I actually included a little section on squatting toilets in my book Suzhou Basics I hadn’t seen this video at the time, or I might have included a link.

When one of my Singaporean friends saw that I’d included this in the Suzhou book, she just rolled her eyes and said, “I just don’t get what the big deal about squatting toilets is.”

Maybe there will be some comments left here that will help explain it to her…

When I was visiting with my new friend at the little noodle shop outside of the grounds of the Terra Cotta Warriors, I asked her what this character displayed on the wall was:

She told me it was “biang” — or maybe “bian” or “bang,”  she wasn’t quite sure.  She only knew it was read  as “biang” in her dialect, and that was really all anyone would need to know.

When I asked her what it meant, she just said, “It’s the biang we use in biang biang mian.”  She went on to describe the local specialty, a type of noodles called biang biang mian.  They are handmade noodles, and very thick.  There’s not much to the soup the noodles are cooked it — just vinegar, soy sauce, and chili oil, I think — but it is a local favorite.

For me, I didn’t get to try the noodles, being that I was too full at the moment and left the city early the next morning.  But I did notice, after she’d told me what the character was, that I saw it all over Xi’an at the little noodle shops lining the roadside.

So there’s a local specialty I missed.  Perfect excuse to go back.

When I was preparing for my first trip to Xi’an, everyone told me to try the local specialty, Shaanxi pao mo. It is a different dish from the Lanzhou version that I like so much at little shops in Shanghai, but I liked the Shaanxi version as well.

I didn’t eat at one of the big, famous spots for pao mo.  Instead, I took the advice from a Xi’an native who I met on the plane and tried it at a little hole-in-the-wall shop, right outside the grounds of the Terra Cotta Warriors.

The dish is a thick soup with bread broken up in it.  The bread gets all soggy sopping up the stew, but the inside remains a little bit firm.  It’s a little spicy, and quite rich. Just the way I like it.

Shaanxi Pao Mo

My recent trip to Beijing and Xi’an with friends was fun all around.  I had great traveling companions, and got to visit a city I’ve not been to in a long time (Beijing) and a city I had never been to before (Xi’an).  None of my fellow-travelers spoke Chinese — which is a big part of how our trip came about.  I was there as translator and guide.

Being a guide in Beijing was pretty easy, as was the Shanghai leg of the trip.  Xi’an was a little different, but not because it was the only of the three cities I’d never visited before.  What made it odd was the fact that many of Xi’an’s members of the tourism industry didn’t seem to like the fact that I spoke Chinese and could find my way around without a guide.  We did hire a driver, and he seemed to enjoy my ability with the language and comfort in the culture, but all the guides I met along the way as we visited the sites in Xi’an were less congenial when they learned that we could manage without their services.

That attitude was the only disappointment I found in Xi’an, and I loved nearly everything else about the place, especially the rich history that is hidden underground in the area  around the city.  The Terra Cotta Warriors are, of course, the most famous, and are every bit as amazing when visited in person as you’d expect from the pictures you’ve seen.  There is an air of mystery about them, and it makes for a very nice place to visit.

After my friends and I spent a whole day visiting the Warriors and the huge grounds — very nicely set up for visitors — we made our way out of the exit and decided to finally grab a bite to eat for our lunch, just as the sun was beginning to hint that it would like to sink below the hills that surround the ancient burial ground.  My friends saw a Subway sign, and thought sandwiches sounded good.  Having not been to Xi’an before, I was anxious to try some local specialties, and so we made our way to separate facilities for lunch.

As I sat down to finally try Shaanxi pao mo,  a very different dish from the pao mo I find in Lanzhou la mian eateries in Shanghai, the shop keeper sat down across from me, and we began to chat.

“You’re a tour guide?”

“Well, for now, yeah.  I brought some friends here to see the Warriors.”

“I could tell.  You don’t look like a typical tourist.”

And from there, we continued on, her telling me about local food, and me telling her a little about my first impressions of Xi’an and the Terra Cotta Warriors.  She gave me a good bit of insight into Xi’an in the 20 minutes or so it took me to eat the pao mo, and I really enjoyed the visit.  It made me glad we’d decided on such a late lunch, when there were no crowds to keep my new acquaintance busy.

As I finished my meal, I began to sort through some things I’d bought for friends back home, souvenirs of the Warriors.  The lady who had cooked my noodles came out to join me and her co-worker as we continued our chat.  After a few minutes, the new arrival asked me, “How long have you been in China?”

“I’ve been living here part time for the past 6-7 years.”

The friend who had been chatting with me for the past half hour looked surprised.  ”What?” she said.  ”With your Chinese, I thought you grew up in China!”

Whoever said food is the way to get to someone’s heart only knew half the story.  Flattery is so much more effective.

There’s a nice relief of Surgery on Kuang Kong’s Arm. It’s an interesting piece, depicting an event that took place somewhere around the first century BC.

The only thing I find odd about this piece is the location where it is displayed.  At Mount Elizabeth Hospital.  Right outside of the operating theatre.

Not exactly a comforting sight when entering the ward, nor when you are waiting for a loved one to finish surgery.

Usually hearing the phrase “religious games” would bring a different idea to mind for me, but this looks kind of fun!

Lots of people have tried to beat the system at the World Expo, avoiding the long queues by pretending to be handicapped.  I came across some funny pictures of “miracles” — people getting right up out of their wheelchairs, apparently healed, suddenly and completely!

This news video is several months old, but certainly not outdated.

Traveling towards the north to the end of Line 6 is a completely different experience from travel to the south side.

The rain that was so heavy when I was on the south side let up a little, but even if it hadn’t, it was fine with me, as it created a misty veil that actually enhanced the feel of some of the areas the train passed through once it got above ground.  Travel through the Gaoqiao Free Trade Zone was especially pretty. (no pictures, though…)

At the north end of Line 6, you come to the harbor.  It doesn’t actually offer as nice a view of the ships as some of the other sections of the metro line (especially Lines 3 and 2), but the end where you see the bustle of the busy port is impressive nonetheless.

And once again, I was reminded that there is no spot that can’t use a karaoke lounge….

This one was located under the train tracks, between the train and bus stations.