Hi there. So I'm pitifully behind on the blog...still haven't posted about our trip to Thailand all the way back in March! But I'm just going to skip ahead and hope to return to the last few months eventually...
Our July vacation was supposed to start with 10 days in Tibet and Nepal. After 2 days on the train from Shanghai, we were set to explore Lhasa for a few days, then make our way to Rongphu with a short hike to Mt. Everest Base Camp, staying the night at the Rongphu Monastery before crossing the border and spending a few days in Kathmandu. But a week before we were set to leave, the government decided to close Tibet to all foreigners. So in a pinch we were off to Xi'an for four days instead.
Xi'an was the start of the silk road and a buzzing metropolis long before Beijing was ever on the scene. Today its bustling Muslim quarter is one of its biggest attractions--from the smells of good street food mingling with the stench of questionable street side butchers, to outstanding people watching, we found ourselves back among its crowded streets again and again.
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| Not too crowded by day... |
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| A typical Chinese street scene |
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| Naturally, when you want to by fake artifacts, that includes crossbows! |
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| Who knew there were so many types of dates! |
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| We never figured out what this is... |
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| Click to enlarge...#9 sounds delicious! |
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| He's making edible sugar balloons |
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| One of many local butcher shops |
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| In case the color of the meat doesn't give it away, the stench of this one was unreal |
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| Delivery truck, complete with swarm of flies and pools of blood |
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| Drum tower...marked nightfall in the past |
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| Bell tower...bells used to ring at dawn |
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| Back to the Muslim Quarter--it comes alive at night! |
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| Enjoying our first yangrou paomo...you break up flat bread, then they serve lamb soup on top. |
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| Yangrou paomo--the best part was the pickled garlic! yum! |
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| Barely controlled chaos... |
