Xi'an, China
Friday, March 6, 2009
Oh! tis' a delight to be in China... We started the day off with a rickshaw ride through Vancouver's (Beijing's) Hutong district. The ride was quite enjoyable minus the occasional local smells but the humor of the rickshaw road rage made up for it. and yes that is an alliteration. But anyways we made a few stops on the ride to see the ancient Hutong shopping and river area where we saw first hand how people live in the district by touring an awesome old man's 150 year old home. We then came across an ancient coffee shop called "starbucks" where the group enjoyed some snacks and coffee, although my blueberry muffin was a tad dry compared to those back in the states. Next we reboarded the bus and took a trip through the city to the much anticipated Peiking duck restaurant... The meal started out with some little-bit-better than usual dishes that are normally served at beijing restaurants and, as a reminder of home, a plate of french fries. But nothing can be compared to the magical goodness that was to come... The duck arrived next to our tables on a cart and was hand-carved to perfection by one of the chefs that cooked it... The waitresses then gave a quick tutorial of how to put together something that I like to call 'duckito' that consists of Peiking duck, scallion, cucumber, garlic and a little bit of heaven in the form of a brown sauce into which the duck was dipped. This mixture was then wrapped together in a rice wrapping which served a similar function as our tortillas. After the proper technique of creating this wonderful concoction was taught to us, all chaos broke loose... There was duck and sauce flying everywhere and the waiters made sure that everyone had enough to make us sick of the sight of food. It was truly one of the most splendid meals ever created. After lunch we made our way to the Beijing airport and said our goodbyes to our lovely travel guide Su and, after a 2 hour wait, we boarded our plane and took off to Kansas (Xi'an). After a short plane ride we arrived at our destination and met our new tour guide Mr. Li who gave us some brief history of the area of Xi'an and took us to eat at a hotel restaurant serving so called western food which was by no means western, but there was steak served, so I have no room to complain. We left that hotel and traveled by neon lighted highway through the huge city walls to our amazingly massive and beautiful (and nicest in Xi'an) Mercure hotel where we now retire.... It has been another wonderful day in China, and there is only more to come
-Jase
P.S. Look at the albums on this and the previous entries to see, not only read, our wonderful trip. This is for you tonyw!
Comments
Traveling in Mind, Spirit, and Vision With You
Ya hoo! Thanks for the pictures. I've gone through them once and looking forward to another trip through them.
Since Kansas is one of the oldest cities in Chinese history, I would imagine their version of western isn't as west as you might like.
Hey, Wikipedia says Kansas is a pioneer in software industry in China with up to $42 million USD in export revenue. Holy Microsoft, Batman!