Day one was dedicated to food. After spending a total of 9 Yuan, I was fuller than I had ever been in my life. I don’t really know what I ate, but everything was tasty. Mostly dishes were cooked in oil, so probably not the healthiest choices. However, it was nearly impossible to find anything that wasn’t thrown into a boiling pot of oil. I mean everything from bread, to fruit, to sandwiches went in the pot and came out golden and delicious!
Braeden was in his glory tasting everything he could for usually 1 Yuan. His favourite dish was a pita sandwich, which was a little more expensive at 4 Yuan (Ha)! First step: he chose which skewers of meat and vegetables he wanted. Second step: his choices were put in a pot of oil to cook. Third step: the flat bread was also put in the oil. Last step: everything was taken out and the veggies and meat were stuffed into the bread. It was a thing of beauty I tell you. Much satisfaction was found lining the streets of the Muslin quarter.
On the other hand, the worst thing we have ever eaten was found there. We went out one night for a bite to eat with our Scottish friend Martyn and things went terribly wrong. While roaming the streets getting hungrier and hungrier, Braeden spotted something he had been dying to try. It looked like cubed up potatoes fried with onions, chives, and chilies. It looked really good- like a big old bowl of hashbrowns- so we each ordered a bowl. As the cook was dishing up our potatoes they started jiggling. Potatoes don’t jiggle. Whatever we ordered was some sort of gelatinous squares all spiced up. It tasted like nothing, which was a relief. However, we have no idea what it was so the mystery alone made us stop eating. Oh well, you win some you lose some. That was really our only loss in the Muslim quarter.
Day two was dedicated to the Terracotta Warriors. We skipped the hostel tour and ventured out on our own. There are rows of buses lined up at the train station for tourists to take to the Warriors site. So we jumped on one and in true Chinese driving fashion, let’s just say the ride was ralph worthy. Once again our driver went all over the road avoiding whatever vehicle was in his way. An hour later, we arrived. It was touristy as hell but so worth it. First stop was the museum to see replicas of the warriors and get a quick history lesson. What I learned was each Warrior was modeled after an actual soldier in the army. The emperor had his army replicated in Terracotta to protect him in the afterlife. It is believed that within the three pits discovered so far there are over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses. The majority are still buried within the pits! Sadly we had to look at them from afar, but we could still get a good idea of their size (approx 6ft). It was truly amazing to be able to see this piece of history that was discovered only 35 years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army.
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