Xi'an

Chinese schools work a little differently than American schools.  When the schools here have holidays during the week, they have to make up for those missed days by having school on the weekends.  We worried that our 9 day vacation would be cut short.  Fortunately, ILP doesn't allow us to teach on Sundays, but the school insisted that we teach on at least one Saturday. So we did end up having one day less of vacation, but the school has been good to us, so we dealt with it.  Phoenix was a sweetheart and came to get the kids a little early so we could bolt to the train station.  We'd brought our luggage down to the classrooms so that we could leave straight from there because we were worried that we'd miss our train.  But our worrying was in vain, for soon we were on the train and on our way.

It wasn't the most comfortable traveling experience of our lives. 16 hours without personal space or a reclining chair isn't the best situation.  It was CROWDED.  When you take a long distance train in China, your ticket will be cheap or expensive based on what kind of experience you want.  For a cushy soft sleeper, you'll pay a lot of money.  Hard sleepers are also good, but can also be expensive.  Many trains have soft seats which is like a typical airplane seat, and most trains have hard seats.  Hard seats are super cheap, and not very comfortable.  The seats aren't actually "hard," they have cushions, but you don't have an individual seat and you have no leg room.  But it doesn't stop there.  You can also purchase "standing room only" tickets.  Those are exactly what they sound like.  People buy tickets to stand on a train for 16 hours.  A lot of them sit in empty seats until the seat owner shows up.  Many of them sit on suitcases.  So not only were the seats in our compartment completely full, but the aisle ways were as well.  Most of us were close to each other on the train, but poor Morgan was in a compartment all by herself.  Sleeping was difficult for all of us.  Soren and I took turns using each other as a pillow, but I slept better than he did.  He makes a better pillow for me than I do for him. 

This is when it started to clear out a little bit

Krista sat right by the bathroom where many of the standing ticketers hung out

Waiting for Morgan...and super tired

At last we arrived in Xi'an.  Exhausted and dirty, we grabbed some chicken at Dico's, bought our train tickets to Chengdu for later than week, and sought out the bus to the hostel.  We huffed and puffed up and down the main street there, blindly asking people where bus 603 stopped.  Half way up the street we realized that the bus stopped right in front of the train station and we'd just clunked around for the past 15 minutes for nothing.  Once we got to the right bus stop, we discovered that EVERYONE needs to take the 603.  We didn't get on the first bus, but we managed to elbow our way onto the second one. 

We found the hostel with relative ease.  I was super excited because it turned out to be right around the corner from the hostel I'd stayed in the last time I'd been in Xi'an!  When we entered the hostel, we could hardly stifle our excitement.  It had multiple levels with banisters and statues and lanterns, and other fun architectural aspects.  Soren and I stayed in a private room with our own bathroom (yay!)  The bathroom was funny, though, because the roof slanted down so that Soren had to duck his head.

Our private bathroom

This is right across from the reception desk

The hallway with hobbit arches

Our room was on the third floor

That first afternoon in Xi'an we went up and biked the city wall (we had sore backsides for the rest of the day...but it was so worth it).  It takes about an hour and a half to bike all the way around.  It's pretty bumpy, but it's a great way to spend an afternoon.  The courtyard just before going up onto the wall was fun because they had a little "changing of the guard" ceremony with some soldiers.  They also had drums you could bang on, and also random jump ropes, hula hoops, and hop scotches. It was a blast.

The Guards: awesome feathers!

Banging the drums

On top of the wall

On the bikes

Cheese!

That night we went and got dinner at the Muslim Quarter.  If you want fun food, spicy food, or strange food, this is the place.  A lot of it is street food (I loved the fried bananas).  Some of it is very unique.  There is also a lot of souvenir shopping to do there at great prices (when you barter, of course).

Foods

And Souvenirs

Our second day in Xi'an we went to see the Terra-Cotta Army.  I found it much more interesting this time because we had a tour guide who was able to tell us the history of the site.  So...for those of you that don't know:  around 230 BC, there was this guy called Qin Shi Huang and he was the King of the Chinese State of Qin.  He went to war with his army and conquered all of the other Chinese States.  This resulted in the unification of China in 221 BC...so he's a pretty important guy. He's the one that had the Great Wall of China built.  He also had the Terra-Cotta Warriors made.  The reason for the warriors was so that when he died, he would have an army in heaven.  He wanted to take over heaven...I wonder how that worked out for him. The construction of the warriors and his tomb took many years.  Emperor Qin died quite unexpectedly and was buried in his tomb.  Although he was a great and important man, he was cruel, harsh, and had made a lot of people unhappy.  A bunch of farmers stormed the Terra-Cotta Warriors and vandalized them (that's why so many of them are damaged or broken).  Fortunately, the Emperor's tomb was left untouched.  This is where the story gets good.  No one knew where the tomb was because everyone who worked on it was killed.  Archeologists today have found it, but it has yet to be opened.  They are afraid to open it because legend tells us that it's boobie trapped with cross bows set to kill anyone who attempts to enter it.  Where's Indiana Jones when you need him?  Fast forward to 1974.  A few farmers were out digging a well, but instead of getting water in their bucket, they got part of a Terra-Cotta soldier.  Since that day, more sights of the warriors have been uncovered and the work to restore them continues.  Pretty cool, huh?

Foot soldiers

Love the Terra Cotta horses

Behind us are a bunch of the restored warriors

Once we returned to our hostel, we decided we wanted to find a restaurant called "The First Noodle Under the Sun..." or something like that.  Jenna asked one of the men working at the hostel to give us directions.  He didn't know how to give us directions in English so he decided to take his break and lead us there.  Turns out, he didn't know where he was going and he took us to some other restaurant that we didn't want to eat at.  Still, he was a very sweet man, and we thanked him for his efforts.  We decided to get some more food at Muslim Quarter.

This is the best: French fries and popcorn on top of fresh juice

The next day the girls went to the Wild Goose Pagoda while Soren and I explored the streets of Xi'an and visited the Bell tower and the Drum tower.  Super cool and super fun.  After that, we found a 9 story shopping mall with an arcade on the top floor (I rocked DDR).  Next to the arcade was a ghetto haunted house.  I might have considered going in, except a girl came out sobbing.  Haunted houses...not my thing. We also ate at an incredibly crowded McDonald's.  I had to circle tables like a vulture in order to snag a seat.  Turns out, I'd make a pretty good vulture, because I found us a seat in less than 10 minutes.  In the afternoon, we all got together again and went to the Great Mosque of Xi'an.  It was a beautiful area, but I was so confused because I noticed that some of the people were praying to the west...then Soren reminded me...we're in China: Mecca is now to the west.  COOL!

I will thank you  (sign at the Bell Tower)

A view of the Bell Tower from the Drum Tower

At the Great Mosque

Two Dragons at the Mosque

And that was about it for Xi'an.  It's a beautiful city...one of my favorite places.  We bought tons of souvenirs, rode rickshaws, ate strange foods, and explored the history of China.  With our backs to Xi'an we began our journey to Chengdu. But that's another story....