The Flight to Xi'an

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Seeing as we didn't have to leave until 11 for lunch before the flight, today started on a nice note; sleeping in! Now, obviously, we're all having a really great time, but last night was our final night in Chengdu so most everyone had a big night on the town and needed the extra few hours to get ready for the plane to Xi'an. For the record, seeing twenty-six tired, half asleep people try to fit their amassed treasures into a twenty kilo bag is both hilarious and heartbreaking, and back-breaking once everything has to be loaded into luggage trucks and the carry-ons weigh as much as the check-ins. Many, many times Chef Cheng was asked exactly how far over those twenty kilos one could be before they would be charged with overweight fees, but eventually we all managed to get our luggage situations straightened out and made our way to lunch.
Our lunch at Hongxin was made especially elegant by the surrounding wedding party taking place on both the bottom floor and the second, where we were eating, but we were seated outside of the large, separate dining room where most of the festivities took place. The bride made her way through the restaurant twice, each time in a different stunning white dress, and was greeted each time by many smiles and cheers. It seems as though Chinese weddings are a rather open affair, because when we asked where the restroom was, our local guide suggested we go to the facility in the large hall so we could see the wedding. Also, we learned from Chef Cheng that the Chinese do not wear wedding rings, take one another's name, or present any other form of "ownership" over one another upon getting married, but instead simply respect that they are a married couple and their bond is strong.
After lunch, we drove to the airport and flew to Xi'an; the flight was short and when we landed, we went straight to our new hotel, Shanxi Wenyuan.
After getting situated, we visited the Muslim food street. We've visited plenty of streets filled with food and local crafts and wares by now, but this one was filled with both the "usual" Chinese things, and more traditionally middle-eastern mounds of dates, tamarind pods, flat breads, and Muslim art. Of course, the fact that this was a Chinese street with a strong Muslim influence meant that a lot of Muslim practices were not in effect; the arts and crafts were lovely, but many of them portrayed nature in the fond way the Chinese do, which is far out of line for Muslim art, which eschews representations of the natural world. Perhaps the only thing I didn't like about the walk was the street itself, strewn with litter and various debris. Chengdu was so much cleaner.
It was harder to find garbage cans, and to imagine that anyone here in Xi'an cares to find one to throw away all of the extraneous packaging that comes with most of the food one can buy on the street. There were fresh orange juice cups, empty, greasy bags, and paper goods of all kinds being pounded into the stone road with every step. It makes sense now to me that our tour guide, Bobby, was so keen to tell us about the cleanliness of his hometown, Chengdu, in Sichuan, and to differentiate it from the rest of China. I enjoyed my first evening of two in Xi'an, but having come here I now more deeply understand that these provinces are as clearly different from one another as our states are.

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