Noodles

Last night I was hungry and did not feel like going anywhere far so someone suggested this noodle place that is around the corner from the hotel. It was nice to see a menu with English translation when we sat down.

The one thing that drives me crazy about going out to eat here is that when they seat you and hand you the menu they sit there and wait until you are ready to order. We always tell them to go away and give us some time but they just smile and wait...I hate it! Of course as we looked through the menu the waitress sat over my shoulder until we were ready. I ordered some chicken and noodle dish. As soon as we ordered she came back 2 minutes later with the bill. It is very common here to pay for your meal before you even eat it. It is kind of nice because when you are done eating you dont have to wait around for the bill but at the same time they never check up on you because once you are paid they dont come back.

This noodle place probably had about 30 tables and it was pretty full. Naturally we were the only Americans in the place. Everyone around us was busy eating as we waited for our food. I could not stop laughing because all you could here were SLURPS!!! It was the most disturbing thing ever. I was looking around and peoples faces were in their soup bowls making the loudest slurping noises ever...it was gross. Their technique is very interesting. They get the noodles on their chop and then go to eat them but as they are slurping them up they keep putting more on the chopstick so the slurp session could last a good minute. My Uncle Gary would kill these people because I remember having Friday night dinners at the Simms house and if you made the slightest slurp we would get "the look."

Looking past the gross noises coming from around the entire place the meal was really good. A good meal for 3 bucks...you can't beat it.

I have two days until I depart for Xian. I can't wait to go.