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I love steamed buns and was always on the lookout for vendors that looked hygienic. The place I found in Xian looked great and they had four different kinds, each with a different filling.

China 1998 - Part Three: Xian & Beijing

Dougburnett
2003-11-22 16:39:38

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The streets leading there were lined with vendors selling the usual tourist stuff. The mosque itself is at one end of a huge courtyard filled with interesting old buildings. Here again I noticed how everything was covered with a heavy layer of dust. Either it hadn't rained in years or there had recently been a dust storm - I never found out which.

I arrived just as afternoon prayers were getting starting. The courtyard was full of men with white skullcaps heading toward the prayer hall - which was not open to non-Muslims. I sat for awhile on one of the benches outside listening to the sermon. It was in Chinese so I couldn't understand, but the rhythmic way the Imam spoke was very pleasant to hear. Afterwards I perused tourist stuff on my way back to the hotel.

Later I walked south along the city wall. Here there was yet another place to buy souvenirs. Farther along I found a great wide street with food stalls, bicycle repair shops and people doing their laundry on the sidewalk. Farther along bicycle porters lounged on their carts while vendors sold magazines.

That brings up something interesting: I never saw any western magazines or newspapers for sale. Oh, there was a Chinese language version of Time but I never saw USA Today, the International Herald or any of the many periodicals that are usually sold to tourists. There was CNN in the hotel but otherwise it was a news blackout. I have never been to a place where you couldn't get western media.

Saturday, April 18, 1998

In the morning I walked back down to a stationary market I had seen the day before and bought some post cards. Speaking of post cards, I never saw single cards for sale in China. I always had to buy a package of 10 or so, most of which I didn't want. And while I'm complaining: the postcards were always the nauseating scenic-type showing the idealized China and not ...