Merry and Debra in Xian

Last weekend I went to visit Debra in Xian. This plan, to visit her, started when she called me asking for some books. It turned out that she also had some books to return to me with the intent that I would, eventually, give them to Zeneta. I also wanted to get some more movies for my class. Merry was visiting as I discussed the details of this visit with Debra and I invited Merry to come along, an offer that she agreed to.

This left me, on Tuesday, trying to get two tickets on a train that worked with both my schedule and hers. This was harder than I thought. I normally get tickets on, what I will call, vacation schedule. Vacation schedule means that I am not overly concerned with when I leave or arrive; however, this schedule had to match class schedules.

As should be expected, nothing went smoothly. It turned out that there were not two sleeper tickets available on any of the three trains that I had listed. Further, I was not going to go twelve hours, to Xian, in a hard seat. It just was not going to happen. I ended up calling Gao (that's right, gentle reader, another YL, they are all YLs', it's a teaching college) and getting tickets on an earlier train.

The rest of the week really had little to write about except for the process of making reservations at the Hostel and insuring that there would be no problem with Merry staying there (more on this by private email). On Friday afternoon I began packing to leave for Xian. About four Merry arrived (I did notice that she was using the Gucci purse I got her. I am glad she likes it.). At that point we took off for the train station. Normally when I head to the train station I stop at the market and get some munchies to nibble in route; however, she gave the cab driver instructions to take us straight to the station and that was the end of that plan.

Once we were at the station we had a slight disagreement about where we were to wait. She was convinced that we needed to wait in the common waiting area. I was not interested in that idea and finally steered her to the lounge that I normally use (she has been to that lounge with me many times; I do not see why this must always be a point of confusion).

While I was waiting for the train she ran off and got some food, arriving just before we needed to head for the platform (yes, I was mumbling, "where is that girl," the whole time as the departure came ever closer) We located our bunks and ate the dinner that she had purchased. I now know that I do not like Chinese Goose eggs, they are way too salty. The other stuff was pretty good.

As is usual for these trips, I read a while and then entered a restless slumber for the remainder of the trip. We awoke a little out of Xian and, after breakfast, prepared to depart.

It was here, when we arrived in Xian that I did the first thing that was, clearly, not Chinese and this began her exposure to traveling with westerners. The absolute first step was purchasing the return ticket. The reason was obvious. In order to insure that I had a ticket I wanted to get it as soon as possible. I also wanted to know what time I needed to be at the train station. That would leave me a lot freer on Saturday.

Merry commented that my reasons made sense. However, she, and most Chinese, would have just waited until Saturday and then gone to the station and made the effort to get the ticket then. As it was, two days in advance, we didn't get the tickets we really wanted. I can not (well, really I can, they would have been standing tickets) imagine what it would have been like trying to get the tickets on Sunday evening.

We then walked to the bus landing and, after waiting a while due to it still being early, got a bus to the Bell Tower. I will say that the moment I walked up to where the hostel had been was a shocking moment. It wasn't there. Where the entrance had been was a closed Nokia (mobile phone) shop. Then, as I was turning, doing the "WTF will I do now" scan, I notices a sign with directions to the new door for the Bell Tower Hostel. It seems that the hotel that they had been over went out of business and they had to move the entrance. That also meant that they no longer had a lift, such is life.

We stumbled up the stairs and found Debra, still sleeping, in her room. After we put our bags down Merry discovered that this place had 24-hour hot showers and she was gone. I then went and waited for them in the restaurant on the second floor and chatted with a gentleman from VA. When Debra arrived, and discovered that he was from VA, she began asking him a number of questions about the area near Hollins.

It is interesting, with out having been to Xian so many times and living in the country, at the hostels people are beginning to question us as if we were experts on living in China. We come to hostels, in part, to hang out with westerners; they come in order to see China, but at a manageable level. We did get a normal western breakfast.

We then went walking. We first went to a small temple. It turned out that the temple grounds were under reconstruction. The temple itself was intact. When we visit the temples, we go in, look, if it is safe we will even snap a picture, and then we leave. It was clear that Merry felt that it was incumbent to pray at these temples. It was a reminder that the places that we visit as curiosities are indeed holy places to the others in them.

We then went and did some shopping for relatives and I went and looked at a bicycle. I have mentioned looking for a touring bicycle recently. The most common high end brand in China is Giant, this would be considered mid line in the west. Very simply, I did not like the offer that was made, so I left. I did consider it helpful to find the Giant dealer because of the warranty program in China. It is a simple warranty, take it to any Giant dealer and it will be fixed. No time limit on the warranty and at no cost. The reasons are simple and there are two of them. They are selling a premium product at a very premium price and need to offer something. The second reason reflects on the first. They do not want people, potential customers, seeing Giant bicycles in poor repair. They want a potential customer, when they see any Giant bicycle, anywhere and at any time, to see a good bike that is in good working order. It is smart business and it seems to be working for them (oh, and of the four Giant dealers I have visited so far, only one of them did not have a English speaking employee, even if the one in Xinyang had to send for him).

From there we went looking for a dress (a 2000RMB Dress!!!) that Debra wanted to get; however we did not find it. My suggestion was to go into any ole dress shop and have Merry describe what Debra was looking for; but this wasn't what Debra wanted to do and we finally gave up on finding the dress. We then went and visited a small Mosque and went to the Foreign Language Book Store. After lunch it was Merry's nap time and Debra went and got some more gifts, these were for Ken and Scott (and they cost more than I expected them to, it is clearly tourist season). While she continued to nap, Debra and I went to the post office and shipped some things, including the gifts, back to the states (They are going surface freight; so, with good karma, expect to see them at some point in your next life).

Merry had a couple of interesting experiences. One was simply doing the math on the Hostel. She sat and listened to a staff meeting of the Hostel employees while she was, ostensibly, napping in the lounge and discovered that this was one of the highest rated Hostels in the country. She also went and talked to the front desk people and got a good idea as to the profitably and operation practices. It will be interesting to see if the gears turn, and mesh, in a way that benefits her.

She treated with great amusement one incident. She was asked what county she was from. While it was an amusing moment, it also shows how the Hostels tend to not cater to nationals.

She commented to me at she had never seen as many westerners at any place in her life. We were walking in a subway and came around a corner in a subway and walked into a western group and I thought nothing of it until I looked at her, there was an expression of being entirely overwhelmed on her face.

There was One thing she, specifically, wanted to do. She wanted to go to the Foreign Language Institute in Xian. This is a very highly rated college for learning English. In simple terms, it has a much better reputation that the college I am at has. I had Debra go with her; as I felt that it would be more fun for the two girls, who are of similar age, to do something together. It turned out that, after arriving, Merry talked to the administrators and the decision was made to have another student show her around the school. The student that was showing her the school was in the same grade.

Both students were sophomores, or second year, university students studying English. The part that was funny was when Debra was noticed. Merry was able to talk to her, in English; however, the student of this famous university was entirely unable to. This student then admitted that she could read and write English; but, could not speak, or understand, the language. I think the incident left Merry feeling better about the quality of the instruction that she is getting at this school.

The next day, after Debra left for Ankang, we went to the Drum and Bell towers. I have been to them before but Merry has not. I think she enjoyed them both. I think the thing she will remember (other then me telling her not to touch the museum artifacts) was the German couple we met. Very simply, she has seen very few blacks and this was the first black that she had spoken to. The biggest trouble was that we both ran out of words fast. My German is limited to H.S. German, which helps, and his English was also limited. He asked us if we spoke French; however, my French is worse than my German. So, it was a short conversation. It did help that his wife spoke English. As I have said before, if as an American, you really want to travel you have one good thing going for you, you already speak English, now learn French.

We then went to the open air fruit market and got some dried fruit (I left mine in her bag and never got it). We then went to Mc Donald's, she didn't like it, which is fine, I just wanted her to try it. I definitely did not like the steak I had eaten at The Hong Kong Restaurant the previous night. I realized what was wrong; it had been fried in oil. Everything in China is cooked in oil; it should come as no surprise that they cooked the steak in oil.

We then had to leave for the train station. Once there she located the correct VIP lounge and was happy to have an opportunity to spend more time talking to westerners. By being with me I think westerners are more willing to talk to her because there is the assumption that she had already been vetted and that there is no scam underway.

The car back was very crowded, as the ticket process indicated to me that it would be, and she was not in the same compartment. So, we did not talk much on the way back. We arrived a bit late for her first class and I hurried to prepare for my class.