Revisiting Xi'an
On our first afternoon there, we showered and did some laundry, which definitely needed to happen after Huashan.
We basically did all of my favorite things I did the last time I was there. I even found the same jia mo 夹馍 stall across from our hostel. It was just as good as I remembered. The best jia mo are found in Xi'an! It's one of my favorite Chinese foods I discovered and it's nothing like what you would imagine could fall into the category of Chinese food.
Since we were just walking around, doing errands, and exploring, we saw some strange things. There was this woman in a vehicle, which I have never seen before or since.
I saw my favorite Chinglish t-shirt. This was a middle aged woman with her two friends and the back of her shirt said 'YOU FUCKIN' ASSHOLE." It was hard to contain our laughter.
Finally, we went to a drug store to get sunscreen and other bits. They had this section called 'Natural Selection.' They meant a selection of natural products, but once again we couldn't contain our laughter. All of these three things we saw within one block in a span of about 10 minutes.
We took the metro over to the Cultural Exchange center near the smaller of the Goose Pagodas. I wrote Louisa a little birthday message.
It has a cute little shop, nice architecture, and a peaceful garden.
Last time, I was there in winter. This time they had a bird out in a cage and it was a talking bird! It knew how to say things like 'hello' and 'you are very pretty' in Chinese! We all got a kick out of that.
We then went over to the pagoda, just to look at it.
We then went to the art district, which has really nice old streets and lots of little shops selling art supplies and paintings you can buy from the artists.
Then we walked to the Muslim Quarter. This is one of my favorite places I went in China. I loved the food and atmosphere so much I made a video about it!
We got pao mo 泡馍, which also tastes the best in Xi'an. We got Ice Peak 冰峰, which is a soda akin to Fanta, but is locally made and only sold in Shaanxi Province. We walked around and got some other bits while we walked around.
Also earlier that day, I found out I passed my HSK 5 test! I am really proud of myself for learning so much Chinese this past year and I celebrated with a cheeky G&T!
The next day it was Louisa's birthday. We continued the tradition we had started on my birthday, where we put candles in weirdly inappropriate Chinese foods.
Louisa went to the terracotta warriors, but James and I slept in because we had already been. That afternoon, we found a gelato place I went to with a Chinese friend on my last visit. They have sorbet there, too, so even though I'm lactose intolerant, I could still get some! All their flavors are seasonal and the fruits and foods used to flavor the gelato are grown in that province. I got mango and lychee sorbet! So amazing!
Below is the name of the gelato place.
That whole day we were marveling at how amazing the air and weather were. The last time I was there, the AQI got over 500. This time it was warm and sunny - with BLUE SKIES! It was so nice to see Xi'an again in completely different conditions.
We then walked through the not-so-touristy part of the muslim quarter. It's so peaceful there, even though there are lots of people shopping and walking around.
On the way back to our hostel, we walked through this nice park.
For dinner, we found a Korean barbecue restaurant, which was Louisa's request.
We put more candles in inappropriate foods - this was a plate of raw vegetables!
After dinner, we had to leave Louisa. James and I went to the train station and got on an overnight train to Lanzhou!
I like overnight trains in China. They're kind of dirty and loud, but it feels really authentic. I don't know authentic to what, but it just does. It feels rough and gritty as well. It's an interesting time to people watch, since you're in such close quarters with Chinese people (and I inevitably was always the only foreigner on the overnight trains).
The next morning we would wake up bright and early in Gansu Province!
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