One time I was in China

Hello cursed 2020! My country is also in a nationwide quarantine. Like almost the entire world. I feel a kind of connection with people unlike any other time. It’s always tragedy that brings us together right? Well since people are on social media often it’s like an endless block of neighbors in one place. So anyway, flicking through pictures of my 2018 China trip made me feel sooo omg I havent been travelling like that for a long time. In 2019 I focused on other things financially. I was like 2020 will be the Year. Who wouldve foreseen such a disastrous year??! Especially travelling security and finances. It would be a full 2 years from the beginning of the trip today.

I was only attracted to China for the western part of it. Im lame like that, I think that famous places are overrated so I tend to research on places that arent mainstream in my effort to feel special loool I get to see the things in my own eyes and decide how I feel about it. Famous destinations already has so many being talked about them so I lose interest in it. Lmao. Im drawn to central Asia since I follow a few insta influencers that was from those countries. Then I made the research about the Silk Road and read more about colorful histories of the middle kingdoms that oversaw so many cultural exchanges throughout centuries.

I realized China should be my first stop if I ever want to venture to the -stan countries tho. It took fairly a year to research and book everything that could be done pre flight date. Talked to my best friend/travelbuddy about it and convinced her to take a 2 week long holiday. We went flying north to Xi’an where it’ll be our base city before going westward.

Checked in a Xi’an modest hotel in an alleyway. We arrived around 11pm local time and had to pay 150cny just for a ride to the hotel. Post trip I realized it was a LOT but then again we had no choice. It was late and we were concerned abt safety.

I was still in my head, I didnt think we really made it to China. I just never dreamed of wanting to go here like in my childhood or anything lol it was a recent yearning that I have, and nurtured. Now that Im here I have to make sense of it. My friend and I toured the area around it the next day looking for a local breakfast. But holy shit my taste palette just.cant.take. the herbs in their noodles! It was tongue numbing and hunger cancelling. We tried to not be wasteful and munch our way through and looking squarely at each other. Continuing the walk about 20mins we reached a major area of the morning market. It’s near to Xi’an Muslim Street where all the tourists and locals come for halal food. The vendors are from Hui Chinese although there were some other different races spotted. At the time, I was so foolish and arent aware about Uyghurs or anything. Ive read about it but news are just news until you saw it yourself…

We were 100% touristy at that day, just sampling and eating everything we could get our hands on, and checked out Xi’an Mosque. It was beautiful but it wasn’t open to females. This is kinda weird but we talked to its staff and they allowed us to use and look around the prayer hall. There was no one inside except some religious school kids and their imams. We were greeted warmly to just see a Quran class went by.

To punctuate such a pleasant day, we end up ordering a dish of meat and rice that we couldnt finish (again) because of the damned tongue numbing herbs (again!) since we couldnt speak Mandarin we left it at that. I swear local waiters could see our faces swelled when we realized what we’re eating.