The Rest of Xi'an!

The two main roads intersect in the middle of town--They translate into: Big Road North, Big Road South, Big Road East, and Big Road West

These roads are the most developed and make it a lot easier to navigate the city (despite this i got lost more than any other place I've traveled to) 

In the center of the city is this drum tower…so charming at night!

One of the highlights of the city is the Muslim Quarter

Lots of food and little trinkets

This is beef or lamb meat in bread

A butcher 

Street BBQ

Lots of nuts

And dried fruit

This is beef noodles--it has a bunch of veggies thrown in but the noodles are homemade and so good

Mapo dofu (spicy tofu) and potatoes

This is sticky cake--they make a cake and then pour some kind of syrup all over it and let it sit for a few days

Lamb skewers

I have no idea what this is--they put some kind of flour into those wood circle things and steamed them for a few minutes then you could pick what else you wanted on it--jellies and sweet toppings

Making noodles

Biang biang mian--a 50 stroke character 

I think these are fried fruit

One thing that everyone told me i needed to try was lamb noodles with bread pieces in it 

(羊肉末泡) 

There were so many restaurants in the Muslim quarter i decided to pick one that wasn't too crowded 

After ordering they had me come to the back and taught me how to roll out noodles

Haha the little Muslim guys were so cute!

The soup was ok--like little pieces of bread crumbled into soup with noodles--it was a little bland

The great Mosque 

Some Muslim fashion 

Around 6pm every night near the drum tower vendors had puppies and bunnies for sale

It was so cold--these poor puppies were shaking

And of course--I met a bunch of people at my hostel--

I mostly hung out with a girl from Holland who is traveling around China for the next few months, two guys from Brazil (anyone want to take a trip to Brazil with me? World Cup?) and two Americans who were from Shenzhen--the city I used to work in

So we checked out the Xi'an bar/club scene. This is the only picture i have in a chinese dance club

A lot of chinese people, bad dancing, and whiskey/greentea.

My hostel--Great location, super cute, and all of the people who were staying there were so friendly

More pictures around Xi'an: 

The most unattractive advertisement of Ronaldo I've ever seen--eh scary

Morning street food--my favorite street food is sweet potatoes--which I couldn't find anywhere

Mostly fried bread with eggs or noodles

One of the first "no smoking" signs I've ever seen in China. 

I read an article in the China Daily on the airplane that said they are trying to cut down smoking in China--the problem is that it is such a social thing among government and business people that it is a hard habit to get rid of 

Seriously. so many Subways. 

Chili Cheese Fries? 

More Western chains

Rose, Eggplant and Honey tea (yum?)

The first drive through I've ever seen in China. I was on my way to the History Muesum in a taxi and somehow managed (with the little chinese I can speak) to get my taxi driver to go through for a coffee

So my first day in Xi'an I got lost and was starving so I stopped at this little stand to get a sandwich type thing. After I ordered the sandwich I noticed the little animal was a fish, the place is called "Xiang xiang Yu" (fragrant, fragrant fish) and 鱼肉 means fish meat which is on the sign. 

Haha I hate fish…

Another day I just couldn't bring myself to having extremely fried bread for breakfast so I went into KFC and forced myself to try something new

Rice porridge with mushrooms and chicken pieces in it…

And finally…I decided to get my nails done--channeling my inner teenager ha

This weekend trip made me realize I need to start using my weekends to travel around more!