Noodles and Tea

Friday, June 20, 2008--Xi'an (Continued)

I explored my neighborhood while waiting for time to eat. I just walked around the big block. I passed the Greenwich Village-type neighborhood of bar-restaurants, a shopping mall consisting only of top-name designer boutiques, and lots of small boutiques selling nice looking merchandise. There were also several restaurants serving various foods--Korean, pizza, western, etc. It's a very nice neighborhood. I did a good job of deciding on a hotel.

I ate noodles for dinner tonight. I had passed a local noodle place near my hotel earlier in the day and it was crowded. So I decided to return in the early evening before the crowds arrived to try it. I think that going to a noodle house in China must be lot like going to the local taco stand in Texas. Anyway, I arrived about 17:55. I was the only person there. I ordered from a picture menu in which I had only two choices. (As I was there, I could see that more and more toppings were coming out of the kitchen, so they had only completed the preparation of two of them before I got there.) Noodles are made fresh when ordered, so not long after I ordered, I could hear chopping indicating that they had finished the preparation of the dough and were chopping it into broad strips. I got a huge bowl with noodles and broth that included chives, cilantro, and bits of meat that I hoped and pretended were roast beef. It was very tasty and filling. In addition, they served me a bowl of green tea, and I ordered a beer which also came with a bowl to use for drinking. By the time I finished my noodles, every table in the place was full. My bill for everything came to less than $1.50 U.S.!

Met Steven, a young man who is a regional sales representative for a Chinese automobile company, and visited for a while. He was on his way to the train station for an out-of-town trip related to business. The cars his company manufactures sell for $1900-2300 U.S. That makes them very affordable to many people who could not buy cars from the major manufacturers. That is one of the reasons the number of cars in the world is increasing greatly and putting such pressure on the demand for oil. Tata also has a similar car it has started selling in India. Of course the worse thing about cars at this price level is that they won't include polution control devices. That means that global warming can only excellerate in the next few years as lots of these cars are sold.


Saturday, June 21, 2008--Xi'an

I had a bit of a disaster this morning. I had taken off my eyeglasses and set them on the bed as I wrote into my journal. Then as I shifted myself to put the journal back into my bag, I put one of my feet on the glasses and pressed down. A lens popped out and the frames bent. Fortunately, I was able to pop the lens back into the frame and then twist and bend the frame back into place without it breaking. I am planning to replace them when I get home in the fall anyway, but I need them while I am traveling!!!

I got confirmation that my hotel reservation has been made for Chengdu. I will take an overnight train there tomorrow, arriving on Monday and staying at the Peppermint Garden Hotel. I chose it mainly because of it's location, but it looks like a nice enough place to stay.

I spent the morning wandering today. I looked into a couple of the shopping malls just to see what they are like. In other countries, I went often to the malls because all the department stores in them had supermarkets in the basement where I could buy water and other supplies. But that's not the case here in China. In fact, I have had problems finding supplies for water here. Supermarkets are very difficult to find. I found one about 8 blocks from my hotel the other day that is operated in conjunction with Wal-Mart, and I bought two big bottles of water. The local stores tend to sell only small bottles. In the warm weather with all my walking, I generally drink at least one 1.5 liter bottle per day in addition to having tea and beer with my meal. But it is a hassle carrying 2-3 of those 1.5 liter bottles so far to get to my room. Anyway, without supermarkets, there really is nothing in the shopping malls that interests me.

I returned to the Muslim Quarter to see the Folk House Museum which I had marked as being of interest in my guidebook. It was such a good experience. A woman at the entrance went inside with me and gave a personal tour of the entire place. It is the last old, large residence left in the center of Xi'an. It is 400 years old and has 56 rooms open to the public. It has many original furnishings and is fancier than some of the places I visited in Pingyao. The entrance price of 20 yuan (about $3) also included a tea ceremony in which I was served 4 types of tea. Each was unique and delicious. The building was saved from destruction by the Xi'an Traditional Chinese Painting Institute, and they had some of their work on display. There were really some nice pieces. My guidebook had mentioned it as the place to buy good artwork rather than going to the tourist shops. I especially liked some of the pieces in modern Chinese style.