Geez was I wrong about China… I realised this yesterday afternoon as I wandered aimlessly through the streets of Xian, roaming, exploring and getting hopelessly lost in this city’s ancient backstreets. I was determined not to pass the same shopfront twice and succeeded in my aim of quickly losing myself and any sense of direction.
Attracting stares from everywhere (which is both unnerving and kind of a buzz) I dove deeper and deeper into what appeared to be the Muslim quarter. There were Chinese muslims looking smart in their starched white hats and spindly beards, looking darker, taller and more Turkish than my conventional idea of the Chinese. The air smelt of fried bread and smoke rose out of vents and cracks in the ground. Men with little moustaches pulled, prodded, twisted and spun long rolls of dough into thin, deliciuos noodles that they cooked in front of you with mutton or beef and some dark pepper chilli like I’ve never tasted before. The cook played with the dough like a magician, holding either end of the roll of dough and throwing the middle to the floor, tweaking it so that it curled around itself before springing back up into his calm arms.
I walked further buying cakes every few metres, apprehensively chewing the first few before realising that they were all going to be great. The best one was a pumpkin and sesame seed cake made in the shape of an oversized oreo (sadly the oreo has made inroads into China. There are even Chinese versions of the golden retriver ‘you can have my malk’ ad).
I walked for hours, totally lost and not caring a bit. Walking in the swarm of humans I felt the globe get larger and my personal world and myself get smaller and smaller. A place like China does that - it overwhelms you, it forces you to come to terms with how small you, your life and your trials and tribulations are.
It is just so large and so packed in that I realised that it would be impossible to see all of China, even if I dedicated the rest of my life to it. It would be impossible to eat all of her different dishes, fruitless to try to understand all of her cultural quirks and irks, utterly hopeless to attempt to comprehend her dozens and dozens of ethnic minorites, and it would be futile to try and marvel at all her natural beauty.
Completely lost in my newfound belittlement I stumbled across our multi-storey hotel and trudged up to our tiny room.