Niu Jie Mosque in Beijing

Robina and I visited Niu Jie (Ox Street) mosque in Beijing. Niu Jie is a muslim neighbourhood in South part of Beijing. It has a huge muslim supermarket which all sorts of halal foodstuff, a muslim secondary school, the mosque and an islamic college. The mosque is the oldest (built in AD996!) and largest mosque in Beijing.
We visited together with the Chinese Culture Club and a mosque elder was there to show us around. We had visited the mosque in 2004 and it underwent a major renovation in 2005. now the mosque has even more facilities and beautifully refurbished. it's very interesting comparing the differences and similarities with the mosque in Singapore and Southeast Asia. imagine a mosque that looks like a Chinese temple! the blend of Chinese and Arabic muslim cultures are very exotic!
before the mosque visit, we had lunch at a muslim restaurant at Niu Jie (Turpan 吐鲁番餐厅 83164691 83160247), the food was cheap and good! I love their lamb kebab (羊肉串). Robina found a Uighur girl at the restaurant very pretty!