Xi’an, 20 January 2008

It has been snowing virtually non-stop since I arrived in Xi’an last Monday. Everything is white. Well everything that is if you discount the brown slush on the roads. But hey, that’s no different than in any other country where you get snow. Pin tells me it has been about five years since there has been snow like this in Xi’an. I am really enjoying it. For me it has been longer than that since I have been in this type of environment, lived in this type of environment. The footpaths are quite slippery, giving the song ‘Dancing in the Street’ new meaning. (Visualise people slipping, then regaining balance with flailing arms...)

I am enjoying being here. I am really enjoying being with Pin. We have a lot to say to each other. A lot to talk about. We have been out to a different restaurant every day, including a ‘fancy’ Buddhist vegetarian place opposite the Dayen Pagoda. That was really expensive, with a feast consisting of 5 or 6 great dishes costing 85 Yuan – about $12.50. The cheapest we have eaten was a home cooking style lunch consisting of a bowl of soft, broad noodles in a delicious soup at a cost of about 50 cents each. The food is fantastic and I intend to document it in more detail later. [Pin told me that the Chinese have a saying – “Eat in China” (Chī zài Zhōngguò.), sort of like ‘See Paris and die”.]

The university I am now becoming a part of has supplied us with an apartment. It’s off-campus in an apartment block reserved for teachers and retired teachers. We were a little disappointed at first, as I was promised a two bedroom apartment and what we got is a one bedroom apartment. It has other shortcomings, but we are giving it our personal touch and are getting to like it, starting to feel comfortable in it. The location is good, it’s in a fairly secure area, the heating is really good and stuff like hot water and such are all working.

We have been out every day. There has been plenty to do – buying things like bedding, food and other daily necessities. Today we did something special – we had tea in a Chinese Buddhist tea house. Pin has walked past it, not noticing it numerous times (the apartment is close to her undergraduate college, so she knows the area well), but recently stumbled across some reference to it when she was researching vegetarian restaurants on the internet. It is easy to miss. A simple wooden door frame hides some stairs which lead to a whole floor which is dedicated to drinking tea. Everything is laid out with wood, bamboo and stone. Patrons’ compartments are designated by wood and bamboo thatched dividers. The ‘menu’ was written in the Han Dynasty style in brushed ink on pieces of bamboo wood, a bit like a xylophone. Pin happened to know how it’s all done and we wound up getting a rather large Yunnan ‘tea cake’ – the type where you break off a piece from a compressed wheel about 20 cm in diameter. Of course you can’t drink so much tea at once, so what they do is keep the rest of your cake in a box with your name on it and when you come back, you continue drinking the same tea and only pay a nominal fee for seating. The tea was thick and dark, a consistency and flavour not dissimilar to coffee. I presume the caffeine content was also similar... It is made in a tiny Yixing tea bowl and served in even tinier drinking bowls, with a diameter of about the size of a 20 cent piece. We stayed there for about an hour and a half. It turned out that they have free Buddhist scripture readings twice a month. I intend to check them out.

Prayer scrolls at nearby Buddhist temple




Tea menu and utensils




Serving tea




The tiniest tea cup




Chinese Chess (at the Tea House)




Snow in Xi'an (view from the tea house)