Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Monday (leaving Beijing) and Tuesday (first day in Xi'an)

I'm writing from the Bell Tower Youth Hostel right now, across the
street from the Bell Tower in Xi'An.
Spent most of yesterday morning packing. I planned to go to the
Summer Palace in the afternoon, but ended up spending some time
reading and the rest exploring to the north and south of Chengfu Rd.,
where the development is less evident. In the evening, I took the
subway to Beijing West Train Station. On the way, I met a Guangzhou
student; to show just how much accents can affect understanding here,
at first I thought he said he was going to Tibet when he said he was
going to the west train station. In my cabin (soft sleeper - hard
sleepers sold out even 5 days ahead) were four others - a Xi'an man
and his young son sharing a bunk and two students from Xi'an who had
been to Beijing to sightsee and visit family. I experienced a tiny
bit of reverse culture shock on the train - walking into the bathroom,
I fully expected to see a normal squat toilet, but instead did a
double take when I noticed the toilet was western sit-down style.
Since my Chinese was better than the others' English, we spoke in
Chinese during the ride.
Arrifved in Xi'an this morning, found myself a place to stay, and
bought my ticket back to Beijing. Afterward, I headed to the Bell
Tower, a large building located in the center of a roundabout and
accessed underground. I next headed to its counterpart, the Drum
Tower, then walked through the Muslim quarter to get lunch. On the
way, met and talked with two English backpackers doing a 6-week trip
starting from Hong Kong, going up the east coast of China (to the big
cities), then making their way west into Chengdu, south into Yunnan,
and back to Hong Kong. They didn't speak any Chinese; so far, it
hasn't caused them problems, but it could in the future when they head
further inland.
After lunch, went to the Great Mosque, then took the bus to the Big
Goose Pagoda, a seven-story building in a large square outside of the
city walls. Going to eat dinner in the Muslim quarter again now.

No comments:

Post a Comment