Xian...and the mighty warriors made of clay!

It's amazing how much can happen in a matter of 10 days! :)

Last weekend I made my way down to Xian (famous for the Terracotta warriors). I had the opportunity to meet Angela, my childhood friend from Melbourne, and her family there and do some touristy stuff while I was at it!
So Sunday night after teaching during the day Kasey (my housemate) and I hopped on a train and departed for Xian. We booked tickets for a sleeper train and opted for a hard sleeper - a not so comfortable bunk standing THREE high and open to anyone who passed by which meant us being foreigners, we were the local attraction. But it turns out hard sleepers aren't so bad at all as long as you get the bottom bunk and have good neighbours…i.e. don't snore, don't sit on your bed, don't yell instead of talking, don't smoke and don't sit there and eat seeds out of their husks (the most annoying crunching sound in the world!! They could do it all day!). We at least got half of the above. We had great, nice neighbours and the noisy, smoking men kept down the hall!
The journey to Xian was 16 hours!!! But in that time you spend the night, so sleep takes up a good part and lights go out at ten so you really have no choice but to sleep!!
We also had a tonne of reading material and my trusty old brick breaker game on my phone! Passes away the hours! Haha!
In the morning we got served dumplings for brekky! The yummiest dumplings I have had so far in China and spent the few hours we had left being excited for Xian.

As soon as we arrived, Ang and her entourage were waiting with their private tour guide to take us to the Warriors and a few other nooks and crannys in Xian. Oh, also the remains of a 6000 year old village that is now a museum. It was amazing! All of it was drenched in history and to see the Terracotta Warriors up close was a very surreal experience. To think that an Emperor actually commissioned these things for his afterlife….and that they were discovered by a mere farmer digging a well!

That night we hit the town for dinner which consisted of a plate of broccoli (random) and amazing dumplings ….oh and some Baskin and Robbins ice-cream for a bit of home!! We then tried to find a bar and ended up at a backpackers where the bartenders were more than happy to serve us coronas, pronounced 'saronas' and practise their english, take photos of us and giggle at everything we said. Then came along Jimbeam….the hostel manager who has seriously named himself Jimbeam. He entertained us for the rest of the night until we had finished our Saronas and were ready to hit the hay. We spent the night crashed in Ang's hotel room with her and I sharing a single and Kasey on the floor. Just like good old days with Ang!! We still aren't too old to share a single bed!!

The next day Kasey and I let the others go on their tours while we did the two hour bike ride around the city walls! (one of the only cities to have their original walls still standing). And ride around the city getting lost in the Muslim quarter! With markets and street food for lunch, we were happy to be living it up in Xian. We took a risk and trialled some street food which consisted of some gloopy stew/soup that you tore chunks of bread into and ate. It was delicious. We were just praying it wouldn't disagree with us as we had a long ride home on the train that night. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the markets in the Muslim quarter. They were amazing. Anything you wanted you could buy. But boy we realised quick smart that in order to buy anything you had to spend more energy haggling than you did in Yuan. By the end we were exhausted but we got out alive and with some good bargains. We started paying more money towards the end because our energy was down! Haha! The starting price would always be so ridiculous and you would say your price and they would just laugh at you but in the end you would always get it! I even had one guy go lower than my original price. Amazing!!

The train ride back was HELL!! We were stupid enough not to purchase a sleeper bed and just ride in a seat! I will never do that again! Cramped up in little chinese seats with the lights on and everyone making noise all night was not the best train ride home..needless to say it left me tired and irritable and the next day wasn't so amazing. We made it to Beijing and the forbidden city. Which wasn't exactly what I expected. Just and expanse of temples and cobblestones in the middle of the city. But the history is amazing and I am glad I got to see it for sure! Stupid me misread the time on our return home tickets so we missed our train back and I had to reschedule my class….not good. Also Ang was going to come back and check out Cangzhou and meet my kiddies but that plan fell to pieces with the missing of the train. SAD!! But all is good! We learnt a lot of lessons about travelling in China and will make for a better journey next time. I am willing to bet that China is going to be one of the most frustrating countries to be a tourist in. Lucky I am part local and have some know how on the situation.

The rest of the week has been a whirlwind of craziness. Kasey attempted the same conversation with my boss that I did but it turned out a lot worse. I got given her classes to teach and right now she is packing her backs and off to the great unknown. She has had a lot of job offers so something will work out for her but I am sad to lose my one western friend in Cangzhou!! :( The up side is I will have somewhere to visit in China!! So now my teaching load has increased, which I am happy about and my boss can now afford to pay the two teachers she has instead of struggling to pay three!!

Uni starts this week coming. I am doing a full time and a half load which will keep me very busy indeed! But I will love the feeling of getting my brain working again and getting into uni. Give me two months, I will be complaining about it again! :)

I am off to Hangzhou this weekend coming to see my friend I made in Prague. It has been a long time coming and we are both super excited. Hangzhou is supposed to be the most beautiful city in China so I am very excited to see it.

Anyway, Love to you All!!!

HJ xx

Pics @ http://s1107.photobucket.com/albums/h397/hrjones86/?albumview=slideshow