Welcome to Xi'an

You'll be happy to know our onion lady was back by the time we were done on the internet last time. YESSS!!!

After having 2 green onion and tofu pancakes each, we met up with our group back at the hotel to head to the night market for dinner. We managed to catch a guy shredding noodles off a big block and watched people make dumplings and pull noodles. We opted for the dumps and nudes for dinner. Then after dinner, we played pool in the market -- they have a whole bunch of pool tables just sitting outside and it's 1 yuan per game (about 15 cents Canadian.) We sat in the town square for a while before heading back to pick up our bags and head to the train for Xi'an.

This train wasn't quite as comfortable as the first. It was an older train and didn't really have enclosed rooms like the first one. Still 6 per section though. This train ride wasn't quite so long and since we started at about 11pm and arrived at about 9am, it didn't seems so bad since we were all really tired anyway. I tried out a new technique though for my width problem and my arm always falling off... It worked out pretty well ;-)

Xi'an, at one point, was the largest city in the world. I don't remember when and I don't remember how big it is now. Google it. It's a cultural center and has a lot of chinese art related tidbits for sale. It's also got a big Muslim population with all its corresponding deliciousness! There's a big bell and drum tower in the middle of the city and four roads lead outwards: North, South, East and West Streets. This made navigation pretty easy. There's also a big wall around the city dating back to the Ming dynasty.

When we arrived, we went straight to the markety type streets to check out the culinary options. Incredible. First we tried what we thought was seafoodish stuff BBQ'd on a stick which may actually be beef tripe. In any case it was great. Then we went to a restaurant to try a dish that is supposed to be a Xi'an local favourite: mutton and bread soup. It was ok, but we had no idea what was going on and the waitress made it seem like getting 4 side dishes to go with the soup was normal. There was too much food and they were skimpy on the mutton. In the end, what we thought was going to be 30-40 Yuan ended up being 133 Yuan. Still not too bad, but considering we've rarely spent more than 10 Yuan for the two of us, it hurt a bit for something that wasn't too special. To make up for it, we had this tasty dessert from a street vendor that costs 1 Yuan each -- it was a steamed rice cake topped with raisins or other dried fruits and rolled in sugar and crushed toasted nuts. Delicious!

For dinner, our whole group went out for Muslim hot pot. What we got was a huge pot of boiling soup where one side was spicy and the other side was not. This was placed in the middle of the table and there was a large selection of different meats, vegetables, and tofu on skewers that you cook in the soup. When cooked, you take it out and dip it in a sauce. Each skewer cost 1 Mao each -- that's 1.5 cents each! In addition, we had spiced Muslim style bread, beef and lamb kebabs, and a roast lamb leg. Final damage: Eric had over 70 skewers (we lost count after that).

On the much needed walk home, we went through the park by the Bell Tower and came across some amazing jugglers juggling plastic bottles -- we figured they were flare bartenders. Eric joined them for a bit and tried to teach one of them to pass. It drew quite the crowd when the white guy was juggling.

The next morning we packed a lunch and took a one hour public bus trip to see the Terracotta Warriors. The locals can be pushy. Real pushy. There was a mad rush to get on the bus, even though there was enough seating for everybody. There were three 60 yr old plus ladies simulaneously trying to push Eric away from the bus, but he stood his ground. It was actually really funny to see. Our group hired a local tour guide named Maggie who helped get us to the Terracotta Warriors and back in one piece. She was very knowledgable and was able to answer all of our questions. In 221 BC, the leader of one of the states conquered the other warring states and unified China for the first time. He proclaimed himself to be the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty. Was he cocky? Well... when he died, he wanted all the soldiers in his army to be buried with him (alive) but settled for 7000 unique ceramic replicas of each soldier and horse instead. He had all his concubines and skilled workers buried alive with him. He had all the soil on his tomb stir fried so it nothing could grow on it. He had a model of the Yangtze River made out of mercury to surround his tomb. It took 40 years to complete his tomb. This is the emperor that the movie "Hero" was based on. Anyways, seeing the Terracotta Warriors was amazing but it was difficult to get one's head around how crazy and egocentric this Qin emperor was!

For dinner, the gang went out for Brazilian barbeque - lots of delicious meat carved by Chinese men in denim outfits and cowboy hats. Yenji opted out of the meat coma and had a crepe stuffed with eggs and garlic chives.

We walked around the square a bit to burn off dinner and came across a guy with a big wheel that you sit in and peddle like a bike. It was 5 Yuan for two circles around the square. I spent the first loop getting my bearings and the second lap trying to go faster than the guy running along beside me to make sure I don't hit anything. I was successful for the last quarter loop. That was great!

The next morning, Yen and I got up early and headed to the wall. Once on top of the city wall, we rented a tandem bike and started off to cycle around the 14km wall. It was rogh going at times but fun none the less. Yen had a bit less fun because apparently all she could see from the back of the bike was a big sweaty me back.


After the ride, we were ready for "hamburgers." There was a street vendor that had some slow cooking pork and toasting tasty mongolian circle breads. He slices the bread into a burger type bun and cuts up the pork into it. Fantastic!

Then it was back to the train station to head to Chengdu. It was only a 16 hour ride. We played some UNO and chatted and napped and by the time we woke up, we were there. Nice.