Our First Visit to the Muslim Quarter

Jocelyn Writes:

Today we were off early to the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an's Old City. Xi'an is the home of China's largest Muslim community. Islam was first introduced in China by Arab merchants during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AC). As you will read, the kids , Bruce and I loved the visit and will definitely be returning many times...

Ayden Writes:

Hey y’all,

My topic for today’s blog is bargaining. Today my tutor, my family and I went to the Muslim open air market. We saw a lot of stores and stalls. We went to the Great Mosque. After the visit, we went shopping. My sister bought a jade bracelet for ten Yuan. In America, ten Yuan is about $1.35.

Here is how my sister got her bracelet so cheaply. We were walking through the market and my sister saw a pink jade bracelet that she loved. She asked “how much is this bracelet” the woman at the stall replied “60 Yuan.” “No way” my sister said, “40 Yuan then” said the woman. “No, no, no” my sister said. “You chose your price then” the woman said.“10 Yuan” “to cheap” the woman said. Then my sister walked away but not too far because the woman called her back and said “ fine 10 Yuan.” And that is how you bargain.
--Ayden

Gavi Writes:

Hi everyone,
Today Wen Yi, our tutor, took my family and I to the Moslem quarter. Our first stop was The Great Mosque. It was absolutely beautiful. There were 5 courtyards before you reached the actual mosque itself. All of which were gorgeous. There were many buildings in each. All of which had little carvings of animals on the roofs and many other beautiful details. There were also quite a few trees and plants that one doesn’t often see in the states. However, yet again everyone there seemed to find us more interesting.

After the Great Mosque we went to the outdoor market to do a little shopping. Walking through the streets we saw a lot of North Face jackets, Kipling and Coach bags and Calvin Kline underwear (Ben found this very funny). We also saw a bunch of pretty jade bracelets. My mom bought me a pink one after bargaining the price from 50 Yuan (about $7) to 10 Yuan (a little more then $1). I was very proud.

After this we ran into 5 of the 8 of the high-schoolers who had also come to shop for the day. They were in the process of a heated debate over whether the Gucci watch Mikey had just gotten for 100 Yuan (about $14) was a “ladies watch” or not. This topic was only dropped when someone realized that Jonathan had gotten a pair of funny glasses for 40 Yuan when the starting price was 60. He then of course had to be scolded for not bargaining enough and getting completely ripped off.

We then decided that it was time for lunch so we all went out for badsa. Badsa are little dumplings that are very good but nearly impossible to pick up with chopsticks. After lunch Jonathan got even more grief when someone pointed out that lunch for all 11 of us (5 high-schoolers, 5 of us, and our tutor) had cost ¼ of what he had paid for a pair of sunglasses. After this, the high schoolers went back to their shopping and we went back to the dorms. Over all it was a pretty exciting day.
More later,
Gavi