Xian

After my cousin’s visit, I headed to China for the rest of my spring holiday. After a short flight, I met up with my friend, Aiko, in Beijing. Aiko lives here in Japan and is in the JET Program. Coincidentally, she is also from California, went to UCSD, is a teacher, and is half Japanese. Small world huh?
We met up at the train station to catch an overnight train to Xian. We had a few obstacles in buying the train tickets, so the only seats left we the “hard seats” for the 12 hour journey. I guess the seats wouldn’t have been so bad if they reclined, weren’t facing a stupid girl who put her luggage at our feet blocking any leg room, people weren’t hitting their tables during a rowdy card game, playing music, watching movies on their computer, and generally shouting. But we survived with a few hours sleep. And I can’t even explain how disgusting the train station bathrooms were because the stench eminating from them hit me as we walked nearby, and my bladder went into hibernation for the following 20 hours. Horray for teacher bladders!
The hostel we stayed in was absolutely beautiful, and after cleaning up a bit, and using the bathroom (yay!), we headed into the city. The hostel is in an excellent location, next to the South Wall. It is a short walk to the Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Muslim Street, and lots of shopping. First, we went to the Bell Tower. It is beautiful structure in the center of the inner wall. We had good timing and watched a bell performance. The group played a variety of instruments which sounded absolutely beautiful, and a girl danced wearing a dress with super long sleeves that she would throw into the air, twirl and catch. It was a very nice performance.
Then we walked past the Drum Tower on our way to Muslim Street. Now, Muslim street was probably my favorite part of the city. There is a side street with souvenirs that you bargain for, small shops, and the best street food! There are various carts and small restaurants that line the streets and alleys with food. Some were a little sketchy, like the ones with roasted duck beaks, but many had a variety of baked, grilled, and fried breads that were out of this world! I wish I taken a picture of my favorites, but they were so hot and tasty that they immediately disappeared into my tummy. I also had some great peanut and sesame candies and cookies.
We also went to see the mosque in the same area. It is tucked away right in the middle of the bustling city, and has very beautiful and peaceful grounds to explore. I noticed the flowering trees were so different in China and amazingly beautiful.
We finished off our day by trying to walk to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, but it after an hour, we decided it was too far, and the water show we wanted to see had already started, so we headed back. We stopped at a great little restaurant that, like almost all the ones we ate at, had neither English menus nor any English speaking staff. But this place had a few pictures on the walls, so we pointed at those, which worked well. So we had another wonderful meal that I wish I could eat again right now!
We noticed that many people immediately shut down when we tried to speak to them. They would put their hand up, and wave us away, or simply turn around. A few were a bit rude about it, like the idiot guy in the bus, but overall they just seemed shy. As in Japan, the young girls are usually the most willing to play “food” charades with us and put up with our inability to communicate in their native language.
To top off day one, we got a wonderful in-room foot massage to prepare us for our hike the next day to Hua Mountain. I was lucky and got the more gentle of the two masseuses. I felt pretty relaxed, while Aiko’s kept asking questions and almost ripped her legs off. As we started to relax, he would say random things like, “Do you know Amway?” What? Why are you asking this during the massage?! Anyways, it was good, and necessary after our horrendous train trip and long day of sightseeing.