On our first day in Xi’an, we visited the large market near the Muslim mosque in the centre of the city.
Our hotel had an exceptionally uninspiring breakfast to offer us so we were looking for a little food. The first blocks of this market were almost exclusively food – retail shops, butchers, bakers, etc. as well as all sorts of street food. While “grilled meat on a stick” is a pretty universal offering for street food, this street had so much more than that. We didn’t try these grilled eggs on a stick …. But they sure looked good.
There were also some artisans of street food. Very hard to capture in an image but the fellow here is blowing very complex animals from a melted sugar. He was quite amazing – able to create a a very realistic cow with four narrow legs etc. These were street lollipops for the kids lucky enough to have one purchased for them.
Leaving the predominantly food area, you entered a more traditional market with arts, crafts, etc. etc. shop keepers here were much less aggressive marketers than in Beijing – they were certainly encouraging and engaging but not persistent and pressing. There was a very interesting artist buried within the market and a few purchases were made. His daughter was there this day but he was there a few days later – proudly showing pictures of himself at a show in Las Vegas. Curious that his shop was so deep in the market – the quality of his work deserved more exposure.
