Xian is a beautiful walled city that also happens to be the home town of our guide.
After checking in to the hotel, our first order of business is a walk in the Muslim market.
The market is full of smells, people, food, and merchandise. All manner of Things can be bought here but we choose to stick with the food. So much food was consumed from persimmon cakes to so many dumplings and so much meat on a stick. I don't know what half the meat was but since it was from the Muslim market I know it wasn't anything strange or what we would keep as a pet. Everything was cooked right in front of you over open flame/in hot oil. It was fresh, fast, and cheap. And delicious.
It also smelled.
Hundreds of stalls cooking hundreds of dishes over open flame/in hot oil, some smog, and a lack of garbage cans, plus the fact that everyone here in China smokes, and things smell. I regret not bringing a Safeway bag to put my clothes in. The clothes I wore this day managed to stink up everything else in my bag.
We discovered an interesting cross-cultural translation.
Washroom.
Team Canada needed to find a washroom as we were making our way back to the hotel.
A member of Team Australia overheard and asked if they could put some clothes in too.
Team Canada wanted to pee.
Team Australia wanted to do laundry.
Only Team Canada came out as winners on this day.
Our group split up at night. 2/3 of Team USA, 1/2 of Team Canada and 1/4 of Team Australia went to a cultural show.
There were dumplings.
So many dumplings.
They were served with a traditional alcohol I didn't get the name of. It was warm, smelled like yeast but tasted like cider. I think it could also cure blindness.
We were treated to several acts of dancers telling the story of the Tang dynasty, ancient rulers of China in the ancient capital of China. It was very well done. The screen behind the performers was an LED screen and kept changing with each story.
Next: Well, there are girl horses and there are boy horses....
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