Day 1 (2)

August 21, 2010 - Xi'an, Shaanxi Provence, China

Xiao Liu took me to the bank, where I had to try to do currency exchange in my head while standing in front of the ATM. She then took me to the local super market to buy a few snacks to keep in my room. At the store I saw a number of interesting items:


Pepsi Briefs. Apparently, Pepsi makes underwear in China. Who knew?

And some familiar toys, in a new form:



Baxier Doll. Apparently, they don't sell Barbie here, they sell Baxier.

The bulk of my shopping, however, was food related. I walked up and down the aisles, looking for familiar faces only to be met with twists on what I already knew.



Unusual Chips 1. An assortment of unusual potato chip flavors, including "Aromatic Crispy Chicken" Pringles, Kiwi flavored and Cucumber Flavored Lays. More on unusual chips later.

The market even had a foreign food section:


The American Food Section. The only thing the store had was could be considered American was Hunt's Speghetti Sause. And it was QUITE expensive.

I bought a few items to take back with me:


First Day Shopping. The items I picked up on my first day in Xi'an.

I purchased: Cucumber Flavored Lays, Vanilla Ice Cream Oreos, Strawberry Cheetos, a Moon Cake, Zhàcài (榨菜, lit. "salted vegetables", its basically the pickled stem of the mustard plant. It is apparently similar to Kimchi), Peach Flavored Fanta (picture below), some Chinese ramen, a bowl, and chopsticks. I have a tea kettle in my room, so I got the bowl and ramen in order to make food if I don't feel like going out.


Peach Fanta. Better than I had expected.


My New Piggie Bowl. My bowl for making ramen in my room.

The moon cake I bought is a Chinese autumn specialty. Apparently you eat them in the fall to ensure good luck through the winter. Xiao Liu told me that the school would give each student two Moon Cakes as a sign of good faith.





Moon Cake. The filling is a some kind of paste, maybe made of roasted almonds. The center is some kind of marshmellow/marzipan. It was quite good. The package says "This Moon Cake has carefully produced and crafted with proper condition and enjoy the finest things."

I enjoyed the Moon Cake. And the peach soda. The ramen was complex and delicious, nothing at all like the ramen in America. The Strawberry Cheetos tasted and smelled like Crunchberries. I haven't gotten around to the Cucumber Lays just yet, but I will soon. The whole lot cost me about 50 yuan, or roughly $7.

Hayden