SATURDAY
Since we were getting off before 6 AM, the lights turned on
a little after 4 AM. Not cool! I didn’t approve. I had more than enough time to
organize everything of ours and have it ready to go. We mostly just sat around,
and waited.
Finally, we were off the train and into Xi’an!
Xi’an was just as awesome as Chengdu, if not even better!
Throughout the town, there are many more Chinese archetype buildings, overall
more culture within the city limits. I really enjoyed it and it felt a lot more
like the China that people love to come to!
It was still dark as we walked out of the station and to the
side towards the buses. Still too early for some lines, but we weren’t the
first by any means. Abby knew what bus we needed, so there we got in the line
for that. Then Katie and I ended up watching Abby and Greg’s things so they
could go find breakfast.
After a few minutes, however, it was apparent they were
looking for street vendors. They returned just in time- without finding food-
to join us on the bus. None of us ended up eating on the long bus ride. At
least we got seats though, or that would have really sucked.
It was getting bright then, and it was fun to watch the city
come to life. At least for a few minutes- we ended up dozing for most of it.
However, the final stop was our destination! We piled off, and found more
touristy stuff- along with a lot of sellers with animal pelts? Anyways, we
found the line, gave Greg the money, and then us ladies started looking for
food.
Eventually we found a small stall serving crispy pancake
things. It was so interesting to watch! Croissant like dough filled with
chives, onions, a dab of meat, and some seasoning. The guy would pile them on
the corner of one, and roll that into a dough, and keep stretching the dough-
his hands moved so fast- before bringing it altogether and smooshing it down.
Then it went into the fryer.
We got hot ones for 7 RMB each. Yup, everything a little
pricey here.
Still, we needed food in our stomachs. As we ate, we
wandered around for a few snacks but Abby didn’t find anything she wanted, so
we ended up getting another thing for Greg and wandered by a few shops before
returning to Greg.
He got the tickets and we were in!
This was definitely one of the reasons I had come to China.
After my archaeology course, I just had to see the terra cotta soldiers! The price
was about 90 RMB but compared to American prices for museums like this [okay
half of them are free, but still], it wasn’t too terrible. Like fifteen
dollars? For me, definitely worth it. The place was very nice and very clean as
well.
We wandered through some museums, and started finding some
of the Pits. There’s three of them, with the museum built around where they
were dug up. Katie and I got separated from Abby and Greg though, because there
was SUCH a crowd. It was worse than Disney, I think. And they don’t mind at all
being pushy.
Still, we got to see the pits! 2 and 3 are with the ones in
crumbles, but it was still super cool. And to the side they had a few main
pieces and reconstructed bits of the terra cotta archers and chariot drivers.
They showed what colors they used to painted- very vibrant- and bits about the
history.
So awesome!
We tried to find another way in for the 1st pit,
but no such luck. Luckily the line wasn’t too bad going in. Although once
inside, it was nearly impossible. We had to push and shove and then take turns
to take pictures of the main pit.
This was so incredible, amazing, legendary, and beautiful.
To see this history basically come to life for me, to be so close to those
soldiers- they’re all different and lifesize and awesome- was such a great
experience, I definitely thought it was worth it.
We walked along the side, snatching a few more pictures.
Super tricky finding space- though we found some foreigners hogging some up,
which was pretty lame. Haha. But it was super cool- they had more on display at
the end of the building so we checked those out, and saw an American tour group
of older adults- we heard English!
Got out of there, and by then we were done. We were in about
8, and there until about 10. We sat down with Abby for a few minutes, and a
Chinese kid came over with a survey. Abby got to practice her Chinese
characters for that- she’s getting good! And at the end, the girl gave us each
a sticker! It was awesome, we loved it.
We wandered around some tourist shops- Abby bought some
soldier bits for her nephews, and then I bought some overpriced super CUTE
booties. But the prices really weren’t too terrible and I actually kind of
which I had bought a few things whilst there. Not that we really had the extra
money or space, haha.
There’s also a Subway somewhere over there. Overpriced from
America though- about 5 dollars for the 6 inches and such. We didn’t do that.
We took the free tourist bus over to the Emperor’s grave mountain thing. It was
only like a 10 minute ride- everyone pushes for that, even though the bus comes
through every 4 minutes, sheesh.
It was pretty awesome, how the Emperor had built the
mountain to be buried in/on, and we wandered there a bit but Greg and Abby were
getting tired, and Katie and I took
turns carrying the suitcase over the dirt paths they were taking us on, so we
were a bit tired as well.
About then we were done and getting hungry again. So we went
back to the main museum and took the bus back into town and stopped a street
from the Muslim Quarter. We never ended up going inside any of the buildings-
didn’t want to pay for them- but we did take pictures of the cool Bell Tower in
the middle of the street’s roundabout.
So we walked down the very crowded few streets of the Muslim
Quarter- quite Chinese as well, and super cool. Then we took turns wandering
around for food. Abby and Greg disappeared first and Katie was starving, so
after a few minutes she stepped away as well. Our first Muslim treat was
something like cornmeal on a stick. It wasn’t too bad, but kind of flavorless.
Abby and Greg returned, and so Katie and I stole away for a few minutes. We
grabbed a round bit of bread which turned out to be thick and tasteless, spicy
weird potato balls and then Katie’s favorite, a fried-like banana on a stick!
Super funky. It was all bit pricey there. Katie got homemade ice cream after
that, and all of that food amounted to about 30 or so RMB. We didn’t finish
everything, though.
Lots of shopping, though. They had a few super fun shops
where I definitely could have spent my money and I wish I had brought more to
spare! But we ended up getting scarves [pretty], gifts from Nicole and Magi,
and such. Abby went through all the art shops to get paintings and such. We
went through the jewelry together as well, which was super cool but most
overpriced.
It was so crowded the whole time, very tricky. I thought
about trying some of their drinks- pomegranate juice, kiwi juice- but I didn’t,
they were a bit pricey as well. We tried another aisle down and definitely got
caught up with these two eager ladies.
They were wrapping the happiness balls before we ever agreed
on a price, which was frustrating. Way too eager. They wanted at least 300 for
the medium ones, 100 each for the little ones. They were heavy and made of some
kind of stone, but not the usual jade. Abby tried using some Chinese which sort
of helped, but Katie kept bargaining all the same and finally we got the two
big ones for 75 each, like we both wanted, and Abby got caught up buying the
two little ones for 90 together. Not too bad, though.
I made the mistake of going to their next table and seeing
something else that was awesome. I can’t mention it because it’s a gift for
someone… haha. But the lady was so eager! We fought her down for a pretty fair
price, though. Then Katie went next door to get a similar one- for 10 less than
mine, since mine looked a little cooler.
But hey, we both got two things each which we’d been looking
for! The ladies were hard bargainers and it brings up the main point why I
almost don’t want to be American here- they think they can cheat us out. Not
happening! Still, the prices were decently fair at the end, and we were excited
for all of our things! And that was about the last of our money by then, haha.
We got a little lost there, being so crowded and all.
Eventually we made it back by the bell tower, though. Unfortunately the metro
doesn’t go straight to the train station, so Abby wanted to catch a taxi. But
again, everything was so crowded and they didn’t want to wait with a crowd.
Greg kind of confused us and he kept dragging us through the
middle of the streets, where they have a little walking path but I don’t think
we’re really supposed to be walking there. It was ridiculous, trying to catch a taxi.
After all that walking, we didn’t get a taxi. We were all a bit frustrated, so we boarded the crowded metro to at least
get closer to the station. Our train took off at 6 so we wanted to be there by
5 and it was getting close. We hopped through the
metro just fine, and then we were only two blocks from the station! Not bad at all.
Except they still wanted to catch a taxi. Katie and I just
shrugged, we were fine with whatever. Instead we ended up taking the little
motor carts, two because we couldn’t fit all four of us plus our luggage inside
of just one. It was 40 RMB between all of us, which isn’t too terrible a price,
but then when you think we could have just walked another ten minutes…
Still, it was kinda cool. Our driver raced their driver and
we totally won!
We got to the station [at five, so no need to worry], and
bought a few snacks. Greg had wandered off and by then Katie was a little
anxious to get inside, so we left Abby with their things and got inside the station.
We bought some cuties, an expensive water [at that station, go to the grocery
store just outside or if inside, go upstairs and to the shop inside, not the
stalls in the middle because it’s WAY overpriced! We learned the hard way]. I
watched a man let his little boy pee into a trash can [well, almost into
there], as Katie bought us ice cream.
Then we realized our train was probably leaving on the
bottom floor not the top, so we hurried down. Abby and Greg had already gone
in, and we met up with them eventually. Luckily Katie realized that mistake or
after a few more minutes, we may have easily missed the train! That would have
been kinda awkward…
So we got on, I had the top once again- same situation for
everyone. Katie was across on the middle bunk, Greg was below me and Abby on
the one below him. We sorted out our snacks and tried to ration them out for
the next 23 hours. Kind of worked but we got hungry and dived early into one of
our noodle bowls.
We hung out for a little bit, mostly read, and then I took
two sleeping pills while Katie took one, and we finally got to bed for the
evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment