Off to the Great Unknown

Greetings from Xi'an, home of the Terracotta Army. Thousands and thousands of life-size soldiers, each with a distinctive face. Very cool, but historical sights in China can sometimes be misleading. Like they're 'restored' in 1958. So you don't really know if what you're looking at is the real thing or 'restored' by the PLA (People's Liberation Army). But I digress. More stories from Beijing: the city is massive, bigger than anything i've ever seen (including LA). Freeways masquerading as avenues crisscross the city. Crossing the street is an adventure, almost dangerous. City blocks are 1 kmn long. Crazy. On to Xi'an. The train ride was awesome, better than i could have imagined. Triple bunk-beds but they're comfortable, as could as the hostels. And I paid about $30 for a fourteen hour trip, bed included. The aformetnioned Terracotta Army was pretty cool but it was so toursity (i know, i know, don't i sound like a horse's arse). But the warriors are pretty damn impressive. Even better were the two nights we had in Xi'an: the first one was spent eating mutton intestine kebabs and drinking beijing white wine (more like nasty clear liquor) with a group of japanese, german, british, and canadians (a few of whom had taught in japan, so the language of choise was japanese) in the muslim quarter. I got a few dirty looks, but i would just say, 'chanada, chanada,' (canada), and everything would be alright. very cool. last night we went to a real chinese disco. a couple hours of cheesy pop songs by a singer, then dancing girls, then the crowd dancing. Very funny. Tonight we're off to Lanzhou on a night train, then Xiahe tomorrow. It lloks like we're going to spent upwards of a week checking out tibetan monasteries, hopefully dodging the 'dreadlocked, knife-wielding Koloks that crusie the streets' (Rough Guide description of a town we're going to pass through). Hopefully it will be interesting but not that sketchy. Peace out and i'll write when (if? just kidding) we get to Chengdu. xaijain (goodbye)