Xi'an Route

[ctbm2009@ystea.org]

Well After leaving Beijing by Air China (http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/Air-China)and settling into a nice little Xi'an Flights (http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/Cheap-Xi)to Xian. I was ready to see the biggest Army of clay unearthed to date. The first day I travel to Xi’an (http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/Travel-to-Xi) to see some of the sights. I went through this place known as the Muslim Quarter and up the hutongs, or alleyways, which seem to intertwine the city and offer a endless possibilities. You can find all sorts of stuff throughout the alleys to include toys, silk covered books, silk clothing, cigarettes, food, drinks, and all the china city breaks (http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/CityBreaks/)tourist knick knack that you find walking through any city with tourism. Most if it is literally crap which you don't really need, but it is big fun to walk through and barter your way into some beads, or food and drink....I didn't buy much other than to try some of the stall food as I seem to be losing the space in my duffel I had when I first arrived and don't know where it is going. As I walked out of my Xi'an Hotels (http://www.chinatraveldepot.com/CH1095-Xi) for seemingly endless hours, I ran into two English couples doing the same. We agreed it was a safe ***umption the customer buys it, walks it home and prepares it for dinner. They were cordial and I told them it was nice change of pace to have a conversation in English. They laughed, agreed and continued to walk and talk for a while. We discussed the various routes which brought us to that point and street at that time. They were traveling together and seeing Xian and Beijing. I told them the trip thus far and relayed the rest of the plan as it stands. Both couples seem to brighten up when I spoke of my trip, telling me to do it while I can, they too had done a bit of traveling. (Travelers always seem to discuss stories from various places and how they relate to another and similar experiences. It is a great feeling to discuss something with someone who shared the same experiences!) We continued walking down streets with no real plan and ended up at this restaurant to have a beer. The gentleman wanted a bite to eat, I did not as I had eaten my way down the the street from the various vendors (when in Rome right???). You all know me and I was definitely willing to share a beer. The guys ordered food which quickly spiraled into a lunch of hotpot for 5. For those of you who don't know what hotpot is, it is a bowl of broth (I think) and they put it in the middle of your table in a hole with a burner underneath. They bring it to a boil and essentially dump, meat, vegetables, among other things in there. You fish out what you want to eat!! Sort of like a combination of bobbing for apples, fishing and fondu. It turned into one of the funniest meals I have had in a while. We were laughing and trying to fish out what we wanted, or thought we wanted to eat! We parted ways and said we would probably see each other the next day as we were both taking trips to see the Terracotta Warriors.