JJ's thought of the day - China part III
If Angela and I were ever to live in China (something that will never happen, because a) Angela hates to fly; b) I don't speak the language and neither of us read it; c) we like living in the U.S.; d) while it's more capitalist, still have a big problem with the whole Communist thing, e) well you get the idea, never going to happen). But if we did, it would be in Xi'an. It's not as big of a city (only a measly six million people, which seems to equal a small neighborhood in China); it seemed more laid back and it was reasonably affluent. And probably most importantly, Xi'an is famous for dumplings/potstickers (my favorite) and noodles (Angela's favorite). Our first night in Xi'an probably emphasizes some of the differences between the Chinese and Americans. I mentioned how we actually were in air conditioning almost everywhere we went in China. Well, the hotel in Xi'an, like all the others, was air conditioned. But our first night there, we woke up around 2 a.m. because it was sweltering in the room. The AC was on, so we wondered what was the problem. Angela called the front desk (being able to speak Chinese is a nice advantage), to be told that they had shut the AC off for the hotel because it was now cool outside (a humid 75-78 outside, seemingly a very humid 80 inside our 12th floor room). We found out the next morning, after panting and sweating our way through the late evening that they had actually shut the AC down for repairs (or so they said), something that left our tour group all sweltering throughout the night. After seeing seeing the Tang dynasty show (which featured a guy imitating a duck that was hilarious), eating 20 different kinds of dumplings and seeing the Terra Cotta soldiers, we were given some free time. Angela and I took our lives in our own hands crossing a busy street to go check out a market. The market is not a tourist stop, but something designed for the locals. I have no idea how anyone makes any money, because there were at least 250 stores, but only 10 kinds of stores. You had 30 stores selling loose tea (how you could tell a good store from a bad, I don't know). You had store after store selling kitchenwares. Stores that sell fans. Stores that just sell pens. And each store is usually the size of a large walk-in closet. It was a truly Chinese experience. We ended up not buying anything there (although Bryant bought some teacups for 3 yen (roughly 35-40 cents). But after dashing back across the street, I was able to find a Chinese aviation magazine for 10 yen ($1.25). Sure, I can't read anything in it, but the pictures are cool. While the market was seemingly aimed at the bargain shopper, we later drove into the old city, which has turned into a shopper's paradise. We drove down one street that had 15 shoe stores, all selling seemingly top of the line shoes. Another street was for women clothes, another for appliances. Imagine a mall that covers 10 square blocks of a city. We're not window shoppers, but if you are, Xi'an is a place to spend a week. By the time we left Xi'an, we were true travelers. We had survived four flights, hours in the bus and I was up to a four word Chinese vocabulary.
Your description of the market is actually starting to make chinatown here in NYC make some sense to me... store after store the size of a walk-in closet selling the exact same thing as the blocks of stores just before it... I never "got it" but now I see... it's just familiar. How cool! :) Thank you so much for sharing!!
Posted by
springsandra |
6/12/2006 09:43:00 PM