Xi'an, Day 2 after the Warriors -- Shadow Puppets

After seeing the warriors on Saturday, we returned to our hotel for a rest and then went to the Muslim Quarter to eat. And eat we did! We grazed our way down the street, bought some souvenirs, and finally ended up at a restaurant for dinner. This one was a major improvement over the previous night. We feasted on lamb kabobs and other yummy food.

The kiddos in front of the Bell Tower

The Drum Tower with a familiar sign -- this says a lot to me about the relationship between old and new China.

Afterward our delicious dinner as we were meandering down the street, a man approached us asking if we wanted to see a shadow puppet show. I must confess that I was leery. This is a very common scam in China -- invite the foreigners to a "special" something (commonly a tea ceremony), rack up a huge bill and then they are stuck paying it. We ended up deciding to go for a couple of reasons: the man was very up front about what we had to pay (we even asked about other costs and he assured us that there were none), he showed us the theatre, and then finally the man himself convinced us. He was definitely not a scam artist -- way too shy and unsure of himself. So we followed him, payed the very nominal fee, and were quite unsure of what was in store for us. Little did we know the fun experience we were going to have! Xi'an is well-known for making shadow puppets and has a long history of making them. We sat down and the show was interesting. We were given a summary of the story in English beforehand because the music was in more traditional Chinese. (Though honestly, I am not that we would gotten the whole meaning even if it was in the language spoken today. :-) Still far to go on the language front!) After the show, we could go behind the stage and try out the puppets. The artists (a husband and wife) showed us how the puppets were made. They are made of leather and hand painted with special dyes. We watched as the wife was finishing one of the puppets. Overall, an interesting and fun experience!

Unfortunately, after the puppet show Josh's stomach was not feeling the best. We immediately went back to the hotel. In the middle of the night, he was up and vomiting. We were concerned about our boy and wondered what the morning would bring. Thankfully, he felt totally better the next morning and we continued touring. We think that he ate or drank something that was bad. Or didn't wash his hand well enough or something before eating or touching his mouth. I am EXTREMELY thankful that it didn't happen the night we were on the train! (But obviously more thankful that he was better so quickly.)