(Dave here)
After the hustle and bustle of Beijing, last night was quite refreshing - we had two amazing experiences when going out in Xi'an.
Firstly (after it had stopped raining), we went for a wander around the backstreets of the Muslim quarter and really felt like we were experiencing the real China that we imagined. We then met up with Tom to head out to find a restaurant recommended in the Rough Guide (Xiang Xiang de Panji). After catching the bus for about 3 miles, we got off roughly where we thought the restaurant should have been.
Unfortunately, the street numbering system in China is random to say the least, so after wandering up and down the street for a while, we eventually plumped for asking a policeman.
This was the first wonderful experience. The policeman (Kevin) took it upon himself to help us find the place and after asking his colleague, calling someone on his mobile phone, running up a side street and talking to taxi drivers, he eventually conculded that we should have stayed on the bus a bit longer and that the restuarant was a bit further down the street. He then went well beyond the call of dury and offered us a lift to the place, so we all piled in to the back and about 10 mins later, success!!, we pulled up outside the restaurantm got out, exchanged e-mail addresses, took a photo (to be uploaded later when the connection is faster) and went in to the restaurant.
This was the second wonderful experience. The place was certainly not used to Westerners, and with Tom's Mandarin phrase book, and their lack of English, an amusing meal ensued. Luckily the speciality (De Panji) was pictured, so we ordered a big plate of it (Whole chicken, potatoes, spicy sauce, noodles, ...) and a few beers to wash it down with.
The food was great despite it being a WHOLE chicken (needless to say, the head and feet were left on the side!!) and we seemed to provide much amusement to the waiting staff who seemed to have adopted us, helping pick up long spaghetti like noodles with chopsticks to get them into our bowls without too much mess!
At the end, when it came to pay (62 RMB for all 3 of us - about 4 quid 50), we tried to get them to accept 70 including a tip, which they didn't understand and would not accept despite much persistence.
On the way home, it bucketed down and then started to snow - the freak 10 degrees in Beijing where it was possible to walk around in T-shirts and at which time we decided to give away our bulky warm jackets to some homeless people near our hosetl now seemeda little premature!
Anyway, all in all, we had a great night and our faith has been restored after countless souvenir sellers and pushy touts trying to part us from our cash! Hopefully this will be a trend we see as we travel through the rest of China and beyond! (Although I doubt either of these things would happen in Blighty!)
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