Go West

So we left Shanghai spoiled.  Big thanks to Jason for putting us up.. and putting up with us.  We were beyond spoiled.  The train to Xian was again overnight.. but only about 15 hours.  We have been sleeping on hard sleepers in China which means that there are 6 beds per booth.  Its a little small but not bad at all.  For the first hour on the train most of the other people stare at us.  In China no one has any problem openly staring.  You can catch them.. but they do not look away.  At one point Krystal ate her entire dinner while an older guy just stared at her.  Its not a creepy stare.. just a constant gaze.  This is just one of the one million cultural differences.  The weirdest is probably the spitting.  They hork and spit all over the place.  Its really loud and even woman do it.  Is your nose runny...?  Just farmer's blow it into the street.  Gassy?  Just let it go...  Need to burb.. bust a gut.  Its really hard to get used to.  Also... all the small children have a split in their pants.. so they can pee anywhere.  A N Y W H E R E... Park benches.. garbage cans... if you have heard of it.. they are peeing on it.. right now.. as I type.  The last cultural difficulty is the lack of any consideration or courtesy for people you do not know.  Chinese are very warm and nice when you know them.. but to strangers.. they can't be bothered.  Old ladies push you... people listen to music really loud when you are trying to sleep at night on the train..  Everything... is a battle.

So.. to Xian.  Its a smaller Chinese city.. only like 5 million :).  We spent the first day walking around town.. checking out the bell and drum towers and mainly just getting the feel of the city.  We ate some mystery meat which was cold and really gross.. but oh well.  There is a big muslim area with food and markets so we walked through it and checked it out.  Xian is a lot more "Chinese" then Shanghai.. and is really nice.

Our next day was a major highlight.  We booked a tour to the Terracotta Warriors.  It was really touristy which was expected but still really good.  The warriors were carved hundreds of years ago.. but only found in 1974.  They have found thousands and each one has a different face.  There is a tomb of an old King and the warriors where built to protect him after he died.  The dig area is set up a for heavy tourism which means you cannot get really close but it was still impressive to see so many warriors.  They have 3 pits set up where they have found the statues and 1 more in the works.  I took roughly 28989398 pictures.  That night we had the local specialty which is bread in a meat and noodle soup.  It was really salty but very good.  We set our alarms and got up in the middle of the night to watch Germany beat Turkey in the Euro 08.

On our tour we met Kevin and Gary and they joined us for another amazing day riding bikes on top of the old wall that surrounds the center of Xian.  It took about 2 hours and was interesting.  Renting bikes is always a big win.. it lets you get around quickly but you can go at your own pace.  That night we ate at the muslim area again and in the wee hours of the night saw Spain beat Russia in the Euro.

Our last day in Xian we spent shopping and hanging around.  We said goodbye to Kevin and Gary and planned our trip by train to Beijing.  We have been joined by 2 Danes ... who are on another train.. but leave Xian and arrive in Beijing at the same time..  We will hang with them in the capital until Krystal and I find our tour.