-Xi'an-
From Chengdu, we took a
train to Xi’an, one of the four oldest cities in the world. Kassy and I tried
to cut a few corners fiscally and phiscally paid for it. Instead of paying the
extra 14 dollars to get a sleeper, we spent the 15 hour overnight trip sitting
in 90 degree angle hard seats. Now the first 4 hours were really fun, not too
many meiguoren (Americans) elect to travel in the cheap seats so all the
laobaixing (average Joes) in car 9 were pretty flabbergasted by our presence. I
spoke all the Chinese I could to the crowd gathered around us which provided a
minute of entertainment. Then someone started asking if anyone on the train
spoke any English (this was down in the manner of someone asking if there's a
doctor on the plane because a mother is about to give birth.) I happily
answered questions for a couple of hours then less happily answered sporadic
questions for another hour. Luckily, we had a deck of cards and a basic
understanding of a popular three person game called fight the land lord. People
were shocked that we knew how to play, and the excitement of playing it with
Americans was enough to substitute for the fact we weren't gambling on it. At
around 4 a.m., long after the cards had been put away I realized that the only
part of me that was going to fall asleep were my legs.
We arrived red eyed into the
ancient town at around Ohhh 11 hundred. After taking a much needed nap we
decided to go check out a water fountain show, supposedly the longest one in China.
Now, like I said, I am not the best with maps. I did a pretty decent job of
navigating us there, however I failed to check the scale. I apparently had the Google
map of Xi'an when it's zoomed all the way out. After a tiring hour and a half
walk, we arrived 5 minutes before the show started. The fountains went on
forever, and were really beautiful for the first 10 minutes until people
started walking through the center aisles where the water didn't land. Xi'an is
an awesome city with two major downsides. One is that it is miserably cold in
the winter time and two is that it is impossible to get a taxi. We walked the
whole way back shivering with our thumbs out and made it back around 11:40,
just 20 minutes before the solar New Year. We walked down Xi'an's bar street
where we were greeted a hundred times over with “Happy New Year, come celebrate
with us!” China really wants to get in on the New Year’s Day celebration, but hasn’t
quite got the customs figured out. Everyone knew it was a day that was to be
celebrated and all the bars were plastered with New Year decorations but as the
clock rolled from 11:59 to 12:00 there was no countdown, no happy new year
shouting, no balloons, in fact nobody noticed. The karaoke singer just
continued his song as Dusty, Kassy, and I cheersed in the New Year by ourselves.
Later that night, to rein in the New Year, we lit Chinese sky lanterns in the
street.
The next day was beautifully
warm so we decided to rent bicycles and ride along the wall that surrounds the
heart of Xi'an. Kassy and I got a tandem, and I did some social loathing. The
wall is about thirty feet high and allows you to look down into the city. Kassy
did a nifty job circumventing the pot holes, but after two hours of riding on
the uneven bricks I had to ride the last quarter standing to alleviate the pain
in my butt. That night we had a dinner consisting of 26 different types of
dumplings and saw a magnificent Tang Dynasty show. The dumplings were more quantity
than quality and nothing to write a blog about but the show left a real lasting
impression.
On our third day we went to
see the terra-cotta warriors, which share the same title as Andre the Giant as
being one of the eighth wonders of the world. The warriors were pretty amazing,
and I am currently growing out my mustache and my hair to replicate their
style. The most memorable part of the tour was our energetic guide, Jaja. A
very nice woman that had a severe phobia of losing one of us. To get into the
exhibit one had to present a photo ID, instead of allowing me to use my
passport she ran away five minutes to get me someone else’s driver's license
from France. 
The best part of Xi'an is
the Muslim Quarter. An endless haven for hagglers. Here's how it works. You
look at something you want or don't want, sweatshirt, beats headphones, Rosetta
stones, backpacker's back packs, anything. Then the store keeper runs over and tells you a price, you laugh and say you
will pay almost nothing, the keeper offers you the price cut in half, you say
your same price, they say absolutely not you must be joking. Then you walk away
and after 10 steps they say okay okay okay to whatever price you said. Lots of
the store keepers like to throw a pair of boxers in with the deal (like Pikey's
giving you a dog when you buy a caravan.)
I'm no Nana Scullin when it comes to shopping; I find it about as
appealing as signing Christmas cards. However, I got a big kick out of the two
times we went as well as some awesome merchandise. One particular steal, a $25
dollar giant North Face backpacking bag, proved to be a blessing as well as a
curse in my later travels. The market also had a wonderful aroma created from
the hundreds of different food carts (some of which had three foot open flames
shooting out the sides of them). We sampled from a variety of them and were
blown away by the flavors.
We returned by train to Chongqing, this time in sleeper cars, with three
days to get ready for our next ad venture.
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