Xian, home of the famous terracotta army, was our next stop. It's a large, modern city home to over 8 million people and our hostel was right in the middle of the action. There's a small population of Chinese Muslims who reside in the city and we were located right next to the Muslim quarter. The food was hearty, heavy and delicious and we had a great time sampling the local delicacies in the night market. The stuffed lamb flatbreads, toasted and generously filled with cumin spiced meat were a standout. The meat was strong tasting, more like mutton than lamb. We sat and ate our sandwiches on small tables right next to where the meat was grilling on the BBQ and enjoyed taking in the bustling markets sights and smells. I still had room for a delicious quail egg snack on the way home. Five eggs were cracked into a specially moulded griddle, and basted with sesame oil. A stick was then inserted into them like a kebab for easy eating. So delicious!!
The next day we thought we'd go back to the market area. The market was only on at night but there were many restaurants serving up delicious food during the day. We sat down in a simple, cheap looking restaurant and ordered several dishes, including a spiced lamb shank, a bean salad and some lamb dumplings. The food was great and we felt like we'd made a good choice in choosing our accommodation right next to the Muslim Quarter!
I don't think we ate anywhere else in Xian other than the Muslim Quarter other than on one occasion where we visited an old, famous restaurant named Tong Sheng Xiang that made an unusual soup called Yang Rou Pao Mo. It involved breaking soft, thick flatbreads into small pieces and dropping them into an empty soup bowl. The hot, muttony broth and glass noodles were then added to the bowl that resulted in a filling, tasty and heavy soup. It seemed to take an eternity to finish our bowls but it was a great experience. It's always a good experience to be an active participant in the making of your food, even though you're not really making it and the ritual of breaking the bread into the bowl was great. It's always refreshing to sample a cuisine uncommon to the country you're in, yet local and authentic at the same time. I think I'll remember Xian for it's food even more so than it's famous Terracotta Army! But I suppose that's just me!
Our one month Chinese visas had nearly expired and we planned to renew them at our next stop, Datong. I'd read horror stories about renewing the visa at Beijing so before we arrived I did a bit of research into how we went about renewing the visa in Datong. In terms of the language barrier, China was definitely the most difficult place to get around and it was always an adventure getting off the train in a new town or city. Upon arrival, we wondered around aimlessly until we found a hotel. It was another 'by the hour' place but it was cheap, relatively clean and had air-con which was definitely needed as it was very hot. Fortunately for us, there was a restaurant about three doors down from the hotel that had what we referred to as 'the food bible', basically a dictionary that had thousands of Chinese dishes translated into English. We'd just look for something we liked and point, if only it was that easy everywhere! Still, that would be taking away half the fun. The food we ate was simple, mainly consisting of noodles and vegetables and was very good quality. To be honest though, after the range and quality of food in Xian, we weren't getting too excited about the options in Datong.
Datong was not really on the tourist trail, although there were some great attractions in the surrounding areas, namely the Yungang Grottoes and the Hanging Monastery. The Grottoes are a UNESCO Heritage site and were very well preserved caves containing many statues of Buddha. They were spectacular and one of the finest sites we'd seen on our travels to date. The Hanging Monastery was also a very interesting spectacle and it's amazing that it's still standing as it's built precariously into a cliff face.
Another major event in Datong was replacing our camera (AGAIN!!) as the photo quality had gone from bad to worse. We got a good deal on a Casio camera so hopefully from now on, the blog photos will look a bit better too!
We had to wait in Datong around five days as our visas were being processed. The police were keeping a watchful eye on us (suspicious foreigners!) and on one occasion in the local internet cafe, my computer switched itself off. I noticed two police officers talking to the lady at the till and I later found out that I had been banned from the internet cafe!! I have no idea why... I can only guess it was because one early morning (around 4am), me and Melissa went there to watch the England Vs USA world cup match, quite possibly one of the worst football matches I've ever seen!
After sorting out our visas we headed to the giant capital city of China, Beijing.
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