to the construction of the Sanmenxia Dam, so the current one is a reconstruction, and we didn't stay long. 📍 Tongguan Ancient Ferry Next to Tongguan Ancient City, you can see the Yellow River, and Yuncheng in Shanxi is just across the river.