3-13-09

 

Xi’an (She Anne)made a nice first impression. It looked more modern, open, and a there didn’t seem to be a high “bug eye” factor on the streets when we walked by. The hostel picked us up, there was a long wait for the van, and after a drive with a flat screen documentary on the Terracotta soldiers we arrived at an extremely cool hostel. Our reservations never made it, but they had a room for us and we spent the afternoon enjoying some quiet time and a glitchy wireless connection. That night we went for a free dumpling class and met a group of Brits who we shared beers with until the end of the night, promising to meet up the next morning for breakfast and Terracotta Soldiers.

 

We did meet up but they looked pretty beat up from the night before. Rachel and I went to get our McDonald coffee and breakfast. We eventually got a group of nine on a bus, across the city, and onto another bus to get us to the big site. We arrived, had an awkward moment with a hawker/tour guide, watched a 360 degree movie on the warriors and proceeded through the pits, smallest to largest (two, three, one). It was a fun day that took a lot more energy than we expected.

 

Almost everyone fell asleep on the bus back. Rachel and I split with the group, bought train tickets (always a hassle with the language problems) and then got a second wind. Our hunger overpowered our fatigue so we made it over the Muslim Quarter of the city for some of the food.

 

The main street was busy and we found a kebab restaurant to sit outside at. I was having a great time eating an excellent noodle soup, kebabs that were being made right next to us, and watching people walk by. A German couple walked up and asked us how the billing system with the kebab sticks worked and we invited them to sit with us. We had barely finished introductions when a Dutch traveler asked if he could join us too - “Sure.” We had a fun time eating lamb, beef, soup, and chicken wings. It’s too bad that the meal ended in a lot of confusion and commotion with the staff when we found out that two tiny chicken wings (which we’d eaten plenty of) cost the same as a large bowl of soup. A lot of customers got involved, nobody speaks English, everybody was frustrated, the chicken wings weren’t on the menu, staff inside and out were giving conflicting answers to our questions about the cost of those particular kebab sticks (different items get different ones), we eventually just paid our share and ended up leaving the fiasco with the Dutch guy while the Germans were still scribbling up receipts trying to figure out what was going on.

 

Lesson Learned: Don’t assume something will cost near the same as it did in another city. Always be crystal clear about what you’re buying before you buy it.

 

Sebastian, the Dutch guy, walked with us to a supermarket and said he was going to switch hostels after seeing ours.

 

3-14-09

 

A day of relaxation. Rachel and I went back to the Muslim quarter for breakfast, different place, no problems. Then we checked out one of the biggest mosques in China, which looked just like a Chinese temple. Got some coffee, hung out at the hostel, and went down to the café for pizza (rare treat). There, we met another Dutch guy, Tony, who was the only foreigner teaching in his Chinese city and pretty much made a weekend trip to our place just to meet people. We talked about India with him and he told us that we won’t be able to visit hardly any Muslim countries in the Middle East if we visit Israel first.

We went back to our room and then Rachel dragged me down to the bar where we ran into a French couple, Ben and Jessica, that we’d talked to briefly before. Turns out that Ben had already done a year long trip and had a lot of stories to tell about different places. We hung out with them, said goodbye to the Brits from the previous day and went to sleep.