Reposted from the web

Summary: Weishan in Dali, Yunnan, has old mosques and Hui Muslim communities tied to local history, mountain roads, and everyday mosque life. This account closes the 2023 Dali route with visits to ancient mosques, local streets, and community scenes while preserving the original photos and order.

On January 30, I rode an electric scooter from Xiaguan in Dali to Weishan. This is my third visit to Weishan, following trips in 2017 and 2020. My main goal was to visit several mosques I missed during my first two trips.

During my first two trips to Weishan, I visited 20 traditional mosques in Dali, 16 of which were in Weishan. I wrote about them in my article, "Twenty Traditional Mosques in Dali." This time, I visited 5 new mosques in Weishan, bringing my total to 21 traditional mosques visited in the area.

1. Xincun Mosque

2. Chenjia Mosque

3. Xishulong Mosque

4. Shangxi Lianhua Mosque

5. Xiaxi Lianhua Mosque

6. Dong Lianhua Mosque

7. Sanjiacun Mosque

Riding an electric scooter from Xiaguan in Dali to Weishan was probably the most challenging route of my Dali cycling trips. The trip there included 17 kilometers of continuous downhill riding with crosswinds. I had to keep my eyes on the road and my hands on the brakes the whole time without relaxing. Dali also has a large temperature difference between day and night in winter. It was quite cold in the mountains in the morning, but it warmed up as soon as the sun came out at noon.

I didn't dare take any photos while crossing the mountains and only took out my phone once I reached Yongjian Town. This was my third time visiting the market on Hedi Street, and it was still very lively. The Yi ethnic aunties here wore bright, colorful clothes, which looked very different from the Yi clothing I saw in the Daliang Mountains a few days ago.







Riding my scooter through the villages of Yongjian Town to visit old mosques, the pastoral scenery along the way was refreshing. However, riding on country roads sometimes leads to unexpected situations. On my way to Xincun, the furthest Hui Muslim village in Yongjian Town, the road was suddenly cut off by a small, clear river where villagers were washing clothes and shoes. I didn't have time to enjoy the scenery because I was immediately worried. Taking another route meant going all the way back, which would waste a lot of time, but I had no experience riding a bike through water and was afraid I would slip and fall into the river with my bike. After a moment of hesitation, I decided to ride into the river. My bike shot into the middle of the river, and I lost control, heading straight toward the woman who was washing her shoes by the bank. I quickly put my foot down and pushed hard to steer the bike back in the right direction.

I made it across the river, but the shoe and sock on the foot I used to steady myself were completely soaked. Luckily, the midday sun in Dali was very strong, so I let my sock dry while I kept riding, and it was dry in no time.













Xincun Mosque

I first visited Xincun Mosque, which sits on a hillside at the far northwest end of the Weishan Basin. Xincun is known as the first Hui Muslim village at the source of the Red River, with a rushing river in front and lush greenery behind, making for a beautiful setting. The founding date of Xincun Mosque is unknown; it was destroyed in 1872 (the 11th year of the Tongzhi reign), rebuilt during the Guangxu reign, and the main hall was rebuilt again in 1994. The current main hall features a double-eave hip-and-gable roof and still maintains the traditional architectural style of the Dali region.



















The minaret of Xincun Mosque was rebuilt in 1988 and has a hexagonal pointed roof. The following photos show the scenery in the village.



















Hardworking fellow Muslims.



Chen Family Mosque (Chenjia Si)

I rode my bike from Xincun to the Chen Family Mosque northwest of Xishulong Village. I missed this mosque when I visited Xishulong Village in 2020. The Chen Family Mosque was built by the Chen family of Xishulong Village. Its original construction date is unknown. The ancestors of the Chen family moved here from Shaanxi, settling down after several moves.

The Chen Family Mosque was rebuilt in 1902 (the 28th year of the Guangxu reign) and expanded into its current structure in 1987. It sits near the mountains and water, offering beautiful scenery.



















Xishulong Mosque

I performed the noon namaz at Xishulong Mosque. I visited Xishulong Mosque once in 2020, and this is my second time here. The original construction date of Xishulong Mosque is unknown. It was rebuilt in 1902 (the 28th year of the Guangxu reign) and rebuilt again in 1990 into its current form. The main hall has a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof with a unique hexagonal pavilion in the center of the roof ridge.













Shangxi Lianhua Mosque

I rode south from Xishulong Village to Shangxi Lianhua Village to visit the Shangxi Lianhua Mosque. The original construction date of Shangxi Lianhua Mosque is unknown. It was destroyed in 1872 (the 11th year of the Tongzhi reign) and later rebuilt and expanded several times into its current structure.



















Xiaxi Lianhua Mosque

I traveled from Shangxi Lianhua Mosque to Xiaxi Lianhua Mosque. The original construction date of Xiaxi Lianhua Mosque is also unknown. It was destroyed in 1872 (the 11th year of the Tongzhi reign), rebuilt in 1925, and later rebuilt again into its current structure.



















Dong Lianhua Mosque

I traveled from Xiaxi Lotus Mosque (Xiaxi Lianhua Si) to Donglianhua Village, the best-preserved village in Weishan. I visited three Ma family courtyards, which I wrote about in 'The Three Hui Muslim Caravan Courtyards of Donglianhua Village, Weishan, Dali,' and then I visited the Donglianhua Mosque.

Donglianhua Mosque was first built during the Qing Dynasty and was expanded twice, in 1921 and 1987. The mosque layout runs from east to west, featuring the main gate, the minaret, and the main prayer hall (Chaozhen Dian). The minaret divides the courtyard into two sections.

The minaret was raised to four stories in 1987, following a five-five-three-one structural design. The first three floors serve as classrooms for holiday study groups, while the fourth floor is where the adhan is called.

The main prayer hall was expanded in 1921 into a five-bay by seven-bay structure, and it was expanded again in 1987 into a nine-bay by eleven-bay structure. The mihrab features traditional Arabic calligraphy in the classic Yunnan style.

In front of the main prayer hall hangs a plaque inscribed with 'Cheng Yi Bu Er' (Sincerity is Unique), which was presented by Major General Yang Shengqi in 1926. General Yang Shengqi was close friends with Ma Ruji, a major caravan leader in Donglianhua. In 1926, he traveled from Kunming to visit Ma Ruji in Donglianhua and presented this plaque to the mosque.



















Sanjia Village Mosque

Finally, I visited the Sanjia Village Mosque. Sanjia Village was originally called Saijia Village. The Sai family were descendants of Masuh, the fifth son of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar. They moved from Daweigeng and Xiaweigeng villages in the mid-Ming Dynasty to establish Saijia Village. Later, many Hui Muslims with other surnames moved here, making it one of the larger Hui Muslim villages in the Yongjian Basin. During the Tongzhi reign, the entire village of over 3,500 people was killed. Later, three families returned to settle here, so the name was changed to Sanjia (Three Families) Village.

The current main prayer hall of the Sanjia Village Mosque was rebuilt in 1997, and from the top, you can look out over the scenery of the Yongjian Basin. The setting sun shone down, making the Yongjian Basin glow with a beautiful golden light.















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Reposted from the web

Summary: Binju Mosque in Dali, Yunnan, is part of the local Hui Muslim landscape and carries the everyday history of a Muslim community in western Yunnan. This travel note follows the mosque visit through its original facts, photos, and observations.

On January 31, 2023, I rode an electric scooter from Xiaguan in Dali to Binju Town. The sky was bright blue the whole way, and the valley was filled with lush green farmland where people worked hard. The photos I took look just like landscape paintings.













The mountain road here is not very steep, making for a comfortable ride, though there is a short section marked as a geological hazard zone with gravel left behind by a landslide.



After riding 50 kilometers, I arrived in Binju Town. Wusuo’s family hosted me at the mosque with dried beef (niuganba), stir-stir-fried meat with pickled vegetables (suancai chaorou), stir-stir-fried meat with broad beans (candou chaorou), and fish with pickled vegetables (suancai yu). I really love the home-cooked meals of Yunnan’s Hui Muslims.











Every Tuesday is the big market day in Binju Town, and Wusuo’s family sells fried dough cakes (youxiang) there. The fried dough cakes (youxiang) in Yunnan are sweet and taste great even when eaten plain.



Binju Mosque was first built in the mid-Qing Dynasty, destroyed during the Tongzhi reign, and rebuilt in 1923. This is a history shared by most old mosques in Yunnan. The existing main hall with its gabled and hipped roof (xieshanding) is a century old and features typical Dali-style architecture. It preserves precious calligraphy and murals from the Republic of China era.

















The birthplace of the Prophet Adam is depicted here using the style of traditional landscape painting.



The mosque’s three-tiered, pointed-roof minaret was rebuilt between 1993 and 1994, but it still keeps the traditional architectural style of the Dali region and is very beautiful.



















The mosque still keeps the plaques and couplets inscribed during the 1923 reconstruction, which is very rare.









The environment inside the mosque is also very nice, with flowers in full bloom and lush greenery.







An old street is still preserved behind the mosque, but most young people have moved away, leaving mostly elderly residents behind.





On the ride back from Binchuan Town to Xiaguan, the mountains and fields were covered in mandarin oranges (penggan), which looked beautiful in their bright yellow color. Many people from the orange orchards sell them right by the side of the road. I asked which ones were the sweetest, bought some to eat on the road, and they tasted quite good.







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Reposted from the web

Summary: Fengyi Ancient Town in Dali is home to Fengming Mosque and a local Hui Muslim food scene shaped by Yunnan streets and everyday community life. This account covers the mosque visit and clay pot rice noodles while keeping the original sequence and images.

I rode my bike 10 kilometers east from Xiaguan in Dali to reach the ancient town of Fengyi, where I visited the century-old Fengming Mosque.

As the seat of Zhaozhou since the Yuan Dynasty, Fengyi Town has long been home to Hui Muslims, who built an old mosque on South Street. After 1872, the Hui Muslims of Fengyi died or fled, and the South Street mosque was burned down. For the next 50 years, the few remaining Hui Muslims in Fengyi could only perform their worship at the home of Mu Benren on West Street. At that time, the second floor of the Mu family home was the prayer room, while the first floor served as a scripture hall where a teacher (laoshi) named Luo Wusuo from Zhihua taught the scriptures.

During this period, the Hui Muslims of Fengyi kept raising money to rebuild their mosque. Finally, Yang Chaozhu, who had served as a military commander in Guangxi, asked the Fengyi county magistrate for help, bought land from the Wu family in Yaojia Lane, and worked with local community leaders to fund and build the Fengming Mosque in 1922. After 2001, the main prayer hall (Chaozhen Dian) was expanded from three rooms to five, giving it the appearance it has today.

















The plaque inscribed with the words "Zhong Gu Yi Xi" was donated by Ding Guotai from Shaanxi when the mosque was built in 1922.



While walking around the ancient town of Fengyi, I ate a bowl of clay pot rice noodles (shaguo mixian) served with the local staple side dish of pickled radish.











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Reposted from the web

Summary: Mardin stands on a rocky slope above the Mesopotamian plain and is known for stone architecture, old mosques, churches, and layered local history. This travel account focuses on the city historic sites, religious buildings, and street-level observations in the original order.

In the previous article, 'Mardin: A Rocky Mountain City Where Kurds, Arabs, and Assyrians Live Together - Food and Lodging,' we visited the ancient city of Mardin in southeastern Turkey, near the borders of Syria and Iraq, and ate Kurdish and Assyrian food. In this article, I will continue to share the ancient buildings in the old city of Mardin, which is famous for its architecture from the Artuqid dynasty (12th-14th centuries).

The Artuqid dynasty was an Oghuz Turkic tribal dynasty that ruled southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, and northern Syria from the 12th to the 14th century, named after the Seljuk commander Artuk Beg. Artuk Beg's sons began ruling Mardin in 1101, and for the next 300 years, Mardin served as the capital of the Mardin branch of the Artuqid dynasty. After the 13th century, the Artuqid dynasty became a vassal state of the Ilkhanate and the Timurid Empire, until it was destroyed by the Kara Koyunlu in 1409.

Great Mosque of Mardin

The Great Mosque of Mardin (Mardin Ulu Camii) dates back to the 10th century. It is one of the earliest mosques in the Anatolia region and set the foundation for later Mardin architectural styles. The mosque currently houses 16 stone inscriptions from the Seljuk, Artuqid, Kara Koyunlu, and Ottoman periods, spanning nearly a thousand years.

The mosque once had two minarets, but only the eastern one remains today. The inscription at its base shows it was built in 1176 and is a classic example of Artuqid architecture.

The Great Mosque has been renovated many times throughout history. Most of what we see today is from the Ottoman-era renovation in 1889, but it still keeps its early architectural style.



















Next to the mihrab in the Great Mosque of Mardin, there is a preserved beard hair of the Prophet (Sakal-i Serifi). It is said to have been cut by the Prophet's favorite barber in the presence of Abu Bakr, Ali, and others.













Zinciriye Madrasa

Zinciriye Madrasa was built in 1385 and is another historic Artuqid-era building in the old city of Mardin. Zinciriye Madrasa is actually a complex (külliye) consisting of a madrasa, a mosque, a tomb, and two courtyards. The mosque and the tomb each have a fluted dome, matching the style of the dome at the Great Mosque of Mardin.

At the southeast corner of the madrasa is a 12-meter-high gate featuring an exquisite stalactite vault (muqarnas), decorated with geometric vine patterns and Kufic and Thuluth calligraphy.



















There is a fountain pool in the center of the Zinciriye Madrasa courtyard. In Sufi philosophy, the flow of water symbolizes a person's journey from this life to the afterlife, and this pool is a physical representation of that symbol. The fountain's source symbolizes birth, then flows through stages representing infancy, childhood, and youth. The long water channel symbolizes entering old age, and the final pool represents the arrival of the Day of Judgment.







The area around the fountain and the main hall of the mosque are decorated with classic two-toned brickwork known as ablaq. This brick decoration likely originated in the Syrian region under the Eastern Roman Empire. Muslim craftsmen later used it in early Islamic buildings like the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, and the Great Mosque of Cordoba. Because the Syrian region has plenty of black basalt and white limestone, most local ablaq is black and white. The Mardin region mostly has beige limestone, so the ablaq there is beige and black.













Mardin Castle

You can clearly see the remaining walls of Mardin Castle from the Zinciriye Madrasa. Mardin Castle is thought to be 3,000 years old, dating back to the Babylonian period. The existing structures were built between the 10th-century Hamdanid dynasty (al-Hamdaniyyun) and the Artuqid dynasty from the 11th to 13th centuries. The Hamdanid dynasty was an Arab tribal dynasty from Mesopotamia. Ottoman Sultan Selim III, who reigned from 1789 to 1807, repaired it, but it fell into disrepair by the early 20th century.

Today, a military radar station occupies the site. The city of Mardin has repeatedly asked the military to leave and open it to tourism. In 2015, former Mardin mayor Ahmet Turk helped launch a campaign called 'Mardin Castle belongs to the people of Mardin' to demand the castle be opened to visitors, but it has not succeeded yet.











The Mardin Museum holds a stone carving from 1302, found at the gate of Mardin Castle during the Artuqid period. It records the income of the foundation (waqf) that supported the castle's mosque, making it a very precious document.



Abdullatif Mosque

I caught the Dhuhr prayer (namaz) at Abdullatif Mosque. Abdullatif Mosque, also called Latifiye Mosque, was started in 1371 by the Artuqid minister Abdullatif. The minaret was built in 1845 by the Ottoman governor of Mosul, Muhammad Pasha.

The mosque's gate still looks as it did when it was built in 1371 and is considered the last classic work of the Artuqid dynasty. Below the exquisite stalactite-style vaulted ceiling (muqarnas), the area is decorated with Kufic and Thuluth calligraphy alongside various geometric patterns.



















The ablution pool in the outer courtyard of the Abdullatif mosque, the open-air space prepared for dhikr, the fountain pool in the inner courtyard, and the original structural elements on the pulpit (minbar) and the walls of the main prayer hall.



















Kasimiye Madrasa

Kasimiye Madrasa, also known as Kasim Pasha Madrasa, sits on a hillside in the western suburbs of the old city of Mardin. Construction began under Al-Zahir Majd al-Din 'Isā (reigned 1376–1407), the second-to-last sultan of the Artuqid dynasty, but it was left unfinished due to the invasion of the Timurid Empire. It was finally completed at the end of the 15th century by the Black Sheep Turkmen (Qara Qoyunlu) sultan Kasim ibn Cihangir (reigned 1487–1507).

Kasimiye Madrasa was the most powerful school in Mardin's history. It taught not only religious studies but also medicine, astronomy, mathematics, and other sciences. The madrasa stayed open until 1924, when all madrasas in Turkey were closed. Today, it is a famous tourist spot in Mardin. It attracts many visitors and is a beautiful place where many young couples come to take wedding photos.

The madrasa has a rectangular structure with a vaulted dome on each side—one for the mosque and one for the tomb. In the middle is a courtyard surrounded by two floors of classrooms. The central fountain pool is the classic Mardin "Fountain of Life," which symbolizes the journey from birth through childhood, youth, and old age, finally reaching the Day of Judgment. The classroom doors are only one meter high. This design forces students to bow respectfully to their teachers as they enter.



















Old photos of Kasimiye Madrasa and the view overlooking the Mesopotamian plains from the school.



















Seyh Cabuk Mosque

Seyh Cabuk Mosque is believed to have been built during the 15th-century Black Sheep Turkmen (Qara Qoyunlu) period and was renovated in the 19th century. Legend says that Abdullah bin Anas al-Juhayni, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, was sent to Constantinople to deliver a letter. He passed away in Mardin on his return journey and was buried here, and the mosque was built because of his tomb.













Sehidiye Mosque

Sehidiye Mosque was ordered to be built in 1214 by the Artuqid sultan Melik Nasreddin Aslan. The current minaret was rebuilt in 1914 by the Armenian architect Serkis Lole in an eclectic style, which is very characteristic of that era.



















Dinari Pamuk Mosque

While eating barbecue in the evening, I heard the adhan, so the barbecue shop owner and I both stepped out to pray Maghrib at the nearby Dinari Pamuk mosque. It is a small mosque, but it is very crowded because it sits on the main road of the old city.

Dinari Pamuk mosque was reportedly built in the 11th century by Sheikh Mehmet Dinari on the site of a Byzantine church, while the current structure dates back to the Artuqid dynasty in 1332.













Other ancient buildings from the Artuqid dynasty.

There are many more historical sites in the old city of Mardin, but I could not visit them all this time due to limited. Visually, the stone houses made of beige limestone are very different from the red-roofed wooden houses common in the Ottoman old cities of central and western Turkey, making them quite rare in Turkey and offering a unique experience.

Finally, I will share a few Artuqid-era historical sites I passed while walking in the early morning, though it is a pity I arrived too early to go inside.

The first is the Savurkapi bathhouse, built in 1176.



The second is the Hatuniye Madrasa, built between 1176 and 1184, which houses the footprint of the Prophet.







The third is the Savur Kapi Madrasa, built in the 13th to 14th centuries.





The fourth is the Melik Mahmut mosque, built in 1362.





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Reposted from the web

Summary: Mardin is a stone-built city above the Mesopotamian plain where Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, and Muslim communities share a deep local food culture. This first part covers food, lodging, streets, and everyday travel details while preserving the original facts and photos.

Layover in Istanbul

I flew direct from Beijing to Istanbul on China Southern Airlines and finally arrived at the new Istanbul Airport after a 10-hour flight. This was my first time on such a long direct flight, but the China Southern seats were comfortable enough. I watched two movies, took a nap, and ate two meals, so the time passed without feeling too long. I remember flying from Beijing to Urumqi 10 years ago. Back then, we couldn't use phones and there was no entertainment system. Reading on the plane made me dizzy, and even four hours felt like a very long time.

My last trip to Istanbul was in 2018, when I flew into the old Ataturk Airport. That airport is closed now. I didn't stay at the new airport and transferred directly to a Turkish Airlines flight to Mardin. We took a wrong turn and accidentally went through immigration. We had to go to the departure hall, line up for check-in, go through security, and then enter the domestic departure lounge. Luckily, everything went smoothly without any crowds, and the whole process took less than an hour.

The restaurants in the domestic departure area of the new Istanbul Airport don't have as much variety as the international area, but they are relatively cheaper. I ended up choosing Burger King and got a double beef burger. The burger was huge! I specifically took a photo to compare it with my fist. It feels like there are very few McDonald's or KFCs in Turkey, but there are many Burger Kings on the street, and they are actually quite tasty.











Istanbul Airport also has many branches of the local snack shop Simit Sarayi, where you can grab a Turkish-style cheese sandwich with Turkish black tea.









Historic hotel in Mardin

After a flight of nearly two hours from Istanbul, I arrived in Mardin, an ancient city in southeastern Turkey near the borders of Syria and Iraq. I had already arranged for the hotel to send a car to pick me up through Agoda, and it took us straight to the hotel in the heart of the old city.

Mardin is located in the Upper Mesopotamia region, upstream of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The entire old city is built on the southern slope of a mountain ridge. At the very top of the cliff sits a thousand-year-old castle, with the terraced stone city built below it. Because of this, you can look out over the Mesopotamian plains from any terrace in the old city, and the view is spectacular.

Our hotel, Maristan Tarihi Konak, is inside a 700-year-old building. It was originally built by Jewish people and is now run by Kurds. Five hundred years ago, many Armenians and Jews lived in the ancient city of Mardin. Today, it is mainly home to Kurds and Arabs, along with a significant number of Assyrian Christians, making the culture very diverse.

The taxi drove into the maze-like alleys of the old city, weaving left and right up very steep slopes, which made us feel quite nervous. The car finally stopped on a slope. Idris, a young Kurdish man from the hotel, greeted us warmly by the roadside. It was a coincidence that my name is also Idris, which is the name of a prophet.

Idris led us further up the stone steps until we finally reached the Maristan Tarihi Konak hotel. I checked online before we left. Most hotels in the old city of Mardin feature stone houses. This one is not on the main road, so it offers better value for money. The reviews also mentioned that the staff are very friendly, and that turned out to be true.

The walls of our stone house are very thick. Even when it is 30 degrees outside in the summer, you do not need air conditioning inside. However, it does not get as much light as a wooden house because the windows are very small. It is very interesting that our door is also very traditional. You have to insert the large key and turn it several times in the opposite direction, which feels very ancient.



















We had a very rich breakfast on the hotel terrace. It included four types of cheese, yogurt, two types of olives, honey, fig jam, pomegranate jam, and grape jam. The main staple was not the bread commonly found in Turkey, but Kurdish flatbread (nan).



















The manager of Maristan Tarihi Konak is a Kurdish man named Zahit. He took us for a walk through the old city bazaar and pointed out the general direction of various historical sites on the main road, which was very thoughtful. The bazaar in the old city of Mardin is right behind the main road. It is very lively and stays open until 6:30 in the evening. We saw an older man wearing traditional clothing at the bazaar.

The ancient city of Mardin has a very long history. It was called Merida (castle) during the Roman period. It was incorporated into the Arab Empire in 640 and was later ruled in turns by several tribal dynasties of Mesopotamia. After 1085, Mardin was ruled successively by the Seljuk Empire, the Artuqid dynasty, and the Kara Koyunlu dynasty, all established by Oghuz Turkic tribes. It was finally incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517.



















Assyrian pastries and salty yogurt drink (ayran).

At the old town bazaar, I ate the Mardin specialty Assyrian pastry (Süryani Çöreği) and drank the Kurdish version of salty yogurt drink (Doogh).

The Assyrian pastry (Süryani Çöreği) is said to have a 2,000-year history. It is made with 32 different spices and comes in flavors like date and almond. It is a signature food for Assyrian engagement ceremonies. Assyrians have lived on the Mesopotamian plains for 4,000 years. They built a massive Assyrian Empire before 2000 BC, which helped spread Assyrian culture widely. As an important settlement for Assyrians, many of the local delicacies in Mardin were invented by them. Although Assyrians are Christians, they live alongside Kurds and Arabs, so their snacks are safe for Muslims to eat.









Unlike the Turkish version of yogurt drink (ayran) which only uses salt, water, and yogurt, Kurds add dill, mint, and seeds from the Kurdish pistachio tree (Pistacia kurdica) to their (Doogh). Kurds also make a drink called (Ava Mast) by mixing water into milk and adding these same seasonings.





Purple basil sherbet

In another alley, we drank a Turkish summer specialty, purple basil sherbet (Reyhan Sherbet). It is made with purple basil, lemon salt, cinnamon, and cloves. It is a classic drink for Kurds to break their fast during Ramadan. The man selling the sherbet was very friendly. He used Google Translate to chat with us and pointed out the routes to various historical sites. We felt very grateful (alhamdulillah).







Copperware shop

There are many copperware shops in Mardin where you can buy handmade dried fruit plates and coffee pots. It is also popular here to craft the Hand of Fatima (Hamsa). Friends (dosti) in West Asia and North Africa use the right hand of Fatima as an amulet, believing it protects people from the evil eye and other dangers. The palm-shaped amulet dates back to ancient Mesopotamian civilization. It was later adopted by Sephardic Jews and then entered the traditions of Arabs and Berbers, becoming widely spread throughout the Middle East.



















Street view of Mardin old town.



















Mardin Museum of Life

We visited the Mardin Living Museum (Mardin Yaşayan Müze), which displays various traditional Mardin handicrafts. In the first room, an Assyrian man showed us silver filigree work and made beautiful earrings for us on the spot using silver wire.







In the second room, an Arab man was busy hammering out various copper items.





In the third room, a Kurdish woman sang traditional Kurdish folk songs for us and played the Kurdish frame drum (Daf). The Daf drum has a very long history. It appeared in Assyrian reliefs over 3,000 years ago and was an important instrument in Zoroastrian rituals. The museum's Daf drum features the Zoroastrian symbol, the Faravahar. As an Iranian-speaking group, Zoroastrianism once had a profound influence on Kurdish culture.

I read in reviews that the museum sometimes has Kurdish dance performances, but unfortunately, we missed them when we visited.









Pistachio dessert

In the old city of Mardin, we ate at a century-old Turkish dessert shop called HELVACI ALİ, which opened in 1900. They started opening branches across Turkey and former Ottoman countries in 2018, and now they have 200 locations.

We had the pistachio-flavored sesame fudge (Halva) served with Maraş goat milk ice cream (Maraş Dondurması). This ice cream contains mastic resin and a type of orchid flour called salep.

We also tried a fruit jam flavor that was delicious, containing several fruits like cherries, figs, and oranges.

The founder of HELVACI ALİ was Idris Efendi. He moved from Kosovo to Turkey in 1892 and opened his shop in 1900 to sell Middle Eastern sesame fudge (Halva) and a fermented grain drink (Boza). The business has now been in the family for four generations. Idris's son, Ali, started making Halva with his father after finishing elementary school. Because of his superb skills, people called him Helvaci, which is where the shop's name comes from.













Mardin grilled meat platter

For lunch, we went to the most popular restaurant in the old city of Mardin, Tarihi Sultan Sofrası. They specialize in the Mardin grilled meat platter (Mardin tabağı), which almost every table orders. The platter includes six types of food:

First is Mardin kebab (Mardin Kebabı), made by mixing minced meat with onions, chili peppers, black pepper, and salt before skewering it.

Stuffed lamb ribs (Kaburga dolması) is a rotisserie dish that is part of Ottoman cuisine, and it is especially famous in Mardin and Diyarbakır. When eating stuffed lamb ribs (Kaburga dolması), you must pair it with the local specialty pilaf, which is made with onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, cumin, cilantro, cinnamon, allspice, and various other spices.

Fried meatball (İçli Köfte) is a fried meatball that originated from the Levantine kibbeh. The shell is made from crushed bulgur wheat, flour, eggs, pepper, and spices, while the filling consists of minced meat, onions, parsley, and spices. Unlike the spindle-shaped kibbeh found in the Levant, the ones we ate in Mardin were shaped like meat patties.

Vegetable casserole (Güveç) is a clay pot dish containing stewed potatoes, eggplants, green peppers, and other vegetables.

Sembusek, also called Mardin pizza, is a thin meat pie that looks a bit like a sealed Turkish flatbread (Lahmacun). The minced meat filling includes onions, green peppers, parsley, black pepper, and various spices.

Lamb flatbread (Etli ekmek) is a lamb-filled pastry. It is made by mixing lamb mince with dried red chili and spices, kneading it into dough, and baking it in an oven. It is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, looking a bit like a cracker.

Besides this, whenever you order meat here, they always serve a plate of vegetables and a plate of onions. The vegetable plate includes cabbage, red cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, and cilantro, and a squeeze of lemon makes it very refreshing. In Turkey, you can basically avoid the situation of only eating meat and no vegetables while traveling, which I think is great.

Finally, I have to praise the owner for being very welcoming! In the evening, after the sunset prayer (maghrib), I ran into the owner on the street again. He greeted me first, and I felt very grateful (shukr).



















Local coffee and desserts

In the afternoon, I had coffee and dessert at a cozy cafe in Mardin, which had a very local feel. Local Mardin coffee is richer than standard Turkish coffee. It contains orchid root powder (salep) and carob powder (carob), and the local Kurds and Assyrians both enjoy drinking it this way. Tabbaka is a yellow rice pudding invented by the Assyrians. Harire is a brown pudding made from local Mazruna grapes, and we finished with a purple basil sherbet (Reyhan Sherbet).















Kurdish flatbread shop

At a Kurdish flatbread shop on the streets of Mardin, the bread is handmade with patterns pressed in by fingers. This flatbread goes well with grilled meat and stews, and restaurants serve it with almost any dish you order.











Traditional Kurdish dance

On the streets of Mardin in the evening, the passionate Kurdish people seem ready to dance at any time. A young man played traditional Kurdish music on a tanbur, and passersby spontaneously gathered to perform the traditional Kurdish dance, Helperkê.

Helperkê is a classic form of traditional Kurdish group dance where everyone holds hands to form an open circle and moves in a ring to the music. Both men and women can join this dance, and everyone can add their own spontaneous movements, reflecting the Kurdish spirit of unity and freedom.

A young Kurdish man sings folk songs while playing the tanbur.

Mardin barbecue

We had a traditional barbecue for dinner at a shop that has been open for 101 years, since 1922. Turkey has not gone through the social changes we saw in the 1950s and 1980s, so it feels common to see old shops that have been passed down through generations for decades or even a century.

Minced meat is charcoal-grilled with green peppers and served with thin flatbread, onions, tomatoes, and cabbage, much like Zibo barbecue where you wrap the meat in the bread. The main difference from our barbecue is that we grill chunks of meat and add seasoning while cooking, while they mix the seasoning into the meat paste beforehand and add nothing while grilling.













Kurdish traditional clothing

I took a walk in the old city of Mardin in the evening and bought a traditional Kurdish mesh headscarf (pushi) and baggy trousers (shalwar) at a local Kurdish clothing shop.

Shalwar are traditional baggy trousers introduced to the Middle East from Persia during the Ottoman period, and the word literally means "trousers" in Persian. These trousers are very loose and held at the waist with an elastic band, and they are especially popular in the farming and herding regions of southeastern Anatolia.











The pushi headscarf is called a keffiyeh in Arabic and is common throughout the Middle East as a way to protect against sunburn and sand in arid regions. However, the styles and ways of wearing these headscarves vary across the Middle East. For example, people on the Arabian Peninsula usually wear a black headband (agal) over a plain white headscarf, while Palestinians use a fishnet-patterned headscarf as a symbol of their national identity. Kurdish headscarves, like those of the neighboring Arabs and Yazidis, generally have a black-and-white or red-and-white mesh pattern, and they are worn by rolling up one side to keep them in place. Today, young Kurds in Mardin mostly use the pushi as a scarf.









Assyrian snack shop

In the evening, I ate fried chickpea balls (falafel) and chickpea dip (hummus) at an Assyrian snack shop, served with tomatoes, pickles, and cabbage. The shop is very popular, and the food was truly delicious.

I chatted with the owner and asked if he was Kurdish or Arab, and he told me he was a Syriac. I initially thought he meant he had moved from Syria, but after looking it up, I learned that Syriacs refers to Syrian Christians, which includes all denominations that use Classical Syriac for their rituals. The Church of the East (Jingjiao), which was popular in China during the Tang and Yuan dynasties, was one of these branches. Therefore, the term Syriac today refers to a group that includes several peoples, such as modern Arameans, Assyrians, and Chaldeans.













Street view

The old town of Mardin has many shops selling prayer beads (tasbih), and they come in a wide variety of materials. Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: Mardin is a stone-built city above the Mesopotamian plain where Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, and Muslim communities share a deep local food culture. This second part continues the food and lodging notes with the original order and images preserved.









The empty streets of the old city of Mardin at dawn.















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Reposted from the web

Summary: Istanbul Airport museum opened in 2020 inside the international departures area and displays important objects borrowed from museums across Turkey. This account focuses on Islamic art, Turkish history, and the museum pieces seen during the airport visit.

The international departures area of Istanbul Airport has an airport museum that opened in 2020. It features major artifacts borrowed from various museums across Turkey and is definitely worth a visit.







The wooden door from the Ibrahim Bey Imaret (a charitable soup kitchen) in Karaman comes from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts. The Karamanid Beylik was a powerful state among the many that gained independence from the Sultanate of Rum in the 13th century. Karaman architecture continued the Seljuk tradition but was simpler than earlier Seljuk buildings. Besides beautiful geometric floral patterns and Arabic calligraphy, the wooden door features carvings of figures and animals in the Seljuk style. The ones at the bottom appear to be griffins from Iranian mythology.







This 13th-century Seljuk double-headed eagle stone carving is from the Konya Archaeological Museum. It is a coincidence that I saw this same piece when I visited Konya in 2018; this is our second meeting. Experts believe this stone carving may have come from the Konya city walls, which were built in 1221 by the Seljuk Sultan of Rum, Kayqubad I (reigned 1220–1237).

The Seljuks were a branch of the Oghuz Turkic tribes who originally lived as nomads on the Kazakh steppe, north of the Syr Darya River in Central Asia. Their leader, Seljuk Beig, converted to Islam around 985 and broke away from the Oghuz tribal confederation. In 1035, after their relationship with the Kara-Khanid Khanate worsened, the Seljuks moved south to the Khorasan region of Persia. They unexpectedly defeated the army of the Ghaznavid Empire and officially established the Seljuk Empire in Khorasan in 1037. After 1040, the Seljuk army swept through Iran and the Anatolian Peninsula, completely defeating the Byzantines. They officially established the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia in 1077 and made Konya their capital in 1097.

After the Mongols invaded Central Asia and Persia in the early 13th century, many Turkic and Persian people fled to Konya for safety. In the 1220s, Konya was full of refugees from the Khwarazmian Empire. Many were educated intellectuals or skilled craftsmen, the most famous being the great Sufi poet Rumi.







These early 13th-century stucco carvings of Seljuk Turkic hunters are housed in the Karatay Madrasa Tile Museum in Konya and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts. The first piece shows a hunting leader, while the second piece shows a person on the left hunting a dragon and a person on the right hunting a lion.





This 13th-century sphinx stone carving from Alaeddin Hill in Konya, the capital of the Sultanate of Rum, is another old friend I previously saw at the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts. The sphinx has a human head and an animal body. It originated in ancient Egypt and later spread to the Iranian and Anatolian regions.





The Amasya Museum holds a 13th-century Seljuk bronze mirror featuring beautiful Kufic calligraphy. Amasya, in the Black Sea region, was also an important cultural center during the Seljuk period.





The Karatay Madrasa Tile Museum in Konya houses a late 13th-century Seljuk bronze chandelier with silver inlay.





The Mevlana Museum, which houses the tomb of Rumi in Konya, holds an early 13th-century gilded bronze candle box.



The copper-zinc alloy flags known as Sanjak Alem were used in Ottoman Sufi ceremonies. The first one is from the 15th century and is kept at the Konya Museum, while the second is from the 16th century and is held at the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts.







A highlight of the Istanbul Airport Museum is the early 13th-century Seljuk throne from the Ankara Ethnography Museum. It is a unique piece of art from the Seljuk era that symbolizes the royal power of the Sultan of Rum.













The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds 13th-century Seljuk mosaic tiles.













The Tiled Kiosk in Istanbul, part of the Istanbul Museum of Islamic Arts, houses 13th-century tiles from the Kubadabad Palace, the summer residence of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. Kubadabad Palace sits by Lake Beyşehir, 100 kilometers west of Konya, the capital of the Sultanate of Rum. It was built in 1236 by the Seljuk Sultan Kayqubad I, who reigned from 1220 to 1237. The entire complex consists of 16 buildings. The largest palace is 50 meters long and 35 meters wide and is famous for its ornate tiles. These tiles feature human and animal figures, which are typical artistic characteristics of the Seljuk dynasty.



The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds a 17th-century Ottoman-era jeweled aigrette (murassa aigrette). This is a piece of royal head jewelry made of gold inlaid with rubies and turquoise, topped with a peacock feather. The word murassa comes from Arabic and means inlaid with jewels.



The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds a 17th-century Ottoman-era jeweled belt.



The Topkapi Palace Museum holds a late 16th-century oil portrait of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, painted in the style of the Venetian school.



The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds the 16th-century poetry collection of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, titled Divan-i Muhibbi. Muhibbi was Suleiman's pen name, which means 'Lover of the Lord'.







The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds a property document issued by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1567-68. It features the Sultan's royal monogram (tughra) and grants permission to use a Tekfur pasture in the Kocaeli province of northwestern Turkey. Tekfur is a title used from the late Seljuk to early Ottoman periods to refer to Byzantine lords in the towns and castles of the Anatolia and Thrace regions.







The Topkapi Palace Museum holds a 19th-century Ottoman velvet and silver-plated quiver.



The Topkapi Palace Museum holds 16th-century Ottoman iron armor. It features an iron helmet from the late 15th to early 16th century, with a 19th-century iron hammer in front.



The Topkapi Palace Museum holds a 16th-century Ottoman shield. The outer ring is made of willow branches, and the inner ring is iron inlaid with gold. An 18th-century copper helmet sits on top, with 16th-century swords on both sides. The sword on the left has the name Soler written on the blade, and the sword on the right is inlaid with rubies and emeralds.









The Topkapi Palace Museum holds 16th-century Ottoman finger rings.



The Topkapi Palace Museum holds a throne made of ebony, ivory, and mother-of-pearl.





The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds a 17th-century Ottoman silver incense burner.



The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds a 16th-century Ottoman book titled Mira'at ul-Kevneyn (Mirror of the Two Worlds).





The Topkapi Palace Museum holds a 17th-century Ottoman dua shirt. Soldiers wore these shirts into battle to pray for victory.







The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds a 17th-century Ottoman manuscript titled Divan-i Sultan Osman.



The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds 17th-century Ottoman Iznik tiles depicting the Prophet's Mosque in Medina.





In the back is an 18th-century Ottoman hand-woven wool prayer rug from the Mevlana Museum in Konya. In the front is a book stand made during the Seljuk period in 1279-80, which features many lion patterns.





The Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts holds a 19th-century Ottoman scripture manuscript.



This 16th-century Ottoman-era scripture box at the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts is made of wood inlaid with mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell, and ivory.



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Reposted from the web

Summary: This Sanya travel note records an Eid Mubarak moment through the lens of a Muslim traveler. The article keeps the original details, photos, and greeting tone while presenting them in clear, natural English.





Xiguanshi Mosque was originally called Guanshi Village Mosque. It was first built in 1494 during the Ming Dynasty. The main hall was rebuilt in 1709, the main gate in 1723, the hall rooms in 1732, and the kiln hall (yaodian) in 1761. It continued to be renovated during the Guangxu period and the Republic of China era.

On August 15, 1900, the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing. Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu left the city to head west. They arrived in Xiguanshi at dusk and were hosted by the local Hui Muslims. That night, Cixi slept in the main hall, while Guangxu and the empresses slept in the side halls. The next day, Li Xijun, the owner of the Xiguangyu Escort Agency in Xiguanshi, prepared twenty mule-drawn sedan chairs, several silver ingots, and grain for Cixi’s group. A villager named Yang Juchuan volunteered to lead the way, and Li Jintang provided protection as they traveled to the next stop. Two years later, Cixi returned to Beijing and donated silver to renovate Xiguanshi. She also ordered the imperial kilns at Liulihe to fire glazed tiles, roof treasures, and ridge beasts. These were gifted to Xiguanshi Mosque and the mosque in Gaotou Village, Wuji County, which was the hometown of Imam Cai Wanchun.









After the congregational prayer (namaz), I went to Teacher Chen’s Jingyi Farmhouse and slaughtered a small black-headed white sheep. I brought home the hind leg, lamb chops, and half a lamb spine (xiezi). I plan to stew the lamb spine tonight.

















At Jingyi Farmhouse, I had braised vermicelli soup (huifen tang) made with Qurbani lamb and grilled lamb liver. It was the most tender liver I have ever eaten! I also drank salty milk tea and ate various melons and fruits. This Eid was perfect.

















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Reposted from the web

Summary: Hong Kong has a long Hui Muslim history shaped by migration, trade, mosques, and community life across more than a century. This account traces the city Muslim community changes through people, streets, mosques, and historical records from the Chinese source.

I traveled to Hong Kong at the end of May 2023. Although I have been to Hong Kong many times, I find something new every time. I previously published an article about eating Indonesian, Pakistani, Iranian, and Tibetan food in Hong Kong, along with notes on some Indonesian sisters in Hong Kong, in my piece titled 2023 Hong Kong Halal Trip (Indonesian Javanese, Pakistani, Iranian, and Tibetan Food).

During this trip to Hong Kong, I found two excellent books, A General Overview of Historical Materials on Hui Muslims in Hong Kong (Xianggang Huimin Shiliao Gailan) and The Crescent on Lion Rock (Shizishan Shang de Xinyue), which detail the changes among Hui Muslims in Hong Kong over the past century. I plan to combine the content from these two books with my own personal experiences from this trip to share how Hui Muslims in Hong Kong have progressed step by step from the late 19th century to today.





Jamia Mosque (Shelley Street Mosque)

The records say the first Hui Muslims to arrive in Hong Kong were likely those from Yunnan who came to do business via Myanmar in the late 19th century. Between 1852 and 1886, the British gradually annexed Myanmar from south to north, and Hui Muslims from Yunnan began traveling through Myanmar to Hong Kong for trade. In 1872, Ma Qixiang, a Hui Muslim from Yuxi, Yunnan, opened a branch of his business, Xing Shun He, in Hong Kong, dealing in medicinal herbs, jewelry, cotton yarn, and tin ore. These Yunnan Hui Muslims were known as Panthay people in British-ruled Myanmar, so people in Hong Kong referred to them in Cantonese as Bangdie Lao. However, the Hui Muslims from Yunnan during this period did not choose to settle in Hong Kong, and there are no descendants of them among today's Hui Muslims in Hong Kong.

Starting from the end of the 19th century, Hui Muslims living in Guangzhou and Zhaoqing began to come to Hong Kong to settle. Early Hui Muslims from Guangdong were not numerous in Hong Kong. In the 1911 population census report released by the Hong Kong government, there were 250 Chinese people who practiced Islam. Before 1918, Hui Muslims in Hong Kong did not have their own religious venue, so they performed their religious duties at the Jamia Mosque (Shelley Street Mosque) built by Indian Muslims. According to the 1933 document Plans and Progress of the Hong Kong Islamic Fraternity Association, it is recorded: '... Hong Kong is located in the south, and before the founding of the Republic of China, there were few of our fellow believers living here.' After the revolution, due to war and floods, life became difficult, and many fellow believers from the mainland moved here to make a living. At first, all religious gatherings were held at the 'Moro Temple' (Moro Miao) built by Indian people.

Jamia Mosque (Shelley Street Mosque) is the first mosque in Hong Kong, first built in the 1850s. After the British occupied Hong Kong Island in 1841, they immediately sent Muslim soldiers from British India to be stationed there. As Hong Kong Island was being built up in the 1840s, Indian Muslims arrived to work as police, security guards, and sailors, while a few wealthy merchants also came to open companies. At the request of Indian Muslims, the colonial government leased a piece of land in the Mid-Levels of Central near the barracks to four trustees representing the Muslim community in 1850. They built the first stone prayer hall in 1852, which was called the Mohammedan Mosque. The mosque began expanding in 1870 and was officially completed in 1890. It was rebuilt again in 1915, keeping only the original minaret, and has remained in use ever since. After 1945, the mosque was renamed Jamia Mosque. Its Chinese name is the Islamic Mosque and Prayer Hall, and Chinese locals also call it the Big Mosque or the Moro Mosque. Because it is located on Shelley Street, it is also called the Shelley Street Mosque.



















Since the Central-Mid-Levels escalator was built in 1993, it is now very convenient for us to visit the Shelley Street Mosque.



Happy Valley Muslim Cemetery.

In 1870, the colonial government leased part of the land at Wong Nai Chung Gap in Happy Valley to Muslims for use as a cemetery and allowed the Muslim community to manage it themselves. Since then, many Hui Muslims who passed away in Hong Kong have been buried in the Happy Valley cemetery, and you can see the distribution of surnames among Hong Kong's Hui Muslims from this.

















The Yu family is an important Hui Muslim family from Guangzhou that came to settle in Hong Kong in the early 20th century. Today, next to the Ancient Tomb of the Worthies in Guangzhou, there is the Tomb of the Three Loyalists and the Three Loyalists Pavilion. They were built to honor three Hui Muslim generals—Yu Fengqi, Sa Zhifu, and Ma Chengzu—who died heroically defending Guangzhou when the Qing army attacked the city. Yu Fengqi is the ancestor of the Yu family of Hui Muslims. The inscription records that Yu Fengqi was a descendant of the Uyghur people. His distant ancestor, Yu Shifu, was a high-ranking military leader in Nanjing who helped suppress a rebellion in Guangdong and Guangxi during the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, and then settled in the Hui Muslim camp in Guangzhou. In 1650, when Guangzhou was under siege, Yu Fengqi served as a regional commander and was responsible for defending the South Gate. When Guangzhou fell, the governor Du Yonghe led his officers to open the gates and flee. Some people tried to persuade Yu Fengqi to run away, but he scolded them severely. When the Qing army arrived, Yu Fengqi hanged himself at home to die for his country. Over a hundred members of his household were captured and killed. Only his sons, Yu Ying'ao and Yingxiang, survived because they were away studying with their teacher.



The Sa-surname Hui Muslims are one of the two remaining lineages of Tang and Song dynasty foreign settlers in Guangzhou. They also moved to Hong Kong to settle in the early 20th century. Between 1276 and 1278, the Southern Song and Mongol armies fought for two years, causing devastating damage to Guangzhou. To escape the war, many Muslim foreign settlers left Guangzhou, and many moved to Quanzhou. Today, among the local Hui Muslims in Guangzhou, only the Sa-surname Hui Muslims can be verified as descendants of the Tang and Song dynasty foreign settlers. Additionally, the Pu-surname families who have lived for generations in Zhugang Village and Pu Village in Guangzhou are also descendants of Tang and Song foreign settlers. However, they no longer show any traces of their foreign origins, and their customs are exactly the same as the local Han people.

According to the Genealogy of the Sa Clan in Guangdong and Guangxi, our clan began with Muslim ancestors and established roots in China. It flourished in the Tang, continued to thrive in the Song, rose during the Yuan, branched out in the Ming, and spread across eastern and western Guangdong. According to the Guangzhou Prefecture Records, during the Zhizheng era of the Yuan dynasty, seventeen families led by Sa Dula guarded the Ancient Tombs of the Worthies and the mosque outside the Great North Gate. The Genealogy of the Sa Clan in Guangdong and Guangxi records that Sa Dula was a descendant of the Sa family. when the Qing army attacked Guangzhou at the end of the Ming dynasty, one of the Three Loyalists of Islam who died defending the city was named Sa Zhifu. According to the Sa family genealogy, the surnames Sa and Sa (Sa and Sa) are one family, and he was also a descendant of the Sa clan.







The Xu-surname Hui Muslims were the first Guangzhou Hui Muslim family to settle in Hong Kong. According to family records, the ancestors of the Xu-surname Hui Muslims moved south from the north to Guangdong during the Southern Song dynasty to escape the Jin people, and eventually settled in Guangzhou at the end of the Ming dynasty. Xu Yizhi served as a lieutenant (bazong) in the Left Battalion of the Guangzhou Garrison during the Guangxu era of the Qing dynasty. His children's generation began settling in Hong Kong in the 1880s.



The ancestor of the Fu-surname Hui Muslims, Fu Yunfeng, was originally a Han person from Jinhua, Zhejiang. He went to Guangdong to do business during the Kangxi era. After being saved by the imam of the Haopan Mosque in Guangzhou when he was in danger, he lived in the mosque for a period and converted to Islam. Fu Yunfeng was a timber merchant. After becoming wealthy, he funded the reconstruction of the Haopan Mosque in Guangzhou and renovated the Huaisheng Mosque, Nansheng Mosque, the Ancient Tombs of the Worthies in Guangzhou, and the City East Mosque in Zhaoqing, making a great contribution to the development of the faith in Guangdong.







The Liu-surname Hui Muslims moved from Zhaoqing. Their first ancestor, Liu Dichen, was from Xi'an Prefecture, Shaanxi. He came to Guangdong in the early Qing dynasty to suppress rebels and served as a commander in the Luoding Garrison of Guangdong. His descendants lived in Zhaoqing for generations.



There are mainly two branches of Bao-surname Hui Muslims in Guangdong. The ancestors of the Bao Qingshan Tang family belonged to the Bordered Yellow Banner Han Army. They were transferred to Guangzhou from the capital in 1682 to serve in the garrison and lived for generations inside the West Gate of Guangzhou. The ancestor of the Bao Dunhe Tang family, A Bao Mu'er, came to Kunming Prefecture from Xinjiang. During the Kangxi and Yongzheng reigns of the Qing Dynasty, the second-generation descendant Bao Guowei went to Nanjing for business. Later, he brought his second son, Bao Tingzhi, to Guangzhou for business and settled there.



Chinese Muslim Fraternal Association

In the early 20th century, Hui Muslims from Guangzhou and Zhaoqing began moving to Hong Kong. Because they did not know English, most early Hui Muslims in Hong Kong could only work in low-paying jobs, and their influence was far less than that of the British Indian Muslims. Most of them were sailors, small vendors, and laborers, and many chose to live in the area around Canal Road Flyover (Goose Neck Bridge) in Wan Chai. At that time, every Friday for Jumu'ah, Hui Muslims had to climb the mountain to the Jamia Mosque (Shelley Street Mosque) in the Mid-Levels of Central for prayer, which was very inconvenient.

In 1917, an important event affected the Hui Muslims in Hong Kong. The British Hong Kong government and British Indian Muslim representatives jointly formulated the 'Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong and Cemetery Management Regulations.' It stipulated that Hong Kong's mosques and Muslim cemeteries would be managed by the Incorporated Trustees, but the fund excluded Hui Muslims. This action sparked a strong reaction from the Hui Muslims in Hong Kong. To provide a nearby place for worship for Hui Muslims and to improve the education of their children, Ma Ruiqi, Suo Chuncheng, Tuo Shengchu, and others initiated the formation of an association in 1917. With funding from Ma Zijing and Tuo Wenying, they invited Imam Jin Yiqing from the Xiaodongying Mosque in Guangzhou to help with the planning. In 1918, they rented a storefront from businessman Tuo Shengchu on Wan Chai Road as their headquarters and officially established the 'Chinese Muslim Fraternal Association'. The initial Fraternal Association had 17 board members and invited Imam Chen Shaoqing from the Haopan Mosque in Guangzhou to serve as the religious leader. It became a Muslim organization with functions for worship, education, and service, and could accommodate over a hundred people during Jumu'ah.

In 1922, the Fraternal Association purchased a two-story wooden warehouse at 7 Chendong Lane from Mr. Bama as a permanent site. It was officially registered in 1927 and rebuilt and completed in 1929. In 1953, the original site of the Fraternal Association was rebuilt into a four-story building, and it was expanded again in 1998 to its current form. It can be said that until the Islamic Centre on Oi Kwan Road was built in 1981, the Fraternal Association was the center of the Hui Muslim community in Hong Kong.





The Tuo family of Hui Muslims moved from Guangzhou to Hong Kong in the early 20th century and was a very influential family among Hong Kong's Hui Muslims. In particular, the three Tuo brothers were highly respected among Hui Muslim workers. Tuo Weiying initially ran a paint shop on Sugar Street in Causeway Bay. Later, he worked as the head of the paint department at the tram company in Wan Chai and introduced many Hui Muslims to work at the tram company and the nearby electric company. In the 1940s and 1950s, Tuo Weiying served as the chairman of the Chinese Muslim Fraternal Association many times. After retirement, he remained enthusiastic about the association's affairs and was deeply respected by his fellow Muslims.





The halal food industry of Hui Muslims in Hong Kong.

The halal food culture of Hui Muslims in Hong Kong has a history of one hundred years. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, Ma Tingzhi, a founding member of the Bo'ai Society and a Hui Muslim from Guangzhou, began running Cantonese-style halal food businesses in Hong Kong. Another founding member, Ma Ruiqi, was a halal pastry chef. From the 1920s to the 1980s, Hui Muslims in Hong Kong centered their lives in Wan Chai and maintained a complete halal food system. At that time, cattle and sheep were shipped in from Guangzhou, slaughtered at a slaughterhouse in Sai Wan on Hong Kong Island, and then transported to Lianxing Beef Stall and Hou'an Beef Stall in the Central Market for sale. Quanchang Hao in Happy Valley supplied halal poultry and cured meats (lap mei).

The Xu family of Hui Muslims was an important family in the Hong Kong halal food industry. They operated the Xinxin Halal Restaurant in Wan Chai in the 1930s. After Hong Kong was liberated in 1945, the Xu family began operating Xinchang Chicken and Duck at the Bowrington Market. Their signature dish was hanging-oven roasted duck (gua lu shao ya). Later, they opened the Xinchang Halal Restaurant, which featured white-cut lamb intestines (bai qie yang chang).

Quanxiang Tea House and Satangji Tea Restaurant on Hennessy Road were important gathering places for Hui Muslims. Quanxiang Tea House was famous for its roasted meats (shao la), including hanging-oven roasted duck and fatty oil-duck. Satangji served both Cantonese and Western food, offering Western pastries and bread as well as congee, noodles, and rice.

The attached images are advertisements from these various shops published in the Hong Kong Islamic Association's "Muslim Newsletter" between the 1950s and 1980s.













Halal Huiji.

After the 1980s, as Hong Kong's economy took off, urban renewal in the Wan Chai area accelerated. The buildings where Hui Muslims lived and the factories where they worked were gradually converted into shopping malls, and the original Wan Chai Hui Muslim community slowly dissolved. At the same time, as the first generation of Hong Kong Hui Muslims from Guangzhou and Zhaoqing passed away (gui zhen), the second generation failed to provide religious education to their children. This led to a decline in religious awareness among the new generation of Hong Kong Hui Muslims, and the traditional halal food shops were left without successors and closed one after another.

Today, the only remaining old-brand Hong Kong Hui Muslim halal roasted meat shop is Halal Huiji, located in the Bowrington Road Market in Wan Chai. It stands as a witness to the Hong Kong Hui Muslim halal food industry that flourished from the 1920s to the 1980s, and to the entire Wan Chai Hui Muslim community.

The founder of Huiji was a Hui Muslim from Guangzhou named Zhou Hui, who originally started out making noodles. After World War II, life returned to normal, and in 1946, Zhou Hui moved from Guangzhou to Hong Kong to make a living. He opened the Huiji food stall with his daughter, Wan Chang, and it has now been running for three generations over 77 years. Besides the roast duck that Cantonese people love, Huiji is famous for its curry lamb brisket (gali yangnan). Boss Zhou created this curry recipe by combining Chinese spices to attract South Asian Muslim brothers, and it became popular with both Chinese and South Asian customers. Especially after the Islamic Centre on Oi Kwan Road was built in 1981, friends (dost) from all ethnic groups liked to come to the nearby Huiji for lunch after Friday prayers (Jumu'ah), and the curry lamb brisket became a must-order signature dish.













Kowloon Mosque

Before the 1940s, most Hui Muslims in Hong Kong came from Guangzhou and Zhaoqing, centering around the Bo'ai Society in Wan Chai. After 1949, the antique and jade trade in places like Beijing and Shanghai faced a huge impact, so many antique merchants moved south to Hong Kong to find business opportunities, including many Hui Muslims. In this way, a new northern Hui Muslim community began to form in Hong Kong.

In the early 20th century, antique shops in Hong Kong were mainly concentrated around Hankow Road in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, and were mostly owned by people from Fujian. From 1949 through the 1950s, northern Hui Muslims opened fifty or sixty antique shops in Tsim Sha Tsui, with over a dozen of them on Hankow Road alone. These Hui Muslim owners bought goods from Beijing, Shanghai, and other places, then resold them to European and American tourists and overseas Chinese, making Hong Kong an important hub for antiques and jade. It wasn't until the mainland's reform and opening up allowed overseas buyers to purchase directly from the mainland, combined with the wave of emigration from Hong Kong after the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, that the northern Hui Muslim antique industry in Tsim Sha Tsui gradually faded away.

Among the northern Hui Muslims in the Tsim Sha Tsui antique business, the most famous were the Jin family from the Lumicang area of Beijing. The Jin family's ancestral home was in Jinan, Shandong. Their ancestor, Jin Yupei, came to Beijing during the Qianlong reign to serve as an imam at the Lumicang Mosque. The family settled in Beijing and later became a famous antique-dealing family. Jin Baolin, Jin Baohe, and Jin Baorui of the Jin family opened the Yihehao shop in Qingdao and Shanghai in the 1940s, and then opened a shop in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, in 1949. there was the Great Wall Antique Company opened by the Zhang family, Ruixianghang opened by the Zhou family, Yishenghang opened by the Sha family, and the Tongcheng Trading Company opened by the Ma family.

Because it is far from Wan Chai, most northern Hui Muslims in the Tsim Sha Tsui antique trade choose to perform their namaz at the Kowloon Mosque. The Kowloon Mosque was first built in 1896, originally for the British Indian Muslim soldiers stationed at the nearby Whitfield Barracks. After the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, South Asia was no longer a British colony, and these soldiers returned to their hometowns. Since then, the Kowloon Mosque has become the activity center for all Muslims living on the Kowloon Peninsula. Northern Hui Muslims make up a large part of the Kowloon Mosque, and the first imam after the war was Ma Xinyi, who was from Shandong.

In 1978, when the subway was built in Tsim Sha Tsui, the Kowloon Mosque developed cracks from the construction and became a dangerous building. In this situation, northern Hui Muslims in Tsim Sha Tsui formed a mosque reconstruction committee. While raising funds, they also contacted Beijing to buy marble. They finally rebuilt the Kowloon Mosque in 1980, which is the building we see today.













In the Bowrington Road Market (Ejing Jieshi) in Wan Chai, there is a beef and lamb shop called Qiji run by the Sha family. The Sha family is originally from Shandong. During the War of Resistance, they took refuge in Guilin, Guangxi. During this time, Sha Yikun married Ma Qiuqin, the daughter of Imam Ma Xinyi. After the war, Imam Ma Xinyi served as the imam of the Kowloon Mosque. Sha Yikun came to the Kowloon Mosque to join Imam Ma and also became an apprentice at the Yihehao antique shop, which was owned by the Jin family at Luk Mi Chong in Tsim Sha Tsui. In the 1960s, the Sha family started their own business and opened the Yishengxing antique shop in Tsim Sha Tsui.







Ammar Mosque (Aiqun Qingzhensi)

Since the 1980s, the center for Hong Kong Muslims has been the Ammar Mosque in Wan Chai. The Ammar Mosque can be traced back to the mosque built at 7 Seymour Road in 1864, which was rebuilt at the Happy Valley Muslim Cemetery in 1945. In 1976, to build the Aberdeen Tunnel, the British Hong Kong government planned to move some graves in the Happy Valley Muslim Cemetery and demolish the mosque inside the cemetery. After the news was published, Tu Weishan, the then-chairman of the Islamic Union, immediately expressed his opposition. He led Hong Kong Hui Muslims to write letters to the government many times to voice their opinions and started a petition. This made the British Hong Kong government finally give in, stop moving the graves, and grant a piece of land on Oi Kwan Road in Wan Chai to the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong to build a new mosque. And so, the Ammar Mosque and Osman Ramju Sadick Islamic Centre was officially completed in 1981.







We attended Jumu'ah prayer at Ammar Mosque, where Imam Yang Xingben gave a sermon (waaz) about Qurbani in Cantonese. This was my first time hearing a sermon (waaz) in Cantonese, and I found it very interesting. Imam Yang's ancestral home is Tai'an, Shandong. He studied at the China Islamic Institute and the International Islamic University in Pakistan. After graduating, he taught at the institute before being hired as an imam by the Islamic Union of Hong Kong.

In the main prayer hall, you can see Hui Muslims as well as Muslims of South Asian and Southeast Asian descent. However, the Hui Muslims are mostly elderly, while the young people are mostly friends (dosti) from other ethnic groups. This situation exists not only in Hong Kong but also in Beijing, where the local elders are mostly older, while the young people are mostly friends (dosti) from other regions or countries.













The 7th floor of the Ammar Mosque houses the office of the Islamic Union of Hong Kong, where you can pick up a copy of the Quran (Guran'e) in traditional Chinese characters, sponsored by the Islamic Women's Association of Hong Kong. The Islamic Union of Hong Kong was founded in 1905. It is the second oldest Muslim organization in Hong Kong after the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong. Authorized by the Trustees, it manages the Ammar Mosque and plays a leading role in promoting communication and cultural activities among Hong Kong's various Muslim communities. Since the main association for Hui Muslims in Hong Kong, the Po Oi Tong, has never joined the Incorporated Trustees, the Islamic Union has become the primary way for Hui Muslims to participate in the affairs of the Trustees.





Islamic Centre Canteen

A restaurant opened on the 5th floor of the Ammar Mosque after 2005. It is currently the only halal Hong Kong-style tea restaurant in Hong Kong, and I eat here every time I visit. It is very popular with Muslims of all ethnic groups, not just Hui Muslims, and it is always very busy on Jumu'ah.

We ordered beef rice noodle rolls (changfen), steamed chicken feet in black bean sauce (chizhi zheng fengzhua), steamed beef balls (shanzhu niurou), braised beef tripe (lu niudu), and four-treasure rolls (sibaozha). The four-treasure rolls are bean curd skin wrapped around chicken, mushrooms, crab sticks, and baby corn. Except for the rice noodle rolls being a bit thick, everything else was delicious. Zainab said it was the best meal she had during this trip to Hong Kong.

















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Summary: Northern Thailand has old Yunnanese Hui Muslim communities whose mosque neighborhoods still carry the memory of migration, trade, and borderland life. This firsthand account follows the first half of the second day through mosques, settlements, and local Muslim community scenes while preserving the original photos and sequence.

During the May Day holiday in 2023, I visited the mosque communities (sifang) of Hui Muslims from Yunnan in Northern Thailand. On the first day, led by Master Ma Ruqi, a third-generation Thai Hui Muslim from Yunnan, we visited four mosque communities in the Chiang Mai city area: Chang Khlan, Wat Ket, Jingzhen, and Nurul. I posted about this in 'A Pilgrimage to Northern Thai Yunnan Mosque Communities (Day 1)'. On the second day, Master Ma drove us north to visit several mosque communities in the refugee villages of the former isolated army. We went to Mae Salong, the main base of the isolated army, and finally reached Mae Sai, the northernmost border crossing between Thailand and Myanmar, which is also the second-largest settlement for Hui Muslims from Yunnan in Northern Thailand.

Breakfast in Chiang Mai

On the second morning, we first had breakfast at a halal restaurant run by Hui Muslims from Yunnan in the southeast of Chiang Mai's old city. The owner's Yunnan dialect sounded very familiar, and we had no trouble ordering in Mandarin. I ate their chicken fat rice (ji you fan) back in 2017. This time, I had rice cakes (erkua), wontons (huntun), and steamed buns (baozi). The rice cakes were topped with braised beef, the wontons were in chicken soup, and the steamed buns were filled with pickled vegetables and meat. The standard side dishes here are limes, small shallots, and pickled vegetables. I found them very refreshing and appetizing.



















Date Palm Plantation

Driving north from Chiang Mai through a mountainous area, you will see a date palm plantation by the side of the road, not far from the Wang Pha National Park. Praise be to Allah, after constant efforts and attempts, Thai people have successfully grown date palms in Chiang Mai. Now Thai Muslims can eat locally grown dates. This was also my first time seeing a date palm orchard up close.

Although the dates in Chiang Mai do not ripen until July or August and I could not eat fresh ones this time, the orchard had a wide variety of date products. There were dried dates, date juice, date ice cream, canned dates, and more. We tried the date juice and date ice cream, and both were quite delicious! The dates in the canned dates were crunchy and had a light fragrance, which was a bit of a surprise.





















Wanyang Village

Heading north, I reached the first Hui mosque community on the Thai-Myanmar border: Wanyang Village in Fang District, founded by the descendants of refugees who followed the 93rd Division of the Lost Army in Northern Thailand. The Lost Army in Northern Thailand began in 1950 with the 237th and 93rd Divisions of the Nationalist Army, who retreated from Yunnan into Myanmar along with their families and many refugees.

After 1951, the number of families, merchants, horse caravans, and civilians arriving from Yunnan grew, but constant attacks by the Myanmar military forced them to retreat into the mountains along the Thai border, which is when Wanyang was established. These refugees first lived in bamboo and thatch huts, relying on primitive slash-and-burn farming to grow corn and rice. They were not allowed to enter or leave towns freely, making it very difficult to earn a living.



















Some Yunnan Hui Muslim mosques in Northern Thailand like to use pleasant two-character religious terms for their names, such as Jingzhen Mosque in Chiang Mai, Meide Mosque in Wanyang, Jiqing Mosque in Hefei, Chengxin Mosque in Fang District, and Ciai Mosque in Daduan, all of which sound very auspicious. Among these Yunnan mosques, I think Wanyang's Meide Mosque is the most beautiful; the environment is excellent, with lush greenery that makes it feel like a garden.



















At Wanyang Meide Mosque, I saw the Arabic school, the women's prayer hall, the funeral room (meiti fang), and the event hall; it was my first time seeing the word for funeral (maiti) written as meiti, and I think this translation is quite good.



















At noon, I went to a Yunnan Hui Muslim restaurant in Wanyang Village called Jianping Beef Noodle Shop and ate pan-fried dumplings (jianjiao), rice noodles (babasi), and beef noodles, served with the standard Northern Thai sides of pickled vegetables, onions, and lime. The rice noodles (babasi) are a type of flat rice noodle topped with traditional beef sauce, and you can choose between the traditional Yunnan Hui Muslim clear broth or the Northern Thai coconut milk broth. The pan-fried dumplings (jianjiao) were filled with chicken and chives, and I feel that pan-fried dumplings are also very common in Yunnan communities in Northern Thailand.

























The shop displays family photos of the owner.







Hefei Village

After leaving Wanyang Village, we arrived at the second Yunnan Hui mosque community on the Thai-Myanmar border, Hefei Village, to pray at the village's Jiqing Mosque. Like Wanyang Village, Hefei Village was established after the 1950s by refugees who fled here from Yunnan through Myanmar.



















Hefei Jiqing Mosque features Chinese calligraphy and traditional Chinese-style Arabic calligraphy, including a plaque that reads 'The Way Spans Past and Present' (Dao Guan Gu Jin), which was respectfully erected by Ma Junguo when the mosque was rebuilt in 1965.









I met a group of young Hafiz reciting the Quran in the mosque. Life has been hard in northern Myanmar recently, so some Burmese Muslims send their children to study at Jiqing Mosque. These children spend several years practicing constantly to become qualified Hafiz.











The back door of Hefei Jiqing Mosque leads to a cemetery. You can see that the ancestors of the local community came from places like Shadian, Jianshui, and Fengqing County in Lancang, Yunnan. The mosque's donation record book (nietiebu) shows that the main family names in this community are Ma, Na, Li, and Yang.



















Fang District town

After leaving Hefei, we went to the third Yunnan-style mosque on the Thai-Myanmar border, Chengxin Mosque in the town of Fang District, Chiang Mai Province. Chengxin Mosque was built in 1975 by Yunnan Hui Muslims living in Fang District town. It makes it easier for Yunnan Hui Muslims from nearby villages to attend to business in town. Chengxin Mosque has fewer ancestral records (gaomu) than the surrounding villages, and the mosque itself is quite small. It is currently led by an imam who moved from Myanmar, and his family lives right in the mosque. The imam's daughter speaks Mandarin. We chatted with her about daily life, which was very interesting.

Similar to Thailand, the origins of Muslims in Myanmar vary from north to south. In the far north live the Panthay people, descendants of Yunnan Hui Muslim caravans. In the far south live the Pashu people, who are of Malay descent. The central region is mainly home to Burmese Muslims, formed by intermarriage between South Asians and local Burmese people. In 1660, some Mughal soldiers followed the son of Emperor Shah Jahan to Arakan. They later became royal archers for the Mrauk U Kingdom of Arakan and ruled the area for decades between the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The descendants of these Mughal troops are known as the Kaman people, one of the ethnic groups officially recognized by Myanmar.



















Daduan Village

Leaving Fang District town, we arrived at the northernmost Yunnan-style mosque in Chiang Mai, Ciai Mosque in Daduan. We are now just a stone's throw from Myanmar. The newly built women's hall at Ciai Mosque is beautiful. The first floor is a prayer hall, and the second floor is a classroom.



















Inside the main hall of Daduan Ciai Mosque, there is a traditional Weishan-style Arabic calligraphy scroll gifted in 2017 by Donglianhua Village in Weishan, Dali. Thanks to the internet, many Hui Muslims from Yunnan living in Northern Thailand have reconnected with their relatives back home, and the two sides are now in closer contact. Among the Hui Muslims from Yunnan living along the Thai-Myanmar border, Weishan in Dali, Tonghai in Yuxi, and Shadian in Honghe are the main ancestral homes.

The mosque also has copies of scriptures translated into Chinese that were donated by Taiwan. In 1984, Thailand ordered the isolated army in Northern Thailand to disarm and placed them under military control. They banned Chinese-language education and replaced Chinese schools with Thai-language schools. However, the refugees insisted on learning Chinese. They sent their children to Thai schools during the day, but still had them secretly study Chinese in the early morning and at night. Over time, Thailand stopped strictly enforcing these restrictions.

Inside the mosque hangs a photo of Panghsang Mosque, which was gifted by the Panghsang Hui Muslim Association in Myanmar in 2014. Master Ma told me that in 2014, various Yunnan-style mosques in Northern Thailand were invited by Panghsang Mosque to attend their mosque renovation celebration. Panghsang is the capital of the Wa State in Myanmar. It connects to the Meng'a border crossing in Yunnan and is one of the places where Myanmar-based Hui Muslims from Yunnan live.













At the Thai-Myanmar border, the mountain on the other side is in Myanmar.



Mae Salong

Continuing north, we left Chiang Mai Province and entered Chiang Rai Province.

We drove deep into the jungle along the steep, winding roads of the Thai-Myanmar border. Along the way, I bought a huge bunch of super sweet bananas from a local grandmother for one yuan. We finally arrived at Mae Salong, the base camp of the isolated army in Northern Thailand. Master Ma said he has been driving this mountain road for 30 years. At first, it was all dirt, and you had to use tire chains in the winter. It is much easier to drive now that the road has been paved, but it still requires extreme caution if you are not used to it.

After the isolated army withdrew to Taiwan for the second time in 1961, the remaining 3rd and 5th Armies gave up their status as Nationalist soldiers and retreated from Myanmar into the border area of Northern Thailand near Myanmar. From then on, they were known as the isolated army in Northern Thailand.

At that time, the 3rd and 5th Armies did not command each other. Their supplies were cut off, and each had to find a place to live in the jungles of Northern Thailand. Unlike the 3rd Army commander Li Wenhuan, who had a background as a businessman, the 5th Army commander Duan Xiwen was a graduate of the Yunnan Military Academy and did not know how to do business. This caused the 5th Army to fall into a desperate situation for a time. In 1963, Myanmar confiscated the property of overseas Chinese. The Tachileik Special Goods Company at the Thai-Myanmar border crossing had a large amount of stock that they asked the 5th Army to transport. The 5th Army used this to collect escort fees and also bought and sold goods for profit, which temporarily solved their supply problem. After this, the 5th Army headquarters moved into Mae Salong, which guards the mountain pass. They built bamboo and grass huts there for the soldiers and their families to live in.

Because the soil in Mae Salong was not fertile, the terraced fields they cleared could not provide enough food for the soldiers, so life was very difficult in the early days. By the 1980s, most houses were built with bamboo and mud walls and topped with tin roofs. In 1981, the isolated army defeated the Thai Communist Party at Doi Khao Ya. They finally gained legal status, with the soldiers becoming Thai citizens and their families becoming legal resident immigrants. After that, the isolated army laid down their weapons, and Mae Salong changed from a military camp into a northern Thai Chinese village.

The people of Mae Salong put down their guns and started tea plantation businesses. The climate in the northern Thai mountains is perfect for growing tea, and there were already many wild Assam black tea trees there. Since some of the soldiers had been tea merchants back home in Yunnan and knew how to grow tea, they quickly started many tea plantations in Mae Salong. Besides the local wild tea trees, they introduced many varieties like Pu'er and Oolong. Today, Mae Salong has become a tourist destination filled with tea plantations. Every year between the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Spring Festival, many Thai people enjoy coming here to escape the heat and go on vacation.













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Reposted from the web

Summary: Northern Thailand has old Yunnanese Hui Muslim communities whose mosque neighborhoods still carry the memory of migration, trade, and borderland life. This firsthand account follows the second day of the route through local mosques, village streets, and community history while preserving the original photos and sequence.







The Mae Salong Mosque was built in the 1960s by Hui Muslims from Yunnan who were part of the 5th Division of the Lost Army in Northern Thailand. The first imam, Yang Guoqing, worked in the 5th Division's intelligence department. He led the community through the toughest years from the 1960s to the 1980s, seeing the mosque evolve from a bamboo hut to a tin-roofed wooden structure, and finally to the current reinforced concrete building. Haji Majisi, who held the rank of Major General in the army, was one of the three founding elders of the Mae Salong Mosque. He worked tirelessly to raise funds for the mosque's reconstruction, contributing both his own money and effort selflessly. The first imam to lead prayers at the mosque was Haji Wang Zhenliang, who was originally a merchant from Yunnan.

Today, there are still over a dozen households of the mosque's community (gaomu) in Mae Salong, though many live in Taiwan during the tourism off-season. The current imam is a Hmong convert to Islam. He is very grateful that fellow believers (dost) have come to preach in the deep mountains of Northern Thailand, which has led some local Hmong people to return to the faith.

























Inside the mosque, there is a Ramadan donation record (nieti bu) posted on the wall. It shows that the community is primarily made up of people with the surname Ma, along with others named Yang, Dong, Yao, Mu, Wang, He, Jiang, and Zhang. The mosque also displays the wedding stage from earlier this year, where local community member Ma Zhenqiang married Ani, a Thai convert to Islam. It must have been a very lively event, and if Allah wills, I hope to attend a wedding of the Yunnanese Hui Muslims in Thailand one day.





Inside the main prayer hall of the Mae Salong Mosque, there is Arabic calligraphy gifted by a folk culture delegation of Yunnan Hui Muslims.

There is also a group photo of local youth taken in the old wooden prayer hall during a past Eid al-Fitr.









There are two Yunnanese Hui Muslim restaurants in Mae Salong, and we had dinner at one of them, the Shanlima Restaurant. Our driver, Mr. Ma, and the owner's son were classmates at the Jingzhen School in Chiang Mai. The owner was away when we visited, so we only met his wife and son-in-law, both of whom are Thai converts to Islam. The owner's wife can speak a little Yunnanese, so at first, we thought she was a Yunnanese Hui Muslim.

Dining in Mae Salong, deep in the mountains, is all about fresh ingredients. We ordered stir-fried black-bone chicken with ginger strips, braised beef offal (niuzapa hu), a cold salad of fresh tea leaves, and luffa tips. Many families in Mae Salong village raise black-bone chickens. You can usually only find this type of chicken in the mountains; the meat is very firm and tastes delicious. The cold salad of fresh tea leaves is a specialty of Mae Salong, and it was my first time trying it. The fresh tea leaves are crisp, and the light tea fragrance is very refreshing.

We also didn't expect to find fried milk curd (rushan) in Thailand. It was fried thin and crispy, not greasy at all, and even better than what I had eaten in Weishan, Dali before! Master Ma said this was likely brought over by Yunnan Hui Muslims from Myanmar, who still keep the craft of frying milk curd.





























Sharing the menu from Shanlima Restaurant in Mae Salong; wild bitter melon is also one of their specialties.









Besides Shanlima, Mae Salong has another Yunnan Hui Muslim restaurant called Mina Halal Restaurant. Since it is the off-season, the owner went to Taiwan. She will likely return after the Mid-Autumn Festival when the peak tourist season begins, so only the staff are running it now. If I have the chance to visit Mae Salong again, I will go and try their food.













Mae Sai

In the evening, we traveled from Mae Salong to Mae Sai, a border port city on the Thai-Myanmar border at the northernmost tip of Thailand. Mae Sai now has over 200 households of Yunnan Hui Muslims, making it the second-largest settlement of Yunnan Hui Muslims in Northern Thailand outside of Chiang Mai.

We drank tea and chatted with the elders at the Yunnan Mosque in Mae Sai, and we had no trouble communicating in Mandarin. Although Mae Sai has been a necessary stop for Yunnan horse caravans heading south to Chiang Mai since the late Qing Dynasty, the mosque was not initiated and built until 1952 by Yunnan Hui Muslims Ma Xianglin and Ma Enshou. The original mosque was just a thatched hut, but it was later rebuilt into a wooden structure under the supervision of Ma Zixing, thanks to donations from Qian Yizhai and fellow believers in Chiang Mai. In 1975, as the number of Yunnan Hui Muslims in Mae Sai grew, the old mosque could no longer accommodate everyone. Mu Chengfang initiated a move to the current location next to the main road, and Ma Weijing and Na Caikui oversaw the construction of the current steel and concrete building.













In the evening, we visited the South Asian Mosque in Mae Sai for namaz. According to Master Ma, there are currently 70 to 80 local South Asian Muslim households in Mae Sai, plus over 200 households of Myanmar-born Muslims who moved here from Myanmar to make a living due to poverty. There are about 50 poor students from Myanmar in this mosque. The mosque provides them with free food, housing, and education, which is very moving.













After coming down from Hufu Beach, we had spicy barbecue (shaokao) from a Yunnan Hui Muslim shop in Mae Sai for a late-night snack. We had no trouble communicating in Mandarin. They run the shop right at their own front door. You have to make several turns off the main road to find it, and we never would have spotted it without Master Ma leading the way. The barbecue doesn't have beef or lamb. It is mostly chicken gizzards, chicken hearts, and various types of sausages. They brush on plenty of Sichuan peppercorn water and chili sauce. We chose the mild spice level, and it was still very satisfying.













While walking around the streets of Mae Sai at night, we saw a Thai Muslim roast duck shop across from the Yunnan mosque. It was still busy at midnight. It turns out Thai people really love eating roast duck too. The Chinese community in Mae Sai is mainly made up of three groups: Yunnan Han people, Yunnan Hui Muslims, and Chaoshan people. Both the Yunnan and Chaoshan groups have their own Chinese-language schools. The Yunnan Hui Muslims here attend three types of schools: Thai schools, Chinese schools, and religious schools (jingxue). Because of this, they grow up knowing Thai, Chinese, and Arabic.

















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Summary: Bangkok — Halal Food and Muslim Travel Tips is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: I went to Thailand for the May Day holiday this year, my first trip abroad in three years. The account keeps its focus on Bangkok Halal Food, Mosques, Muslim Travel while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

I went to Thailand for the May Day holiday this year, my first trip abroad in three years. Even though Thailand is in the middle of a hot summer, it didn't stop people's enthusiasm, and you could hear Chinese speakers everywhere on the streets of Bangkok. I visited 9 Yunnanese Hui Muslim mosques and 7 Indian-descendant mosques in Northern Thailand, along with 9 communities made up of different Muslim ethnic groups in Bangkok, and I will share these with you one by one. In this article, I will first share the various snacks I ate at halal food stalls in Bangkok and the Muslim hotel where I stayed.

Islamic Center of Thailand Foundation

I had breakfast at the Islamic Center of Thailand Foundation in the morning. The Islamic Center of Thailand Foundation is a modernist building designed by a young Bangladeshi-Thai Muslim architect named Paichit Pongpunluk. Construction began in 1970, but due to budget issues, it took 11 years to complete. Once finished, it became a landmark building and activity center for Thai Muslims.





We bought stir-fried holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai), grilled chicken skewers (satay), and Thai red tea. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It originated in South Asia and is grown throughout the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with gaprao leaves makes it go perfectly with rice. Thai red tea is made with Ceylon black tea, condensed milk, sugar, and milk. You can drink it hot for breakfast, but it is usually served iced. There are many halal stalls downstairs at the Islamic Center of Thailand, but we arrived early, so not all of them were open. Usually, there is not only food but also books, clothing, and various activities, making it well worth a visit.



















Snack stalls at the entrance of Haroon Mosque

After finishing the noon namaz, we had lunch at the entrance of Haroon Mosque by the Chao Phraya River, where there is a row of local halal snack stalls. Haroon Mosque is named after an Indonesian merchant named Toh Haroon Bafaden. He came to Bangkok from Indonesia with his father to do business in 1828 (some say 1837), then got married, had children, and settled down. He built Haroon Mosque shortly after, and a Muslim community gradually formed around the mosque.







We first ate stewed beef and chicken meatball glass noodle soup. The beef was incredibly fragrant, and Zainab and I both agreed it was the best thing we ate in Bangkok! Then I had basil chicken, meatballs, and chicken liver with rice. After that, I had a bowl of stewed chicken feet. They were soft and flavorful, but the soup was super spicy, haha.

















Two things are essential for eating street food in Bangkok's hot summer: a powerful electric fan and a cold drink with ice! Otherwise, I really don't think I could eat anything, haha.



We ate the classic street food, Pad Thai. Pad Thai is also called Thai stir-fried rice noodles. It contains rice noodles, scrambled eggs, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and fresh shrimp, served with lime and chives. The style of stir-fried rice noodles was brought to Thailand by Chinese immigrants hundreds of years ago, but it didn't become popular until the mid-20th century. During World War II, rice was in short supply in Thailand. The Thai government began promoting a type of rice noodle from Chanthaburi Province in the east, which made stir-fried noodles a national snack in Thailand.









If stir-fried noodles are the first impression of Thai snacks, then Roti flatbread can be called the first impression of Thai halal snacks. Every night market in Thailand seems to have a cart where Thai Muslims sell Roti flatbread, and every stall is very popular.











ICONSIAM Food Court

I highly recommend SOOKSIAM, the food court on the first floor of ICONSIAM, to any friends (dosti) visiting Bangkok in the summer. It gathers specialty snacks from all over Thailand and has many halal stalls, many of which are run by Malay-Thai Muslims. The most important thing is that the indoor air conditioning is great. Once you go in during the hot summer, you won't want to leave!



















We first ate steamed egg with crab. It had plenty of crab roe and was very flavorful when paired with the signature spicy and sour dipping sauce (nam chim). They also have large shrimp, squid, and various other seafood. Malay-Thai Muslims are very skilled at cooking seafood.









Then we had the most classic Thai Muslim street snack: Roti with Thai milk tea. Roti originally meant bread in Sanskrit, and it was later brought to Thailand by South Asian and Malay Muslims. Unlike in South Asia, Thai-style roti is sweet. You can add bananas, eggs, and chocolate, and it is topped with sweetened condensed milk.













We ate the local Thai specialties of spicy chicken sausage with lotus root stems and spicy green mango with oysters (tam mamuang). These salads often include raw cowpeas, unlike our habit of blanching them first. Thai salads are known for their sour and spicy flavors, seasoned with lime and bird's eye chili. People who cannot handle spice might find the bird's eye chili too hot, so it is best to ask for less spice or no spice beforehand.

Spicy green mango salad belongs to the 'tam' category of the four main types of Thai salads, which means 'pounded.' The most famous version in Thailand is spicy green papaya salad. When making it, you pound the green mango with garlic, bird's eye chili, dried shrimp, fish sauce, and other seasonings to release the aroma, then add palm sugar and lime juice.







For our main course, we chose chicken fat rice (khao man gai). Thai chicken fat rice comes from the Wenchang chicken rice brought to Siam by Chinese workers who immigrated from Hainan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cooking the rice in chicken broth makes it very fragrant. Unlike Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore and Malaysia, Thai chicken fat rice uses a chicken rice paste made from ginger, garlic, cilantro stems, and oil when stewing the chicken. It is served with a Thai sweet and spicy sauce (nam phrik), which contains chili, shallots, garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, and shrimp paste.













Mango sticky rice at Suvarnabhumi Airport

Before leaving, I bought the traditional Thai snack mango sticky rice (khao niao mamuang) at a halal fast-food restaurant in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. It is perfect for eating on the plane. Everyone loves this snack during the Thai mango season in April and May. The sticky rice is mixed with coconut milk and palm sugar, and it is usually served with two sweet local Thai yellow mango varieties, Nam Dok Mai and Ok rong.

Mango sticky rice can be traced back to poems from the late Ayutthaya period (17th-18th centuries). It later spread to other Southeast Asian countries, but it remains most famous in Thailand.









Muslim hotel Al Meroz

On this trip to Bangkok, I stayed at the best local Muslim hotel, Al Meroz. It is near the Ramkhamhaeng station along the Airport Rail Link, just 20 minutes from Suvarnabhumi Airport. There is a water taxi next to the hotel that goes to the old town, so you can get into the city without any traffic jams. The Thailand Islamic Centre Foundation is in the alley across the street, where you can get a firsthand look at Thai Muslim culture.

The hotel building has three high-end halal restaurants and a bakery. The breakfast buffet is also very extensive, featuring various halal flavors from Malay, South Asian, and local Thai traditions.



















The Ramadan buffet advertisement, prayer hall, wudu area (water room), and rooftop swimming pool at the Al Meroz Hotel.

















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Reposted from the web

Summary: Bangkok — Halal Food, Hotels and Muslim Travel Tips is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: I went to Thailand for the May Day holiday this year, my first trip abroad in three years. The account keeps its focus on Bangkok Halal Food, Muslim Travel, Halal Hotels while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

I went to Thailand for the May Day holiday this year, my first trip abroad in three years. Even though Thailand is in the middle of a hot summer, it didn't stop people's enthusiasm, and you could hear Chinese speakers everywhere on the streets of Bangkok. I visited 9 Yunnanese Hui Muslim mosques and 7 Indian-descendant mosques in Northern Thailand, along with 9 communities made up of different Muslim ethnic groups in Bangkok, and I will share these with you one by one. In this article, I will first share the various snacks I ate at halal food stalls in Bangkok and the Muslim hotel where I stayed.

Islamic Center of Thailand Foundation

I had breakfast at the Islamic Center of Thailand Foundation in the morning. The Islamic Center of Thailand Foundation is a modernist building designed by a young Bangladeshi-Thai Muslim architect named Paichit Pongpunluk. Construction began in 1970, but due to budget issues, it took 11 years to complete. Once finished, it became a landmark building and activity center for Thai Muslims.





We bought stir-fried holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai), grilled chicken skewers (satay), and Thai red tea. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It originated in South Asia and is grown throughout the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with gaprao leaves makes it go perfectly with rice. Thai red tea is made with Ceylon black tea, condensed milk, sugar, and milk. You can drink it hot for breakfast, but it is usually served iced. There are many halal stalls downstairs at the Islamic Center of Thailand, but we arrived early, so not all of them were open. Usually, there is not only food but also books, clothing, and various activities, making it well worth a visit.



















Snack stalls at the entrance of Haroon Mosque

After finishing the noon namaz, we had lunch at the entrance of Haroon Mosque by the Chao Phraya River, where there is a row of local halal snack stalls. Haroon Mosque is named after an Indonesian merchant named Toh Haroon Bafaden. He came to Bangkok from Indonesia with his father to do business in 1828 (some say 1837), then got married, had children, and settled down. He built Haroon Mosque shortly after, and a Muslim community gradually formed around the mosque.







We first ate stewed beef and chicken meatball glass noodle soup. The beef was incredibly fragrant, and Zainab and I both agreed it was the best thing we ate in Bangkok! Then I had basil chicken, meatballs, and chicken liver with rice. After that, I had a bowl of stewed chicken feet. They were soft and flavorful, but the soup was super spicy, haha.

















Two things are essential for eating street food in Bangkok's hot summer: a powerful electric fan and a cold drink with ice! Otherwise, I really don't think I could eat anything, haha.



We ate the classic street food, Pad Thai. Pad Thai is also called Thai stir-fried rice noodles. It contains rice noodles, scrambled eggs, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and fresh shrimp, served with lime and chives. The style of stir-fried rice noodles was brought to Thailand by Chinese immigrants hundreds of years ago, but it didn't become popular until the mid-20th century. During World War II, rice was in short supply in Thailand. The Thai government began promoting a type of rice noodle from Chanthaburi Province in the east, which made stir-fried noodles a national snack in Thailand.









If stir-fried noodles are the first impression of Thai snacks, then Roti flatbread can be called the first impression of Thai halal snacks. Every night market in Thailand seems to have a cart where Thai Muslims sell Roti flatbread, and every stall is very popular.











ICONSIAM Food Court

I highly recommend SOOKSIAM, the food court on the first floor of ICONSIAM, to any friends (dosti) visiting Bangkok in the summer. It gathers specialty snacks from all over Thailand and has many halal stalls, many of which are run by Malay-Thai Muslims. The most important thing is that the indoor air conditioning is great. Once you go in during the hot summer, you won't want to leave!



















We first ate steamed egg with crab. It had plenty of crab roe and was very flavorful when paired with the signature spicy and sour dipping sauce (nam chim). They also have large shrimp, squid, and various other seafood. Malay-Thai Muslims are very skilled at cooking seafood.









Then we had the most classic Thai Muslim street snack: Roti with Thai milk tea. Roti originally meant bread in Sanskrit, and it was later brought to Thailand by South Asian and Malay Muslims. Unlike in South Asia, Thai-style roti is sweet. You can add bananas, eggs, and chocolate, and it is topped with sweetened condensed milk.













We ate the local Thai specialties of spicy chicken sausage with lotus root stems and spicy green mango with oysters (tam mamuang). These salads often include raw cowpeas, unlike our habit of blanching them first. Thai salads are known for their sour and spicy flavors, seasoned with lime and bird's eye chili. People who cannot handle spice might find the bird's eye chili too hot, so it is best to ask for less spice or no spice beforehand.

Spicy green mango salad belongs to the 'tam' category of the four main types of Thai salads, which means 'pounded.' The most famous version in Thailand is spicy green papaya salad. When making it, you pound the green mango with garlic, bird's eye chili, dried shrimp, fish sauce, and other seasonings to release the aroma, then add palm sugar and lime juice.







For our main course, we chose chicken fat rice (khao man gai). Thai chicken fat rice comes from the Wenchang chicken rice brought to Siam by Chinese workers who immigrated from Hainan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cooking the rice in chicken broth makes it very fragrant. Unlike Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore and Malaysia, Thai chicken fat rice uses a chicken rice paste made from ginger, garlic, cilantro stems, and oil when stewing the chicken. It is served with a Thai sweet and spicy sauce (nam phrik), which contains chili, shallots, garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, and shrimp paste.













Mango sticky rice at Suvarnabhumi Airport

Before leaving, I bought the traditional Thai snack mango sticky rice (khao niao mamuang) at a halal fast-food restaurant in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. It is perfect for eating on the plane. Everyone loves this snack during the Thai mango season in April and May. The sticky rice is mixed with coconut milk and palm sugar, and it is usually served with two sweet local Thai yellow mango varieties, Nam Dok Mai and Ok rong.

Mango sticky rice can be traced back to poems from the late Ayutthaya period (17th-18th centuries). It later spread to other Southeast Asian countries, but it remains most famous in Thailand.









Muslim hotel Al Meroz

On this trip to Bangkok, I stayed at the best local Muslim hotel, Al Meroz. It is near the Ramkhamhaeng station along the Airport Rail Link, just 20 minutes from Suvarnabhumi Airport. There is a water taxi next to the hotel that goes to the old town, so you can get into the city without any traffic jams. The Thailand Islamic Centre Foundation is in the alley across the street, where you can get a firsthand look at Thai Muslim culture.

The hotel building has three high-end halal restaurants and a bakery. The breakfast buffet is also very extensive, featuring various halal flavors from Malay, South Asian, and local Thai traditions.



















The Ramadan buffet advertisement, prayer hall, wudu area (water room), and rooftop swimming pool at the Al Meroz Hotel.

















Collapse Read »

Reposted from the web

Summary: Bangkok — Halal Food, Hotels and Muslim Travel Tips is presented here as a firsthand travel account in clear English, beginning with this scene: I went to Thailand for the May Day holiday this year, my first trip abroad in three years. The account keeps its focus on Bangkok Halal Food, Muslim Travel, Halal Hotels while preserving the names, places, food, and historical details from the Chinese source.

I went to Thailand for the May Day holiday this year, my first trip abroad in three years. Even though Thailand is in the middle of a hot summer, it didn't stop people's enthusiasm, and you could hear Chinese speakers everywhere on the streets of Bangkok. I visited 9 Yunnanese Hui Muslim mosques and 7 Indian-descendant mosques in Northern Thailand, along with 9 communities made up of different Muslim ethnic groups in Bangkok, and I will share these with you one by one. In this article, I will first share the various snacks I ate at halal food stalls in Bangkok and the Muslim hotel where I stayed.

Islamic Center of Thailand Foundation

I had breakfast at the Islamic Center of Thailand Foundation in the morning. The Islamic Center of Thailand Foundation is a modernist building designed by a young Bangladeshi-Thai Muslim architect named Paichit Pongpunluk. Construction began in 1970, but due to budget issues, it took 11 years to complete. Once finished, it became a landmark building and activity center for Thai Muslims.





We bought stir-fried holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai), grilled chicken skewers (satay), and Thai red tea. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It originated in South Asia and is grown throughout the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with gaprao leaves makes it go perfectly with rice. Thai red tea is made with Ceylon black tea, condensed milk, sugar, and milk. You can drink it hot for breakfast, but it is usually served iced. There are many halal stalls downstairs at the Islamic Center of Thailand, but we arrived early, so not all of them were open. Usually, there is not only food but also books, clothing, and various activities, making it well worth a visit.



















Snack stalls at the entrance of Haroon Mosque

After finishing the noon namaz, we had lunch at the entrance of Haroon Mosque by the Chao Phraya River, where there is a row of local halal snack stalls. Haroon Mosque is named after an Indonesian merchant named Toh Haroon Bafaden. He came to Bangkok from Indonesia with his father to do business in 1828 (some say 1837), then got married, had children, and settled down. He built Haroon Mosque shortly after, and a Muslim community gradually formed around the mosque.







We first ate stewed beef and chicken meatball glass noodle soup. The beef was incredibly fragrant, and Zainab and I both agreed it was the best thing we ate in Bangkok! Then I had basil chicken, meatballs, and chicken liver with rice. After that, I had a bowl of stewed chicken feet. They were soft and flavorful, but the soup was super spicy, haha.

















Two things are essential for eating street food in Bangkok's hot summer: a powerful electric fan and a cold drink with ice! Otherwise, I really don't think I could eat anything, haha.



We ate the classic street food, Pad Thai. Pad Thai is also called Thai stir-fried rice noodles. It contains rice noodles, scrambled eggs, bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, and fresh shrimp, served with lime and chives. The style of stir-fried rice noodles was brought to Thailand by Chinese immigrants hundreds of years ago, but it didn't become popular until the mid-20th century. During World War II, rice was in short supply in Thailand. The Thai government began promoting a type of rice noodle from Chanthaburi Province in the east, which made stir-fried noodles a national snack in Thailand.









If stir-fried noodles are the first impression of Thai snacks, then Roti flatbread can be called the first impression of Thai halal snacks. Every night market in Thailand seems to have a cart where Thai Muslims sell Roti flatbread, and every stall is very popular.











ICONSIAM Food Court

I highly recommend SOOKSIAM, the food court on the first floor of ICONSIAM, to any friends (dosti) visiting Bangkok in the summer. It gathers specialty snacks from all over Thailand and has many halal stalls, many of which are run by Malay-Thai Muslims. The most important thing is that the indoor air conditioning is great. Once you go in during the hot summer, you won't want to leave!



















We first ate steamed egg with crab. It had plenty of crab roe and was very flavorful when paired with the signature spicy and sour dipping sauce (nam chim). They also have large shrimp, squid, and various other seafood. Malay-Thai Muslims are very skilled at cooking seafood.









Then we had the most classic Thai Muslim street snack: Roti with Thai milk tea. Roti originally meant bread in Sanskrit, and it was later brought to Thailand by South Asian and Malay Muslims. Unlike in South Asia, Thai-style roti is sweet. You can add bananas, eggs, and chocolate, and it is topped with sweetened condensed milk.













We ate the local Thai specialties of spicy chicken sausage with lotus root stems and spicy green mango with oysters (tam mamuang). These salads often include raw cowpeas, unlike our habit of blanching them first. Thai salads are known for their sour and spicy flavors, seasoned with lime and bird's eye chili. People who cannot handle spice might find the bird's eye chili too hot, so it is best to ask for less spice or no spice beforehand.

Spicy green mango salad belongs to the 'tam' category of the four main types of Thai salads, which means 'pounded.' The most famous version in Thailand is spicy green papaya salad. When making it, you pound the green mango with garlic, bird's eye chili, dried shrimp, fish sauce, and other seasonings to release the aroma, then add palm sugar and lime juice.







For our main course, we chose chicken fat rice (khao man gai). Thai chicken fat rice comes from the Wenchang chicken rice brought to Siam by Chinese workers who immigrated from Hainan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cooking the rice in chicken broth makes it very fragrant. Unlike Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore and Malaysia, Thai chicken fat rice uses a chicken rice paste made from ginger, garlic, cilantro stems, and oil when stewing the chicken. It is served with a Thai sweet and spicy sauce (nam phrik), which contains chili, shallots, garlic, lime juice, fish sauce, and shrimp paste.













Mango sticky rice at Suvarnabhumi Airport

Before leaving, I bought the traditional Thai snack mango sticky rice (khao niao mamuang) at a halal fast-food restaurant in Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport. It is perfect for eating on the plane. Everyone loves this snack during the Thai mango season in April and May. The sticky rice is mixed with coconut milk and palm sugar, and it is usually served with two sweet local Thai yellow mango varieties, Nam Dok Mai and Ok rong.

Mango sticky rice can be traced back to poems from the late Ayutthaya period (17th-18th centuries). It later spread to other Southeast Asian countries, but it remains most famous in Thailand.









Muslim hotel Al Meroz

On this trip to Bangkok, I stayed at the best local Muslim hotel, Al Meroz. It is near the Ramkhamhaeng station along the Airport Rail Link, just 20 minutes from Suvarnabhumi Airport. There is a water taxi next to the hotel that goes to the old town, so you can get into the city without any traffic jams. The Thailand Islamic Centre Foundation is in the alley across the street, where you can get a firsthand look at Thai Muslim culture.

The hotel building has three high-end halal restaurants and a bakery. The breakfast buffet is also very extensive, featuring various halal flavors from Malay, South Asian, and local Thai traditions.



















The Ramadan buffet advertisement, prayer hall, wudu area (water room), and rooftop swimming pool at the Al Meroz Hotel.

















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