Xian, Day 7, Part 2 – High Speed Train and a Banquet

September 5, 2014 by Let's CUT the Crap! 103 Comments

On our way to lunch, I noticed renovations to something that looked like strip malls. Notice the second floor, middle addition. This is all brick with no framing inside and nothing else supporting the walls. I noticed this practice in different areas as we traveled throughout the country.

© All Rights Reserved by Tess @ How the Cookie

We passed numerous nurseries and fruit farms.

© All Rights Reserved by Tess @ How the Cookie

© All Rights Reserved by Tess @ How the Cookie

More empty apartment shells as we entered Zian.

© All Rights Reserved by Tess @ How the Cookie

We had our mid-day meal late, around 1:30 p.m..Somehow, I took no pictures of the food.  My brain needed a new battery; the jets weren’t sparking.

Lunch:

• Drinks as usual (one: beer, water, OR soda)
• Tea (yellow)
• Rice
• Egg steamed in wheat flour sweet dough
• Green beans, garlic and fried onions (salty)
• Sliced potatoes, garlic and yellow onions
• Cauliflower, carrots and green onions
• Sweet and sour chicken
• Fried cabbage, carrots and green onions
• Garlic sprouts with carrots and fungus
• Fresh apple slices for dessert

Goodbye Lisa, Who will be our next guide?

We’d loaded our luggage on the tour bus when we left the hotel in the morning. Next stop: a high speed train to Xian. We’d been told it travels as fast as 250 km an hour. Nope, it did not. Our tickets had the gate, coach and seat numbers on them. When the doors opened, passengers had a two minute window to get in or out. I mention this because many passengers had luggage or packages in tow, which we had to stow ourselves. I spied an area aty the back of the coach where we’d entered. With Sue’s help, I made that bag jump onto the middle shelf. Why did it weigh so much? I hadn’t purchased anything. It turned out our seats were at the opposite end of the coach. Each time we stopped, I jumped up  to watch the back exit, worried someone might take my suitcase.

Boarding time was 3:41 pm, arrival slightly before the specified time of 6:10. Our new tour guide, Steve, ( 30-ish and a comedian) waited for us at the depot.

We drove straight to The Tang Dynasty Dancing Show and Dumpling Banquet. I was too far away for a clear picture.

© All Rights Reserved by Tess @ How the Cookie

 

OR

Still shots of all the costumes and amazing-looking girls:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=The+Tang+Dynasty+Dancing+Show&rlz=1C1EODB_enCA562CA564&espv=2&biw=1242&bih=585&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=OfkJVIvCCpD3yQSynoLADw&ved=0CEYQsAQ

The show was stupendous; the girls were beyond knockouts! Dinner consisted of a dozen different dumplings and were delicious

The tables were arranged dinner theater style as you’ll see in the pictures below.

Appetizers:

• Tea
• Beer / water / pop
• Cucumber salad
• Fried fish (white and mild)
• Fungus
• Celery
• Bacon
• Beef slices
• Pot Stickers

The dumplings were artistically made to represent what filling was inside. For a better version than I could have taken with my iPad, click below:

https://www.google.ca/search?q=dumpling+feast&rlz=1C1EODB_enCA562CA564&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=-fsJVNmZFMmRyASahoLIDA&ved=0CFoQsAQ&biw=1242&bih=585

Delivered to our table were various flavored dumplings:

1. pork and shrimp
2. celery and egg
3. pork, chicken and shrimp
4. celery, dried bean curd and egg
5. pork, egg white
6. pork and hair weeds
7. pork winter bamboo shoots and chicken
8. pork and duck
9. pork and mushrooms
10. pork, black fungus and
11. vegetable
12. Walnut and jam (dessert)

 ~ * ~

I had internet in our hotel room that night, but had to ask for a code at the registration desk. As well, the converter I’d used in Beijing to charge my laptop and iPad didn’t work. Contrary to the last time I’d used the converter, this hotel outlet preferred straight prongs.

Hotmail was no problem. With Google, I could only read mail, but not send. I had the same experience in Beijing.

At our first hotel, one women even Skyped from the lobby with family members somewhere in the U.S. Before you wonder, she was loud and kept walking around with her iPad for WiFi. Most distracting. Still, I’m amazed at the benefits of this new technology.

 

Next on September 12: Xian, Day 8, Part One – Xian: Old City Wall, Shaanxi History Museum, Terra Cotta Warrior Factory

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