Street Food & Shopping (Xi'an part 2)

 Ok. It's been a while, but I figured it's better late than never to finish telling you about Xi'an. A lot of these pictures might be kinda random. But hey. At least you're getting pictures. Which is lucky for you... because I hate uploading them. So yes. Feel lucky. 

This to me is REAL China. Vegetables on the side of a road, and a guy on the bike. If I could sum up China in one picture... this would probably be it:

 Also. Did I ever mention that China is crowded?

Really crowded. The above picture is in the middle of Xi'an. The one below was taken on a bus on our way back to our hostel.

A few afternoons into our trip Megan and I decided to head out to find the Little Goose Pagoda.  We had to cross a bridge to leave inner city Xi'an. The river was gorgeous. It's amazing what you can discover when you decide to walk places. 

On our way we bumped into this guy:

 Yes. Giant transformer in the middle of the city. Awesome right?

So we made our way to the pagoda. Only to find out we were too late. Never fear though... we went back another afternoon and wandered around the blessed place. It was gorgeous.

 This is the pagoda itself. And I'm the little blue blob on the steps.

 This is around the back of the pagoda. You had to pay to climb to the top, so we opted not to.

However, we did wander over to the side of this little temple/museum-esque thing across from the pagoda afterwards, and found this garden full of statues.

So often I found myself taken away by how beautiful this place called China can be. And then I take a picture, and it just... never does it justice. And yet... this picture comes awfully darn close to capturing how wonderful it was to stand in this garden. 

 Those are some really old stairs. I'm walking up to this temple thing... used to be used to worship a goddess. I don't remember of what though.

This picture was taken from the top of those stairs. It's a bell... supposed to send messages to people when you ring it. I guess there is this legend about a man... soldier or something, who missed his family. So he would ring the bell and it would send messages to them. You ring it by using that giant red mallet thingy. Awesome right?

Now switch gears. On the night of Rachel's birthday we went out to a very fancy restaurant. One you may have heard of. Called Pizza Hut. Pizza hut is considered a ritzy place here... and it's probably about as much as you'd pay in the states... making it super pricey for China. 

We had fun though and I think Rachel enjoyed it. 

Also. Only in China would you find them serving fried rice at pizza hut. tee hee.

Ok. And now on to the actual street food and shopping part of this post:

This is Megan and I in the Muslim district. There is this little shopping street where we did most of our Christmas shopping behind the bell tower. Walk down it all the way and it dumps you into the Muslim district. Street food you could die for. And most of it is very inexpensive. Basically we'd wander around until we found something that either looked really crazy or really good, and then we'd eat that for whatever meal was coming up next. It was an interesting way to eat. We avoided anything with meat... just because we're not quite that brave yet... but we did find some bread things that were great, some pastry things that were not great, and some deep fried sweet potato things that were quite incredible. Yes I am in love with Chinese food. Although, did you know? Southern Chinese is very different than northern Chinese food. And the stuff we get in America is more northern-esque. Just for your information.

Ok. So you know that scene in Mulan? Mushu is riding down the avalanche on a shield, and he slides over to where Mulan is riding her horse and trying to rescue herself and Shang. Mushu yells at Mulan: "I found a lucky cricket!"

Well that's what I said when I saw this:

 Yes my friends. That is indeed a REAL live and chirping lucky cricket.

A MASSIVE lucky cricket.

The thing about shopping in Xi'an.... well... Megan and I felt that we were trend setters. Because if we wandered into a shop and started looking intently at something, we would inevitable attract a crowd of people who were all of a sudden interested in the same stuff. And it was no exception with this little guy. No one seemed to think him interesting until Megan and I started taking pictures. Then a crowd began to form... then the gentleman who owned the shop and the cricket got upset and shooed us away. I think because the cricket was getting upset at all the flashing lights.

We had a blast shopping though. I felt like I got pretty great at bargaining by the end of things. I got some good deals, and disgruntled more than a few shop keepers who assumed I was a stupid American. I mean. I'm not a pro bargainer. One lady quoted us a price on this pictures, about a 150 yuan for them. We talked her down to 35. She wasn't too happy when we each got 3 of them.... yeah. That's when you KNOW you got a good deal. When you walk away and get the impression that you aren't really wanted back anytime soon. Haha.

Speaking of Mulan. (Ok... so I'm kind of jumping around...) Remember at the beginning when she's getting ready to see the matchmaker and she helps those dudes out with that game?

Ring a bell? This is that game. Awesome right? This is not, in point of fact, at the street market, it is rather something we saw on our way walking back from Little Goose Pagoda. But I was so excited. I mean... I knew they played this game. But two old men in the middle of the street... haha. I HAD to take a picture.

So yes. I loved Xi'an. So much fun. I hope I get to go back one day.

Bargaining 101

It's taken me a while, and a few times of realizing that I probably just got ripped off before I have become decent in the art of bargaining. It's definitely a skill worth having, and it's a fun one to practice. Here are some steps I've found, that when followed, lead to a good bargaining experience.

First. Look around at all the stuff. When you see something you like, let your gaze linger. IF the shop person is being hovery, DO NOT TOUCH. If they are barely noticing you... then it might be ok to run your fingers over a few items.

When you see the thing you want, look at it for a while. Try to make them come to you. Most likely, they'll point to what you're looking at. You'll move your head casually to one side as if to say "Yeah, nice, but I'm not sure it's worth my time." Then they'll try to indicate, probably in broken English, that they will give you a very good price for it. At which point you look at them with one eyebrow raised and say: "How much?" Or if you want to attempt sounding Chinese: "Duo shao qian?"

They'll type a number into their calculator for you to look at. You glance, and shake your head with a frown. Then you'll pretend that you don't care too much about the object anyways and start to move on. They'll start shouting and waving their calculator at you, asking you mostly in Chinese to set your price. You take a step further as if to walk away, at which point they will probably shout "Ok! OK!" and punch a new number into the calculator. You pause, look at the number thoughtfully, and then you'll do some math in your head. Cut the number in half. Then subtract some. (So if the number in the calculator is 100, maybe you'll offer 25 or so.) Type that number into the calculator.

The shop keeper will look at with you with a disbelieving expression. She'll roll her eyes and type in a number slightly smaller than the one she'd typed before. You'll raise your price just a little bit... and then she'll lower again. At this point you'll shake your head and turn to walk away. If she truly was quoting you an outrageous price, and she probably was, she'll start shouting again, and this time when she pulls your attention back, the number in the calculator will be decently smaller. You can at this point, give an inward grin... and if you are feeling really adventuresome, you can try to talk her down just a tad further. But if you've gotten her down almost as far as you'd like, and if you really want the object, and you are actually ok with the price, THEN you can nod your head and hand over your cash.

If you are smart shopper you'll follow these steps. Not always precisely in this order, and with not always the same results, because not all shop keepers are created equal. Some are much easier to bargain with than others.... but these steps can be helpful when working with anyone. When bartering you'll definitely use the walking away one. Multiple times if you're smart. That's the most important one. Perfecting the aura of "I don't care and there's no way I'll pay that much."

Now when you head to China yourself you'll know :)