Picture of the Week # 342 "Cooling Her Feet" Xi'An, China 2015 Signed & Stamped

After the extraordinary experience of seeing the "Terra Cotta Warriors" which are housed over an hour outside of Xi'An, I figured I should see what else there is for outsiders to see inside the city. The next day I took the harrowing cab ride from the new 5 Star Angsana Hotel, (all taxi's are scary as they text, talk on the phone, don't obey lane markings or speed limits) into town. I was told that the Muslim streets would be ideal for picture taking. Not sure about the safety, or about being a white American, I threw caution to the wind and went off armed with my cameras. Walking through the narrow streets I encountered this woman soaking her feet in fish tanks. Having been a decent world traveler, this was a new occurrence for me. I had never even heard of doing something like this. I snapped my pictures and continued on to find there were more places like this. I walked and took many images, sometimes the people would shyly turn away or hide behind something. But by and large there was no danger or hostility when I raised my camera. Most gladly allowed me to capture their image. It reminded me somewhat of a friendlier version of the souks in Morocco.