Xi’an, the capital of the Shaanxi province and home to 8.7 million people, was a nice stop for great food, friendly locals, and incredible history. The city is one of China’s great ancient capitals, and was the seat of power during several important dynasties, starting with the Zhou dynasty in the 11th century B.C., 3,000 years ago. On the way to dinner after arriving by train, we stopped at a street cart for delicious spicy fried potatoes, sautéed with cumin, hot chili peppers, garlic, and some other spices. For dinner, we had pao mo at a restaurant recommended by our hotel. Ripped up rice flour bread is topped with a savory broth, which gets thick and hearty as the bread takes on a chewy noodle-like texture. It was delicious, and the restaurant was so proud of visits from Chinese politicians that is displayed dinnerware used by former premiers in glass cases. After a filling breakfast of roujiamo (“Chinese hamburgers” made with roasted pork on chewy rice-flour bread) and tangy vinegar and vegetable noodles, we visited the Shaanxi Museum, a collection of antiquities from the region dating back 3,000 years. As with other museums in China, description was sorely lacking, but we fortunately got a free tour from a guide working on her English skills. We rode the subway across town to Xi’an’s Muslim Quarter, famous for its food, especially baked breads and grilled spicy meat skewers. We sampled a few snacks, and for dinner had skewers of chicken wings and unidentified “barbecue” with sides of garlic eggplant and corn at a packed restaurant. Alexa joked that the barbecue might have been rat, based on a story that 900 people were arrested in 2013 for trafficking counterfeit meat. The next day, we took the bus to Xi’an’s world-famous Terracotta Army, a collection of over 8,000 terracotta soldiers, chariots, and horses meant to protect Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, in the afterlife. Only 2,000 soldiers have been unearthed, and restoration work is ongoing. Every single warrior is different, with a unique face and posture, making the army seem incredibly lifelike; you can almost hear boots marching. The emperor’s mausoleum is part of a 38-square mile necropolis, and it was built by 700,000 workers and buried with the emperor in approximately 210 B.C., over 2,200 years ago. It is hard to imagine that lifetimes were dedicated to building something so beautiful and complex that was simply buried underground. We spent our last evening walking around Xi'an’s 700-year-old city wall and snacking at the Yongxingfang street food park, where we enjoyed fresh persimmon donuts filled with red bean or rose, as well as beef and cabbage stuffed flatbread. Salty tofu, marinated lotus root, egg and seaweed soup, and vinegar chili noodles at a small restaurant near our hotel rounded out the night. Xi’an’s fantastic budget food scene makes it a great place to enjoy a few nights on the way from Chengdu to Beijing.
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September 2018
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