I made my plan for this years May Day several months ago. As many of you know, I have been tutoring He Zhi Qing in preparation for her TEM-4 exam. Well, because I had been considering a trip to Hangzhou, a place I intended to visit last year but never did, I made an offer to He Zhi Qing. I told her that if she studied hard and did well on her examination that I would take her to Hangzhou with me and that we would spend a couple of days in Shanghai. This plan got altered when Zeneta informed me that she wanted me to go to Xian, during the week of May Day vacation, and look for some gifts.
The test came and went. It was on the same weekend that I went to Zhengzhou for the medical examination. As I have said in the past, this is a very important examination and the students are not told for several months if they have even passed it. I choose to work under the assumption that she has (remember to ask me about this when you see me).
We worked out our
train schedule using the computer and she set off to the train station in order to get our tickets. It turned out that she was only able to get the ticket to Xian and that we would have to get our return tickets in Xian. The tickets to Xian were, sort of, the tickets that I wanted. As I told her, she got two hard sleeper tickets; however, she got top bunk. As I have mentioned I the past, the trouble with the top bunk is that it is to close to the top to sit up in. And, in the heat of summer the top bunk is a lot hotter; however, the temperatures, when we left, were fine.
The trip went uneventfully other than He Zhi Qing discovering that she had forgotten her ID. The rail police accepted her student ID in its place and we had no trouble.
Upon arrival in Xian I reminded her to get our return tickets. There were no soft sleepers back to Xinyang on Sunday evening, the day I intended to return. It turned out that purchasing the soft sleeper tickets, for a few days later, would have been a good plan; but, there was no way of knowing that at the time
We then took the bus to the
Bell Tower Youth Hostel and, after waking up the desk clerk, checked in. We only checked in for one night as our plan was to stay the one night and return. This is because the vacation was Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday according to the new vacation schedule. We intended to do some shopping that morning, go to the Shaanxi Provincial Museum that afternoon, the Terra-Cotta Army on Sunday morning and then catch the train back and arrive ready for class on Monday.
To say the least, the plan did not work out smoothly. I checked into a four bed dorm and He Zhi Qung checked into an, all-female, six person room. Most of the people in the room were Chinese nationals, as was expected. Chinese women find the western practice of mixing dorm rooms to be very odd and uncomfortable. At this point the Bell Tower Youth Hostel has enough Chinese nationals as guests that they have, at least, two all-female rooms and nearly all the occupants are Chinese nationals. He Zhi Qing was happy about this because it gave her people to talk to, in Chinese. I was hoping that she would have more western roommates, giving her more opportunities to practice her English; however, she, and several of her Chinese roommates, had problems with the single non-Chinese, roommate, an Australian. I spoke to that roommate and she, the Australian roommate, agreed that the best course of action would be for her to change rooms. The Hostel staff was very willing to accommodate this change.
We then went shopping and got the jackets that Zeneta wanted (250RMB each). I also got some watches (950RMB for three). While in the Muslim Quarter, doing the shopping, we went to the Grand Mosque of Xian. After walking for a while, we sat on a bench.
Now, earlier in the day He Zhi Qing had been commenting on how all foreigners seem to look similar until you get to know them. She had found it very amusing to hear that many Westerners feel that all Chinese look alike (bear with me, this relates to the next bit). As we were sitting on the bench this man starts walking toward us and, speaking of all Chinese looking alike, this guy was a total image of the man who owns the Muslim restaurant that I often eat at in the evening. At the same time he was remarking to the man walking with him on how uncanny it was, all westerners looking alike; even here, sitting on that bench, is a Westerner who looked exactly like the Westerner who eats in his shop. As you can guess, when he got close enough to remove all doubt, we exchanged a few words and got a good laugh out of our, mutual and similar, thoughts.
After dropping those items off at the Hostel we headed for the Museum. We took the bus to the Big Goose Pagoda with the intention of walking from there. Both He Zhi Qing and I have visited the Gog Goose Pagoda in the past so we saw no reason to visit it again; however, we did stay to watch the synchronized fountain display. The claim is made that this is the largest synchronized fountain display in the world. It was big and well synchronized to the music; some of it, like the Blue Daniels Waltz, I recognized.
From there we walked to the Shaanxi Provincial Museum. Here we were met by a bit of a surprise. The museum had been made free for a couple of months so that all could enjoy it. While I think this was great, it was also a great inconvenience for me. They only allowed a fixed number of people in the museum at a time and were only allowing new people in as others left. I think you can imagine the lines.
We then returned to the walled city and walked from the bus stop to the place to get some stamps made. He Zhi Qing helped me translate the English meaning of a friends name into Chinese; which, I am sure the carver thought was a term of endearment between the two of us. We then went looking for the chopstick shop that Zeneta wanted us to visit; but, we failed to find it. We did find the fan shop. The first price given at the fan shop was 120RMB each, I laughed at her, the shopkeeper, and said, "no no no no," while shaking my head. I ended up paying 15 each, three more than the last time I was at the same shop; but, I realize that this is the tourist season. The last day I was in that shop was with Zeneta, on a miserable cold day of winter.
That was pretty much our first day in Xian. The next day, Sunday, we went to the Terra-Cotta Army (about 100RMB for me and 45 for her with her student card). I wanted to go in the morning and beat the crowds. However He Zhi Qing, being Chinese, likes crowds and feels lost without them. So, she dawdled until late in the morning. We then spent almost the entire day there at the Mausoleum of Qing (the correct name): in the three dig pits, the museum, and at the other displays.
The trouble was that our train was to leave at 16:33, our bags were still at the Hostel, and the bus didn't arrive in Xian until 16:00. There was, simply, no time to get our bags and return to the train station in time to catch our train. So, we returned our tickets and got two now tickets. Because of the May Day vacation the tickets were getting harder to get and the new plan was for us to travel, together, in soft seats to Zhengzhou and then I would catch the D train to Xinyang.
The flaw in the plans, at this point, was that she, having never traveled in any of the "soft" class, had no idea what soft seats were. She got hard seats and when I pointed this out to her, she was quite insistent that they were soft seats, they had padding. She continued to insist that they were soft seat tickets until we got to the Hostel and I asked the desk clerk, "Are these hard or soft seat tickets."
Without hesitation, the clerk replied, "hard seats." He Zhi Qing's expression was one of refusal to accept the point. She remained insistent that they were soft seats because they were padded (not all of the trains have padded seats).
The next day I made a bad call, but it still worked out well. We were thinking of going to the sacred Hua Shan Mountain; however, we got to the bus station at what I considered to be a late hour to make our start. It was too late, or too early, as I will explain later. Instead we set off for the Shaanxi Provincial Museum to see the condition of the lines.
There were no lines at all. Of course the reason for this was that the museum was closed. At this point we decided to go to the Small Goose Pagoda (that's right, we are moving into the minor attractions).
A short bus ride later and we were there. The entrance was 50RMB, which seemed high at the time. I did not realize that that ticket got me entrance to two "attractions."
Of course, the first thing we did was to climb the Pagoda. This brought back, to both of us, memories of the time, in Kunming, that we raced to the top of the Iron Pagoda. This Pagoda was a much easier climb, instead of a half meter wide tunnel masquerading as a staircase there were steps and several landings. At several of the landings were instructional posters about the construction of the pagoda and different types of pagodas.
The top level required a ladder like assent to what had been another closed in level; however, the entire top of the pagoda was broken off. This provided a fantastic view of that section of Xian. It also allowed me to see that large, and new, museum was part of the Small Goose Pagoda park.
From the Small Goose Pagoda we walked to the Xian City Museum. They were having an Iranian cultural exhibit in the main floor. While a lot of it was, clearly, reproductions, it was still well worth seeing and He Zhi Qing enjoyed it a lot.
The bottom floor, or the basement, had a large exhibit on the history, and construction, of ancient Xian. The two wings held a large number of relics that had been found in the local area. The top floor featured calligraphy and jade exhibits. In all, it was well worth the visit.
From there we began walking back to the walled city. We stopped and had a pretty good lunch and I purchased a pair of shoes. The shoes I had worn to Xian were pretty much dead. The supports under the heels were broken down so my heel was lower than the front of my foot and had no padding. Very simply, my feet were hurting. Considering that we had a lot more walking planned for the next day it was a very worthwhile expenditure (the cost of the shoes was 250RMB, expensive by Chinese standards; but, they seem to be much better quality). He Zhi Ching immediately noticed that I was able to walk faster and seemed much more comfortable with the new shoes.
That evening we went for a stroll in the Muslim Quarter and purchased some dried fruit to nibble on while walking the next day. We then had dinner there, in that same area. She did not like the dinner, a sort of bran noodles; however, I thought it was pretty good. It was a bit overpriced and when she argued about it she was told that, "we always charge foreigners more."
The next morning, after breakfast (she did like the western style breakfasts at the Hostel) we headed for the bus transfer point. It cost us about 30RMB for the bus to the mountain. From there we purchased our tickets, 100RMB for me and 90RMB for her, with her student discount. The price Debra paid, when she went, was less because Debra went during the off season. The next step was to ride a bus to the tram station; or, the foot of the mountain. This bus was 20RMB each for round trip tickets.
We then bypassed the first leg of the climb, about 1,200 meters of gain by taking the cable cars at 60RMB each. It was her first time in a cable car and she was not quite sure of it. The cars were fully enclosed cars, not ski lift seats (which would have been more fun... but not for her).
From the point we got off the cable car until we reached the "good luck gate" we walked along a narrow and steep path. The path was almost entirely made up of stairs. Along most of the stairs ran a chain to grab for support.
When we reached the "good luck gate" the crowds thinned out appreciably. It seems that this gate is the major destination for most of the pilgrims. After that point the trail got flatter for a while. That does not mean that it was entirely flat, just flatter. It was about this point, when I stopped to look at a map that I began to really understand what the guide books said. The advise is to take a late bus to the mountain and climb to somewhere past "good luck gate," where you stop is a matter entirely of personal preference. However, at several places there are people renting heavy coats to bundle into for the night.
Then, in the early hours, before sunrise, get to a location with an eastern view and enjoy the sunrise. At that point, you will have a full day to get to all of the peaks and destinations. As it was, He Zhi Qing and I did not have enough time to see everything. We went to the plank trail and sat on an exposed rock surface in front of a rather awesome drop and had our lunch.
I made my plan for this years May Day several months ago. As many of you know, I have been tutoring He Zhi Qing in preparation for her TEM-4 exam. Well, because I had been considering a trip to Hanzhou, a place I intended to visit last year but never did, I made an offer to He Zhi Qing. I told her that if she studied hard and did well on her examination that I would take her to Hanzhou with me and that we would spend a couple of days in Shanghai. This plan got altered when Zeneta informed me that she wanted me to go to Xian, during the week of May Day vacation, and look for some gifts.
The test came and went. It was on the same weekend that I went to Zhengzhou for the medical examination. As I have said in the past, this is a very important examination and the students are not told for several months if they have even passed it. I choose to work under the assumption that she has (remember to ask me about this when you see me).
We worked out our train schedule using the computer http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/ and she set off to the train station in order to get our tickets. It turned out that she was only able to get the ticket to Xian and that we would have to get our return tickets in Xian. The tickets to Xian were, sort of, the tickets that I wanted. As I told her, she got two hard sleeper tickets; however, she got top bunk. As I have mentioned I the past, the trouble with the top bunk is that it is to close to the top to sit up in. And, in the heat of summer the top bunk is a lot hotter; however, the temperatures, when we left, were fine.
The trip went uneventfully other than He Zhi Qing discovering that she had forgotten her ID. The rail police accepted her student ID in its place and we had no trouble.
Upon arrival in Xian I reminded her to get our return tickets. There were no soft sleepers back to Xinyang on Sunday evening, the day I intended to return. It turned out that purchasing the soft sleeper tickets, for a few days later, would have been a good plan; but, there was no way of knowing that at the time
We then took the bus to the http://yhaxianchina.braveblog.com/ and, after waking up the desk clerk, checked in. We only checked in for one night as our plan was to stay the one night and return. This is because the vacation was Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday according to the new vacation schedule. We intended to do some shopping that morning, go to the Shaanxi Provincial Museum that afternoon, the Terra-Cotta Army on Sunday morning and then catch the train back and arrive ready for class on Monday.
To say the least, the plan did not work out smoothly. I checked into a four bed dorm and He Zhi Qung checked into an, all-female, six person room. Most of the people in the room were Chinese nationals, as was expected. Chinese women find the western practice of mixing dorm rooms to be very odd and uncomfortable. At this point the Bell Tower Youth Hostel has enough Chinese nationals as guests that they have, at least, two all-female rooms and nearly all the occupants are Chinese nationals. He Zhi Qing was happy about this because it gave her people to talk to, in Chinese. I was hoping that she would have more western roommates, giving her more opportunities to practice her English; however, she, and several of her Chinese roommates, had problems with the single non-Chinese, roommate, an Australian. I spoke to that roommate and she, the Australian roommate, agreed that the best course of action would be for her to change rooms. The Hostel staff was very willing to accommodate this change.
We then went shopping and got the jackets that Zeneta wanted (250RMB each). I also got some watches (950RMB for three). While in the Muslim Quarter, doing the shopping, we went to the Grand Mosque of Xian. After walking for a while, we sat on a bench.
Now, earlier in the day He Zhi Qing had been commenting on how all foreigners seem to look similar until you get to know them. She had found it very amusing to hear that many Westerners feel that all Chinese look alike (bear with me, this relates to the next bit). As we were sitting on the bench this man starts walking toward us and, speaking of all Chinese looking alike, this guy was a total image of the man who owns the Muslim restaurant that I often eat at in the evening. At the same time he was remarking to the man walking with him on how uncanny it was, all westerners looking alike; even here, sitting on that bench, is a Westerner who looked exactly like the Westerner who eats in his shop. As you can guess, when he got close enough to remove all doubt, we exchanged a few words and got a good laugh out of our, mutual and similar, thoughts.
After dropping those items off at the Hostel we headed for the Museum. We took the bus to the Big Goose Pagoda with the intention of walking from there. Both He Zhi Qing and I have visited the Gog Goose Pagoda in the past so we saw no reason to visit it again; however, we did stay to watch the synchronized fountain display. The claim is made that this is the largest synchronized fountain display in the world. It was big and well synchronized to the music; some of it, like the Blue Daniels Waltz, I recognized.
From there we walked to the Shaanxi Provincial Museum. Here we were met by a bit of a surprise. The museum had been made free for a couple of months so that all could enjoy it. While I think this was great, it was also a great inconvenience for me. They only allowed a fixed number of people in the museum at a time and were only allowing new people in as others left. I think you can imagine the lines.
We then returned to the walled city and walked from the bus stop to the place to get some stamps made. He Zhi Qing helped me translate the English meaning of a friends name into Chinese; which, I am sure the carver thought was a term of endearment between the two of us. We then went looking for the chopstick shop that Zeneta wanted us to visit; but, we failed to find it. We did find the fan shop. The first price given at the fan shop was 120RMB each, I laughed at her, the shopkeeper, and said, "no no no no," while shaking my head. I ended up paying 15 each, three more than the last time I was at the same shop; but, I realize that this is the tourist season. The last day I was in that shop was with Zeneta, on a miserable cold day of winter.
That was pretty much our first day in Xian. The next day, Sunday, we went to the Terra-Cotta Army (about 100RMB for me and 45 for her with her student card). I wanted to go in the morning and beat the crowds. However He Zhi Qing, being Chinese, likes crowds and feels lost without them. So, she dawdled until late in the morning. We then spent almost the entire day there at the Mausoleum of Qing (the correct name): in the three dig pits, the museum, and at the other displays.
The trouble was that our train was to leave at 16:33, our bags were still at the Hostel, and the bus didn't arrive in Xian until 16:00. There was, simply, no time to get our bags and return to the train station in time to catch our train. So, we returned our tickets and got two now tickets. Because of the May Day vacation the tickets were getting harder to get and the new plan was for us to travel, together, in soft seats to Zhengzhou and then I would catch the D train to Xinyang.
The flaw in the plans, at this point, was that she, having never traveled in any of the "soft" class, had no idea what soft seats were. She got hard seats and when I pointed this out to her, she was quite insistent that they were soft seats, they had padding. She continued to insist that they were soft seat tickets until we got to the Hostel and I asked the desk clerk, "Are these hard or soft seat tickets."
Without hesitation, the clerk replied, "hard seats." He Zhi Qing's expression was one of refusal to accept the point. She remained insistent that they were soft seats because they were padded (not all of the trains have padded seats).
The next day I made a bad call, but it still worked out well. We were thinking of going to the sacred Hua Shan Mountain; however, we got to the bus station at what I considered to be a late hour to make our start. It was too late, or too early, as I will explain later. Instead we set off for the Shaanxi Provincial Museum to see the condition of the lines.
There were no lines at all. Of course the reason for this was that the museum was closed. At this point we decided to go to the Small Goose Pagoda (that's right, we are moving into the minor attractions).
A short bus ride later and we were there. The entrance was 50RMB, which seemed high at the time. I did not realize that that ticket got me entrance to two "attractions."
Of course, the first thing we did was to climb the Pagoda. This brought back, to both of us, memories of the time, in Kunming, that we raced to the top of the Iron Pagoda. This Pagoda was a much easier climb, instead of a half meter wide tunnel masquerading as a staircase there were steps and several landings. At several of the landings were instructional posters about the construction of the pagoda and different types of pagodas.
The top level required a ladder like assend to what had been another closed in level; however, the entire top of the pagoda was broken off. This provided a fantastic view of that section of Xian. It also allowed me to see that large, and new, museum was part of the Small Goose Pagoda park.
From the Small Goose Pagoda we walked to the Xian City Museum. They were having an Iranian cultural exhibit in the main floor. While a lot of it was, clearly, reproductions, it was still well worth seeing and He Zhi Qing enjoyed it a lot.
The bottom floor, or the basement, had a large exhibit on the history, and construction, of ancient Xian. The two wings held a large number of relics that had been found in the local area. The top floor featured calligraphy and jade exhibits. In all, it was well worth the visit.
From there we began walking back to the walled city. We stopped and had a pretty good lunch and I purchased a pair of shoes. The shoes I had worn to Xian were pretty much dead. The supports under the heels were broken down so my heel was lower than the front of my foot and had no padding. Very simply, my feet were hurting. Considering that we had a lot more walking planned for the next day it was a very worthwhile expenditure (the cost of the shoes was 250RMB, expensive by Chinese standards; but, they seem to be much better quality). He Zhi Ching immediately noticed that I was able to walk faster and seemed much more comfortable with the new shoes.
That evening we went for a stroll in the Muslim Quarter and purchased some dried fruit to nibble on while walking the next day. We then had dinner there, in that same area. She did not like the dinner, a sort of bran noodles; however, I thought it was pretty good. It was a bit overpriced and when she argued about it she was told that, "we always charge foreigners more."
The next morning, after breakfast (she did like the western style breakfasts at the Hostel) we headed for the bus transfer point. It cost us about 30RMB for the bus to the mountain. From there we purchased our tickets, 100RMB for me and 90RMB for her, with her student discount. The price Debra paid, when she went, was less because Debra went during the off season. The next step was to ride a bus to the tram station; or, the foot of the mountain. This bus was 20RMB each for round trip tickets.
We then bypassed the first leg of the climb, about 1,200 meters of gain by taking the cable cars at 60RMB each. It was her first time in a cable car and she was not quite sure of it. The cars were fully enclosed cars, not ski lift seats (which would have been more fun... but not for her).
From the point we got off the cable car until we reached the "good luck gate" we walked along a narrow and steep path. The path was almost entirely made up of stairs. Along most of the stairs ran a chain to grab for support.
When we reached the "good luck gate" the crowds thinned out appreciably. It seems that this gate is the major destination for most of the pilgrims. After that point the trail got flatter for a while. That does not mean that it was entirely flat, just flatter. It was about this point, when I stopped to look at a map that I began to really understand what the guide books said. The advise is to take a late bus to the mountain and climb to somewhere past "good luck gate," where you stop is a matter entirely of personal preference. However, at several places there are people renting heavy coats to bundle into for the night.
Then, in the early hours, before sunrise, get to a location with an eastern view and enjoy the sunrise. At that point, you will have a full day to get to all of the peaks and destinations. As it was, He Zhi Qing and I did not have enough time to see everything. We went to the plank trail and sat on an exposed rock surface in front of a rather awesome drop and had our lunch.
From there we went to one of the mountain peaks (there are four of them). And realized that we, unfortunately, needed to head back. The plan was to walk down the trail that the cable car had taken us past in the morning; however, by that time, neither of us were up to that descent. In returning to the cable car platform we did take a lot of the paths that we had missed in the morning.
We then took the cable car (60RMB each) and the bus (30RMB each) back to Xian. I returned to the lounge to read, and write about my trip to Zhengzhou. He Zhi Qing went out with her Chinese roommates. In general, as we were had tickets on an 8:30 train, we prepared to return the next morning.
I felt that we cut the time very close on the train in the morning. He Zhi Qing was very comfortable with when we arrived. We arrived at the station when the train was loading. The result was that we ran from the security check until we were on the train. As I have mentioned about luggage in China, whatever you bring, make sure you can run with it.
The car was quite crowded. I had to get people out of my seat. All of the seats were in use and the car was full of standing passengers. As for me, I kept nodding off, something that does not work well when traveling in a hard seat. He Zhi Qing then spoke to the conductor and upgraded my ticket.
They do not schedule the seats well on the trans, other than the D train, which uses a modern ticketing system. The result is that a compartment may be used by a person traveling for only a couple of hours and then vacated; however, it is shown as used for the entire two days that the train runs. It turned out that a person was getting off in an hour so once that person got off I moved to their compartment (this upgrade was about 195RMB). Further, because the train was actually going through Xinyang, my ticket was changed to allow me to stay on that train for the entire trip. He Zhi Qing will then use my D train ticket to return to the college when she comes back to the college at the end of the vacation.
As we were moving through the train to my new compartment we went through about six very crowded and chaotic compartments. We then got to the dinning car, which was empty other than a conductor and a few rail police. They checked our tickets before allowing us to continue. We then entered the soft sleeper carriage. He Zhi Qing stopped, looked back at the chaos we had just left and forward into the clean, uncrowded, and silent carriage. He expression was one of indescribable confusion and wonder. She had never been in this type of carriage before and it showed. She looked down the empty hall with nothing but closed doors flanking the side opposite the windows and said to me, in practically a whisper, "is this the soft sleeper car?"
I do regret that, after we checked in with the conductor, she was not permitted to stay long and had to return to the chaos of the hard seat car. She did get to see, and sit in, the soft carriage for a little while. However, she had not upgraded both of our tickets, only mine. I also discovered, at this point, that the train we were on had no soft seats, only sleepers. As it was a day train, I would have been just as happy with a set of soft seats and the price would have been the same as a single soft sleeper bunk. As it was, there simply were no rooms with two soft sleeper bunks. So, as stated, she had to return.
I then took a nap for several hours and got up for lunch as we approached Zhengzhou. I then read the rest of the way back to Xinyang where I met Gao Jing at the train station and returned to the college. Gao Jing then mentioned that her class was getting up at 5:00 to go to a scenic spot near Luoshan, a city I rode my bicycle to on my long trip last summer. I loaned her my camera and she took some pictures of some of my other students and they took several pictures of her.
I then went and ordered several suits. Two of them are to be similar to the suit I purchased last year only in different colors. I also ordered two dresses, for gifts. I also got Debra a pair of Chinese Army boots. I went to the base store and when they found that this was for a woman they tried to sell me these cute little boots that would have looked very good at a night club. They insisted that those were what the women wore. I have no trouble believing them as I have seen the women, in their uniforms, wearing, open toed, high heeled shoes. Again, suitable for nice dinners and clubs; but, not what any thinking person would want to wear if they needed to jump off of a moving truck onto a muddy graveled road. I finally convinced them to sell me a pair of standard officers boots. I am sure that they still think I am crazy, those boots are just not for women.
Shoes - The Peoples Liberation Army of China 3515 Factory
