The Year of the Tiger is here, and I was in Xi’an to celebrate with my Chinese family. Tyler and I rolled into the Xi’an train station at about 8:30 AM and immediately  decided we needed to find some breakfast. Unfortunately, due to the holiday, this wasn’t the easiest thing to do as many of the street vendors who sell wonderful breakfast foods were shut down for the holiday. We decided to take a couple quick bus hops to my buddy’s favorite Hu La Tang place for breakfast. Hu la tang is a spicy beef-stew with a slightly slimy consistency due to the corn-starch added to it. We both enjoyed a nice bowl with bread and a bottle of bing feng (a local orange soda) for breakfast. Soon after we caught the 336 bus back to my school in north Xi’an. Upon arrival, we got settled, made up a bed for Tyler and showered before going out in search of some lunch.

Later in the afternoon my dad came to pick us up from my school and take us downtown to my grandparent’s home where we’d be spending the holiday. Along the way we stopped at a small fireworks vendor on the street corner. The amount and size of the fireworks was quite impressive! Sure, I’ve seen a lot of fireworks at warehouse sellers around July 4th, but these fireworks, they were huge! Apparently the biggest fireworks vendors are able to legally sell, at least in North Dakota, are 500 grams or less, due to safety concerns. Well, China has none of that. There were very large items for sale, many large canister-style munitions weighing in at 3000+ grams were for sale, for less than 200 Yuan (about $30). We bought a few big ones, and a large string of firecrackers for later in the evening.

» Read more: Chinese New Year in Xi’an