Back to Xian, and away

[I am still having trouble to get the pictures to post, I will work on that later]

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Debra and I, having obtained tickets, packed our bags and, with out great fanfare, departed for the train station. The tickets that we had were, again, soft seat. It seems that while Debra generally travels soft seat between Ankang and Xian she had never located the soft seat waiting room in Ankang. I think that I have just learned what to look for, as I walked straight to it.

It was rather funny, the baggage x-ray machine was simply too small to facilitate the packs that we had so the operator did not look at us and we did not look at him as we ignored his machine. As it was, we were in a bit of a hurry as our train was arriving on the platform when we entered the waiting lounge.

The security procedures are very funny; they have these high tech machines, but no clear procedures. I am sure that the operators are will trained, it is not a matter of not knowing the equipment; it is a matter of not knowing security principles. Bags, such as suitcases and packages are to be placed on the scanner. However, bags containing only food are not to be scanned because it just further crowds the, already crowded, conveyor through the machine. Most shockingly, hand bags, or in my case a camera bag, are also not scanned. This is for different security reasons; they do not want a problem with hand and camera bags being stolen off the conveyor. The final result is that with all of this expensive equipment, a large amount of stuff is not checked at all.

All this being said, the return trip to Xian and the Bell Tower Hostel was rather uneventful. The Bell Tower is a rather clean and well run hostel. It does get a bit loud; but nothing that makes sleep impossible. The only other issue is that it is kept a bit warm. However, compared to the number of places that have no heating at all, this is not a serious issue. The bathrooms are on the same floor as, and near, the rooms and the showers are hot with separate shower rooms for men and women.

The next day Debra was not up yet so I took the bus to the train station to meet Michelle. It took me a while to find the correct bus as I was still having trouble reading train station, which is, "火车站."(rather obviously, My space does not support Chinese characters but blogger does) I then ended up waiting a while as Michelle's train was late. However, by the time she arrived I looked pretty competent navigating the streets and buses of Xian.

We then returned to the hostel, checked her in, and found that Debra had already left. At that point Michelle and I went to the Drum and Bell towers. These are two different land mark towers in Xian that, not surprisingly, are near the Bell Tower Hostel. AT the Drum tower, which we went to second, Debra met up with us. She had no interest in seeing the towers as she had already seen them several times; so, she waited outside of the Drum Tower. From there we went to the Fruit Bazaar near the Moslem Quarter and continued on to some of the nearby shops where both Debra and Michelle purchased simple head shawls (when in Rome…).

From there we took a bus to the Shaanxi History Museum. This Museum has a great display of many of the artifacts from the early digs and the Terra Cotta Army. I was surprised to see a chrome plated sword from the Qin Dinasty. There were a number of arrowheads and a lock work from a crossbow along with several of the support beams from the Tomb and some of the fittings that were used to tie the beams together. If a person goes to see the Terra Cotta army they really should see this museum in order to tie all the details together.

At this point we tried to go to the Foreign Book Store but found that it was closed, we were too late in the evening. So, we went to dinner. About this time Debra announced that she intended to travel in a different direction. She wanted to go north and follow the Silk Road. While I am interested in traveling that route, I am not interested in doing it in the winter.

Michelle and I then went to the train station and purchased tickets to ChengDu together, it is kind of funny, she can speak the Chinese better; however, I can write it better. Together we got the exact tickets we wanted.

The next morning Michelle and I got up early and caught our transport to the Terra Cotta Army site. On the way there we spoke to some Mid-westerners who were on their way to a nearby hot spring. There was a group of six of them, which upon retirement, have come to China together to teach and see China.

Because we had made an effort to get there early, and because this is the off season, the place was almost empty. As often happens at Chinese attractions, there are so many vendor shops set up outside that the attraction itself is hard to find. However, we met a woman who worked that the Museum and she showed us the way to the main gate. I can say that is getting worse. At nearly all of these attractions, and this one was no exception, there is a massive effort underway to increase the number of vendor shops. When they are done at the Terra Cotta Army a visitor will have to endure several blocks of shops between the parking area and the gates to the Park. Even within the park there are vendors running around trying to sell the same items that can be found in Xian for less.

At least the there are no vendors in the halls. The dig is completely covered, in order to protect it. It combined with the, afore mentioned, museum are simply a must see. It is also worth going to the round theater to see the documentary on the making, and eventual looting, of the Terra Cotta Army.

From there we braved the gauntlet of vendors and went back to the buses. The people on the bus made a quick attempt to cheat us by demanding about five times to take us back to Xian as they charged to take us out. At that point Michelle told them to stop the bus because we were on the wrong one (we were on the right bus). They quickly remembered the correct price.

After doing this we went back to the foreign book store, which was now open, and looked at some Chinese study books. When we went downstairs to the popular book section we ran into Debra and all went for lunch. After lunch Michelle and I went to the Beilin Museum. This is a library that boasts the heaviest average weight of all the libraries in the world. The books are stone tablets, and there are a lot of them. It was very interesting and we stayed there until they closed and politely chased us out.

From there we returned to the hostel and began working on finding a place in ChengDu. I used the rather simple method of writing to several hostels and going with the first one that responded. Michelle was pleased that the ones I picked offered pick-up at the train stations. The first response I got was from Sim's Guesthouse on the next day.

On the next day we also walked the city wall of Xian. It was a rather long walk and I was having trouble with my boot. The boot problem became such an issue that the next day I purchased new boots and left the boots that I had been wearing, that were developing a non-repairable hole, behind. The walk around the city wall is along the top of the wall, because it was off season there were not many people on the wall. It is about a 17Km walk that provides an overlook of many parts of the central city (the wall only encircles the core of the city, it does not, in any way circle the new city) that a person would not otherwise see. There were both temples and churches that I did not even know existed before this walk. The wall was built between 600-1300 CE and is intact and very well preserved, even if it has been rebuilt in spots.

This walk was followed by a nap and then Michelle and I went for a walk to some other bookstores that evening. At this point we were looking for some travel guides of the, "Lonely Planet," or, "Rough Guide," series. The other reason for the walk was just to insure that we did not get sore from the long walk earlier in the day.

The next day was our last day in Xian. We went to the Flying Goose Pagoda. This is a large Pagoda and temple within Xian. We were both very impressed by the large carved stone and wood relief's on the walls ( I am often impressed by the work and planning that goes into large 3d stone wall relief carvings[Yes, I realize that all carvings are, by definition, 3d. What I mean is the relief's that have the backs of the items in the relief carved out and things behind items in the foreground, all in one large relief]). One of the monks (who, in general, was busy talking on his cell phone) showed us some of the best places to get pictures. In general, it was a great place to visit. This site helped make this one of the best days of the trip, the only bad part is that this is the last time I saw Debra on the trip. She did not go into the temple with us but left for her own trip instead.

From here Michelle and I returned to the Moslem quarter. We both purchased North-Face jackets while we were here (about $22 USD each). This allowed us to mail some of our winter clothing back to our office. The post office was kind of funny. There is no need to package the items before arriving because they insist on doing their own packing in their own boxes. So, I got to the packing counter and the guy saw me and pulled a whit box out (at this point I did not know that certain colors of boxes mean certain things) and packs my stuff that I am returning: books, clothing, and the broken iPod. I then get to the shipping counter and discover that white boxes are international. It had not occurred to anyone that I would be shipping anything internally. So, I had to go back to the packing counter and get it all taken out of the white box and put into a brown box.

In all, the China Post experience was very useful. At this point I have a good idea of what is involved in shipping things back to the states.

From here we returned to the hostel. While we had already checked out, they were still holding our bags. We both took a quick shower and got to the process of medicating ourselves for a long and boring train ride. I was sitting in the lounge chatting wit a young woman named Nina who I forgot to photograph ad, I expect, I will never see again, from Germany, when it was time to stagger to the train station. When we got to the train station I used my ignorant foreigner act to get into the VIP waiting room (that we were not supposed to use at this station because we were traveling hard [second class] sleeper). After a couple of hours of sitting and reading, it was time to step on to the train to the next major city of our journey.

Zeneta's visit with Debra

Visit with Debra

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

2:35 PM

Met Debra at train station

Went to her hostel, then walked around Xian

Arrive in Ankang 5 Nov after dark

Take train from Xinyang to Xian

Ride in hard sleeper on lower bunk

Left Xinyang 21:26 4 Nov

Arrive Xian 9:30 5 Nov

Spend Monday at her apartment while she was at school

Met Lucy and Lily…persons from the school Debra works for

Went for long walk in the evening…took lots of photos

During lunch met Ulla, the other English speaking teacher at her school

During walk met LaVelle, another teacher placed by Buckland at a different school here

Sunday on the train we met a very nice young lady. She was 6 years old. She sang and drew for us. Her mom could speak some English and so could she. She wrote her name for me and her mom gave me an email address for her. Her name is Bao Rui Xue. We got some pictures of her, but there were technical problems with the camera and several did not come out.

We also met a young boy. I am guessing he was about 3or 4 years. He let us take pictures of him…

Today spent morning working and playing on my computer

Lunch break spent with Debra…ramen and bread and fruit for lunch

Made shopping list during morning

Breakfast…cheese, fruit and bread

Went on walk when Debra got done teaching

Purchased several scarves

Went to supermarket, purchased writing boards, dictionary and book

Ate at KFC on the way back to Debra's apartment

Also purchased music cds on the way back after dinner

Watch "Nanny McPhee"

Wed 8 Nov 9:30

Uggg…it is grey outside

Breakfast will be fruit, cheese, crackers

Worse than grey outside is cold inside

And no internet

All in all today was a good day. I worked on the computer and on my journals. I also spent time listening to music.

Lavelle and nick come for their cheese 13:50

Debra goes to teach class

Sun is out and shining...flat is still chilly

Lucy comes with computer men to get internet and network fixed. They arrived at 2:30pm

Dinner was at an acquaintance of Debra's

The food was cooked by the husband and was very good to eat

After eating, we took lots of pictures

The pictures were taken with two cameras

We left at 6pm and returned at 8:55pm

Thurs 9 Nov 9:35

Breakfast consisted of sliced and pealed fruits, buns, several cheeses and breakfast biscuits type of cookie). An apple and pear were sliced and an orange was peeled.

The internet repair person comes by as do the computer repairmen. They are currently working on the computer to fix the entire problem with using the internet.

My laundry is done and waiting to be hung and dried. All is now drying.

The sun finally came out which will help with the stuff on the roof drying.

2:55 computer men return with Lucy. She leaves to give Debra the tickets to Xian. When they arrived I was busy sweeping the floors.

During lunch hour, Debra and I went and got a rack for drying laundry inside. We stopped at the bank on the way there and brought a taxi back to her apartment. Lunch consisted of orange slices and small bread buns.

The computer men appear to have reformatted the drive…internet was available tonight

Cut out arrows for Debra…after playing on internet for a couple hours

Listen to music

Fri 10 Nov

Called Robert at 12:58

Breakfast is fruit cheese and breakfast biscuits

Lunch is cheese and biscuits

Debra has left for her teaching assignments

I am here in her apartment which is warmer this morning than it has been for the last few. I am listening to music on my computer.

I have taken a shower and washed my hair

Later this morning my laundry will be completely dry

We are packed and mostly ready for weekend trip to Xian. While there we plan to explore and go to see the Terracotta Army. I plan to purchase a small backpack. I will use the pack to help take things back to Xinyang. Things include cheese and tomato sauce, chopsticks and small gifts for people.

Listen to music throughout the morning and afternoon

Started watching third Harry Potter movie and making questions about it.

2:50 Lucy arrives with someone she says will fix internet.

Dinner out with Debra and other teachers. Ate at a Hot Pot. Food was good and so was the company

Leave for station about 9:20

Catch train to Xian

Sat 11 Nov

Arrive in Xian at about 4am

Wait outside station till about 7am

At 7 catch bus to Terra cotta army site

We both got a little chilled while waiting for the bus to start running

At the site, we went through the three pits

I took lots of picures while we were there, both inside the protective buildings for the site and outside them

The place was well worth seeing, and I think going first thing is a very wise choice as there are very few tours going then

Pit #3 was as well lit as the first one. Pictures were easier to take and seem to be better.

This pit may be as excavated as it is going to be

We started with Pit #1, the first of the pits to be discovered. It is supposed to be the largest of the pits, and holds a large number of statues. I took lots of pictures with both of the cameras I had with me. I suspect that I have more pictures from this pit than from the other two combined. There seem to be four to six columns of the warriors in this pit, each column containing four warriors across.

The columns stretch to the back of the protective shelter

There is still a lot of the area which could be excavated. Part of the very back is used to piece together the broken statues

Pit #2 is very dark and seems a bit disappointing after the first one.

There were several glass encased displays in the building protecting this pit. It also looked like there was current and ongoing excavation happening

When we were done we went and got a room for the night in a nice youth hostel it was very nice and we were fortunate in that we got the bottom bunks and did not have to share the room. Well we did, but there were two rooms in one, and we got the back room.

Pictures of the room we were in

After getting accommodation for the night we went and did some shopping. I wanted a small pack, some chopsticks and some other items. Debra took me to the shop and I got the pack I wanted, we then went and got something to eat. After eating we went down a street with lots of small shops and carts in it. At one of the shops we purchased fans and in another I purchased some chopsticks. As we left I also purchased a small dangly to help locate my USB drive.

Sun 12 Nov

We went to three tourist items today, one before checking out of the Hostel and the other two before catching the train

The first was the "tablet forest" this was within walking distance of the place where we stayed for the night. It was a very nice place.

I took a lot of pictures while we were there.

This is a map of the place.

Some examples of the different styles of writing

We also visited the Great Mosque

After visiting the mosque we did some shopping in the lane out to the main road. Items of silk and a variety of other things were available.

The train station waiting room

The last place we visited before going to the train station was the Bell Tower.

This was one of the bells at the tower. The others were in the tower and there was some music being played.

Mon 13 Nov

Did not sleep well last night. Got a good hot shower this morning. Am starting to feel better. Apartment I still very chilly and damp. Have been wearing my shawl today.

Debra went and taught this morning. When she came back we spent some time and talked to family via Team Speak. Members included Victoria, Mom, John and Serena. We both spoke to everyone for a few minutes or more. Fixed Microphone so it was working. I think we both got to talk for a minimum of 30 minutes each and maybe as long as an hour

I spent some time this morning ad this afternoon working on the Power Point and On my journals

Debra has gone back to teach classes for this afternoon. Reminded her to ask for train tickets to Xian for Sat Morning. I have been writing notes on postcards. We are planning to go to the post office this afternoon and mail packages and postcards out to people.

Went for a walk to post office with Debra and Ulla. Did some shopping and stopped for dinner on the way back to apartment.

Talked to family again this afternoon via TS

Listening to music

Did laundry tonight

Tues 14 Nov

Grey and chill day

Spent morning on internet and talking to john and mom

Lunch was ramen, Debra style

Again wearing the shawl to help keep warm

Working on movie questions and webpage while Debra is at school this afternoon

When Debra returned from school, we went an visited with Ulla. I showed my power point presentation and we also shared photos. Ulla gave me copies of some of her pictures

Discussed her classes and the use of an assistant

Dinner was sandwiches and cheese and crackers.

We also watched a movie, Harry potter and the prisoner of Azkaban

Still waiting for the laundry to finish drying

Wed 15 Nov

Chill and grey day

Spent morning on the internet

Talked to mom and john

Went for walk about noon and got veggies and fruit with Debra

Have afternoon also on internet

Thurs 16 Nov

Played on WOW for a while this morning

Also checked e-mail and visited other sites online

Grey skis abound outside this morning

Set batteries to charging

Now cooking rice and playing on my laptop

Now eating the rice

Played with mom on WOW. Advanced elf hunter to level 25

Fri 17 Nov

Listen to Chinese language cd

Had eggs onion and cheese for breakfast

Played online till power went down about 11:00

Now working on journals and packing

Cheese and banana for lunch/snack

No power from 11:00 am to 4:30 pm

Getting ready to go an a walk, take photos and get dinner with friends

Walk was very nice. Dinner was also quite good. After dinner walked to bridge and took photos of it and one of the buildings near it. From the bridge went by the apartment of one of the teachers and made use of her toilet. We then went to KFC and got sundaes with strawberry. Then we returned to Debra's apartment to finish packing and prepare to leave for Xian in the morning.