so! finding out that we have a break from working at the school, mary comes up with a plan to "skip town." she originally wanted to go to beijing, but we decided that it was to late to buy tickets. we only found out about the break two days before. train tickets require reservations. (note: i had quoted the wrong price for first class train tickets to my city. it was 30$cdn, and 200 yuan, not 200$cdn. 200 yuan is still pricey, considering that most only make a few times more than that a month.)
alright, so wednesday starts. that is the day the school track meet begins. it continued until friday. mary had earlier in the day went to see the opening ceremonies. she stops by. i was still freshening up. i got lazy and decided to go see the meet later in the day. up until that point, we all decided that all plans were a no go.
bernie knocks on my door. (mary and bernie are the other two foreign teachers who live in the same building.) he says, "we're going get ready." i said "okay," shutting the door realizing i don't know how long i have and where we were going. i pack in the half an hour. we're going to xi'an, wherever that was.
we took the long bus ride to xi-an. 8 hours of me weary and developing a horrid cough. we get to this musty xi'an city. the bus station all busy, with taxis and other various vehicles asking if we need service. we rejected the 2 seater with lots of bag space, stuffing ourselves in a taxi. all five of us, plus the taxi driver. we settle at the hotel, go eat at an awesome restaurant nearby, then go to bed. we are to wake up for 7:30 the next day.
mama hongmei slept in the same room as me for the first night. she took care of me 'cause i was coughing. she was really good. she is really good.
1st day in xi'an
we get a driver for two days, 500 yuan. he gets gas for 150, at least. that leaves himself 52.75$cdn. we go to the palace Huaqing Hot Springs (http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/huaqing.htm). very beautiful. made by an emperor for his love for one of his concubines. i thought it was beautiful. i was truly struck. the palace is made of mostly baths. she loved baths.
we then went to Qin Yinzheng's tomb(http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/history/qin/index.htm. it was under a large mountain of trees. it did not have trees or plants on it before, but after thousands of years, they came up. we walk into a performance. a sort of respectful offering of fruit and goods before the mountain for him. he was known for a lot of new chinese innovations: coins, tools,.. first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty who also was the first to be in control of a large China of the past, including Korea, Afghanistan, and parts of Japan. and hence,..
the Terra Cotta soldiers. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/terra_cotta_army/index.htm. so Qin Yinzheng's reign was very successful and he wanted everyone to know it. it was common for emperors to bury their things with them. these soldiers were found by a farmer digging a well. he did not get much in return for telling the chinese government at first. after recognition from the british queen, he was compensated well and made custodian of this ground of terra cotta pits. these soldiers are not too far from the emperor himself. they were made to perhaps show how great his warriors were. exaggerated by height and weight, they were found with full colour. after 2 hours however, they were oxygenated and the colour disappeared. some of the pit is still uncovered so as to not to oxygenate them.
for breakfast, we had food in an alleyway shop. noodles of some kind. they didn't want me to have any egg in it 'cause i was sick. oh. the tour guide that we hired for the Springs, we hired for the whole day for 60 yuan. 9$cdn. we went to eat lunch at this place that was trying to rip us off. can you imagine 130 yuan for 5? actually, we had been eating an average 65 per person. of course, because we were westerners. imagine, 2o$cdn for 5?! we returned to the first restaurant that we ate at for dinner, for our 2nd dinner.
i slept in the same room as mary. hongmei bunked with yang qing. we opted for one less room.
day two
went to The Tomb of Princess Yongtai then of Empress Wu Zetian. very cool indeed. Princess Yongtai had a mysterious death. apparently married at 16 and claimed because of childbirth, she died at 17. her mother Empress Wu Zetian was a ruthless woman and is said that she may have killed her daughter as well as her son. Princess Yongtai's husband also died the same year. whatever is printed on her tombstone, perhaps is just a ploy to show differently. her tomb was pretty cool. i mean, it was cold! the only tomb that was saw that was opened, already had things stolen from it by grave robbers.
Empress Wu Zetian was buried with her husband. apparently she was a concubine to his father first, and eventually his wife. her husbands weren't very strong, weak actually, so she took care of most of the work. she studied and learned the ways of being an "emperor." she had her own lovers and was the mostly and only empress worth knowing of all dynasties. very good at her job also. her tomb was unopened. later emperors tried to open her tomb, but was discouraged by lightening and thunder each time. very neat.
we went to eat at a resto in that area and was taken advantage of. the meal from the night before only cost us 68 yuan, but this new place wanted to charge us 130 yuan. taking advantage of foreigners. hongmei yelled at them of course. a difference of 5$cdn, but what the hey, they were ripping us off.
we then went to a temple. and museum type one and one with a relic of a so called buddha. very cool! mary and i brought fruit. lots of people. we passed by some ladies between the temple and the other temple. actually, they mugged us. i mean, they just wanted to sell their incense, but they were forcing them into our arms and hands. it was really pathetic. they were incredibly persistent. hongmei got bogged down by this guy, and i tried to shake him off. so far, people who live in suburb/rural xi'an are living only on foreigner aid. apparently.
we got driven to downtown xi'an and saw a bit. mary, hongmei, and yang qing all bought hats. we went home.
day three
this was supposed to be our shopping day. or we thought. we went downtown, meeting gerry's (a contact's) wife at the hotel. we went to the bell tower and the drum tower. man, standing on the bell tower looking around the city, is amazing! the bell tower was amazing. inside. the doors, the walls, the art. and to think everything existed as is, some retouching, 1300 years ago. xi'an is beautiful and open (except! for the pollution.)
after the towers, we went to this open market that we saw. food and knick knicks. i got postcards and combs. that market was the Muslim quarter. we had our lunch there, which was pretty, pretty good.
we continued to the place we were in the night before, but another amazing site! just like in the chinese movies, i kept on saying. ol' time movies, shops, and ladies on the balconies,.. but not really ladies. lots of shops, stalls in the middle. i got stuff. hush..
it was overall a great trip. it was truly eye-opening. i'm rarely surprised, and this trip was an eyeopener.
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