Purgatory

The train ride was actually quite comfortable. I fell asleep about 11:00 after listening to music and got a solid 7 hours in. When we stopped in Suzhou, two of my cabin-mates got off and their movement woke me up. I dozed for another hour or so but never really got back into a heavy sleep.

I had to smile a bit as I looked out the window in Suzhou. It was at this very platform, just 7 weeks ago that I was stressing myself out over the idea of traveling China. Leaning on the very railing that was now outside my train window, the gravity of what I was doing sank in. I realized I wouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone. I wouldn’t be able to read anything. And most stressful of all, I would be alone.

But here I was…on the other side of that trip…back at the same platform in Suzhou…and I did it! Everything I’d stressed about that night I said goodbye to Bryan, Johnny, Emily, and Luke was behind me. I just went on absolutely wild ride and I survived the very thing that a month ago I thought I couldn’t do.

When we rolled into Shanghai, an English audio started playing over the loud speaker. It said, “Welcome to Shanghai. Shanghai has been a destination for world travelers for centuries.” It went on to describe the lush Yuyuan Gardens, the bustling hustle of the Bund, the over commercialization of Nanjing Road, and the diverse ex-pat bars that line the streets.

As I got off the train, I started laughing. It wasn’t just a chuckle either; it was deep, hearty laugh…the kind that rolls from your stomach and echoes out of your body. Soon, warm salty tears rolled from my eyes. I was giddy and practically hysterical and I’m sure I looked like a moron. In that moment, I realized how scared I had been for the past 15 days. I never consciously felt scared, but I realized in that moment, I had been scared. I had been lonely, I had been worried, I had been stressed, and I had been fighting to keep those emotions at bay so that I could enjoy the trip. And you know what? I was totally successful at doing so. I was able to enjoy myself, live in the moment, and ride the adrenaline rush for every adventurous second of it.

But now that I was back in Shanghai, the dam broke. I felt overwhelming joy and pride that I REALLY DID IT!

At first, I thought about continuing on and going to explore some of the sites in Shanghai I haven’t seen yet, but when I got back to the apartment and laid down on the couch in one of the other interns rooms (since I checked out of mine two weeks ago) I decided that a low key day might be in order.

So I spent yesterday saving my photos, editing my journal entries, and finally re-gaining access to my blog. After taking a shower, I Skyped with my parents. It was the first time I’d talked to them in almost three weeks and only the second time we’ve talked this month. I realized I had so much to tell them but I didn’t really know where to start.

And the truth is, I feel like my head is spinning. I have so many ideas about what I want to do next—academically, professionally, personally—I don’t know where to begin. I feel like Europe opened a door for me, but China has taken me to an entirely different universe. I have an entirely different respect for myself and vision of what I want to do with my future.

And then today, I packed up and headed out. I’d talked with the other interns and we decided that having my own space for the last few days might be more desirable than couch surfing. I found a private room at a hostel for just 80USD (for all 3 nights) and decided to move in there.

But I couldn’t check in until 3:00. I needed to meet with the recruiting office to finish the paperwork and check-out process from my internship at 1:30. Once I left the apartment, I couldn’t get back in and I didn’t really want to lug my pack any further than I had to.

So I contacted John. He said I could leave my stuff at the office for the afternoon. Folding my dirty laundry into my bag and grabbing my leftovers out of the fridge, I went have lunch with my co-workers for the first time in two weeks.

“Wow!” John said. “You’ve lost weight.”

“Have I?” I said. It was funny because I did notice the other day that I am buckling both my belt and my watch several notches tighter than I always have.

It was so good to see them. I sat at my old desk and recanted my troubles in Hong Kong, my frustration in Macau, my excitement in Beijing, and my awe in Xi’an. They laughed and asked me questions about specific things I did and saw. John had to go to a lunch meeting but the four of us hung out in the kitchen for the whole lunch hour.

“It’s so nice to be back in Shanghai,” I said. “And thank you guys for texting me and checking on me while I was traveling. I feel like you all have have become my Chinese family.”

Which is kind of true. I guess I never mentioned it on the blog but before I left for my travels, they gave me the Chinese name He Ruiguang. The “He” is just a common Chinese surname that sounds like my actual surname. “Ruiguang” means “Lucky Light.”

Even when lunch was over, I stayed while Yu Cui wrote down directions for me to my meeting my hostel. I was still there when John got back from his meeting.

“I guess I’m tired of being alone,” I said. “It’s nice to have some familiar faces for a change.”

“I’m certainly not kicking you out,” he said.

I didn’t realize how late it had gotten however and I had missed my meeting with the recruiter, I texted them to tell them I was on the way and went outside to hail a cab. When I got there, they had me fill out a questionnaire rating my experience. Emma then sat with me and asked me a few questions about AllSet, John, the rest of the staff, my duties, and rather or not I would recommend AllSet to other interns…which I definitely did!

When I left, I hailed another cab and took it to my hostel. I got checked in and found my little private room. With no windows, it kind of feels like a jail cell. But it is also very cozy.

I sat down and looked through my notes of things I want to do before I leave. I feel like I’m in purgatory in a way. My trip really is “over” but yet it isn’t “over” yet. I don’t really have enough money left to do anything big, but I’ve kind of done all of the small stuff for now. I have so many things to think about, but I am not sure where to begin.

So I went outside and took a walk. As I did, I saw the sights of the Shanghai that I love: The shady trees that cover the streets, the smells of the little one room restaurants, the fruit vendors calling out to people from the backs of their trucks, the random workers playing American music on a boombox, people welding in the middle of the street with no precautions whatsoever, taxis honking, kids laughing, people hustling to where they need to go. I really am going to miss this place.

And So It Ends...

When I got back to the hostel, a Dutch couple I met the other day on the tour was waiting for their taxi. I sat with them and we talked about travel. They only reinforced how I feel that traveling makes you feel truly alive. After we talked for about an hour, they took me back over to the Muslim quarter to try some street food they’d sampled the day before.

“Don’t think about it,” the guy said (I never caught their names.) “Just eat it.”

It tasted great whatever it was. It was some sort of flat bread, sliced in half like a bun. In the middle was shredded lamb with some sort of sour and spicy sauce. It came with a cup of that sweet and bitter tea that I’d had the other day. It was definitely better than the lamb soup I had the other day. In fact, it’s on the list of best things I’ve eaten in China.

We also bumped into a British kid who is staying at our hostel. We toured him around a little bit while talking world events including Scotland wanting to leave the UK and rather or not America should get involved in Ukraine.

“I think America has to help,” the guy said again. “It is hard because people will always be mad at you for getting involved, but you are one of the few countries that has the resources to help other countries.”

When we got back to the hostel, we sat in the café and got drinks. Johnny (the British kid) made the comment, “Going home from China is going to be so hard. No one is ever going to understand.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself. We again reminisced over stories and decided for a third time that traveling truly makes you feel alive. It’s nice to meet other people that feel the same wanderlust.

About 3:00 I headed out. We exchanged email addresses and promised to look each other up on Facebook at some point. The girl at the front desk wrote out “please take me to the main train station” In Chinese for me on a slip of paper and I went out to find a cab.

In that moment, I felt like a real adventurer. With everything I own on my back, and 14 incredible days on the road under my belt, I realized I really am capable of so much more than I give myself credit for.

Except apparently hailing cabs! Not only could I barely get one to stop for me, but the two that did declined to take me to the train station. One guy on a tuck-tuck bike offered but wanted 30RMB. I only had 20 on me (I had more but not in small bills) so I wasn’t budging on my price. Eventually a guy on a motorcycle agreed to take me—after about 5 minutes of fierce bi-lingual negotiating.

As I climbed on the back of his motorcycle, I realized this broke every “don’t talk to strangers rule” I’ve ever been taught. I was now on the back of a motorcycle with some strange guy who barely spoke English, with no helmet, with everything I own on my back, bobbing and weaving through Chinese traffic. It struck me that if you wanted to kidnap and American and take all their stuff, this would be a perfect way to do it.

But in a very odd and terrifying way…it was awesome!

He didn’t take me all the way to the train station but dropped me off about ¼ mile away. He said he wasn’t allowed closer and given all the bus traffic, he might have been right. Either way, I was here.

I got my ticket in the hottest sweatiest room I have ever been in (which is saying something in China) and then went to wait in line for the train. Initially when I asked a woman for directions she shook her head and started to walk away. I think she then put together the lost look on my face and came back over and pointed the way for me.

After standing in line for about an hour, our train boarded. I found my sleeper compartment and luckily had a bottom bunk. The compartment actually is very nice. The bunks are more like couches and I’m only sharing it with 3 other people.

I changed into clean clothes when the train started moving. I am yet to sleep on the floor of a train station and I don’t really want to bring the germs off of one into my bed. The rocking motion of the train is very relaxing to me, and I fell asleep pretty quickly. After a nice little two hour nap, I woke up to find that my compartment-mates are also sleeping. I’m about to go find some hot water to add to the cup of noodles I brought with me.

My only frustration with this over night train ride is that I don’t have a book to read. Then again, I have all 160 journal entries from my trip saved on my tablet. Maybe rereading that is exactly what I need to bring closure to this awesome adventure.

Pandas

I had to wake up at 6:00 today to go to the Panda sanctuary. The staff of the hostel kept telling me I wasn’t going to like it, but I wanted to go (especially since I don’t have time to go to Chengdu.) They even cut pictures of pandas out of magazines and gave them to me so I didn’t feel like I needed to go. But, when in China…I wanted to try and see the Pandas.

A driver met me at the front desk at 6:30 where I checked my bags for the day. The drive was about an hour, and once again, the further we got from Xi’an the smoggier it got. I didn’t even realize we were driving along the foothills until the car started to climb. Once again, we had to stop for gas, and again, all passengers had to get out of the car while it fueled up.

When we got to the sanctuary, the driver walked me to the entrance and then said in broken English that he’d meet me at the car when I was done.

For being an animal sanctuary, it looked a lot like a zoo. I walked around “Panda Garden” for a while but didn’t see anything. I passed a Chinese tour guide who said that he’d seen two pandas. I did eventually find one. For being a bit white bear, it really blended into the shadows pretty well. It woke up briefly, ate a branch, and then went back to sleep. I took a few more laps, but for the longest time, it was the only one I saw.

I did run into an American family. The elderly lady was very thrilled to introduce me to her grandsons TJ, Alden, and Marshall. TJ taught English in Beijing while Alden and Marshall were in their fourth year of studying engineering in the states. They were all well traveled, and Grandma had taken them each on a big trip at some point.

They turned out to be my ticket to more Panda action. Their guide (who at first I thought was a volunteer at the sanctuary) used bamboo rods to lure a Panda out of the back. He came right up to the fence and took the bamboo from TJ. Making little squeaking noises as he ate, he ripped the leaves from the bamboo, wrapped them up, and chewed them in a little roll.

“His name is Ono,” the guide explained. Ono clearly knew his name and would look at you when called. For about 30 minutes, we stood around talking to him and feeding him—which I’m sure the sanctuary would be thrilled about if they’d found out. When he stood to reach up and take a branch, he was easily six or seven feet tall. His face was so sweet, and the squeaking noises he made while eating were just hilarious.

At one point, a large beetle walked by Ono. He picked it up and ate in one bite.

Eventually, we heard one of the sanctuary volunteers calling him and he got up and went back inside the building. I followed the American family and their guide as he showed us some of the other animals in the sanctuary including tuxin (which looked like yellow yaks), Asian black bears with their golden brown manes, leopards, a little creature that looked like a deer the size of a dachshund, golden emperor monkeys (including a baby), red pandas, and a phoenix (which we learned is what the Chinese call peacocks.)

Again, if it was an animal sanctuary it had to be one of the most unethical animal sanctuaries. There were stories throughout the park about how many of the animals had been found on the verge of death and nursed back to health here. The pandas appears to be pretty well cared for, but the other animals all looked pretty malnourished and were kept in concrete pins around the “sanctuary.” There are definitely zoos that have better animal treatment practices than this place.

As we walked we talked about the adventures of travel. We came to the conclusion that part of the fun of traveling is that you stop caring about so many things like privacy or physical appearance. Alden and Marshall haven’t shaved in the time they’ve been backpacking around, and they shared embarrassing stories about using squat toilets in public places that turned out to be more adventure than they bargained for. I told them about my adventures on public transport to and from Huangshan, as well as getting thrown out of the restaurant in Hong Kong. We actually swapped the stories the entire time we were walking and it only reconfirmed for me how much fun travelling is.

When we reached the exit, we exchanged WeChat information and said we’d add each other once we get to reliable internet. As we shook hands Marshall said, “Way to survive with style these past weeks.”

As I rode back to Xi’an, I thought a lot about that phrase. “Survive with style.” I thought about what I’ve done this summer. I boarded a plane and flew to a communist country that American tourists have really only gained access to in the past 20 years. I lived in the most populated city for 7 weeks. I worked in a position unlike any I’ve had before and learned and incredibly useful marketing skillset I plan to pursue when I get back to the states. I learned nearly flawless mandarin pronunciation. I gave a tour of Shanghai to my ex-pat friends. I navigated a train to Suzhou where I bought a suit in the silk capital of the world. I climbed Huangshan by myself to see the legendary sunrise on the mountain of mists. I went clubbing in a remote town with Chinese people that treated me like a celebrity. I went to Japan and studied Buddhism for a week. I walked across the world’s highest observation deck. I got stranded in Hong Kong. I got lost in Macau. I biked around Beijing. I took a motorcycle sidecar to the Great Wall of China. I’ve dove into the culture of three incredible dynasties in Xi’an. I’ve made some incredible friends. I’ve eaten both amazing food and terrifying food (I’ve been going back in my head and I think I broke down and ate western food for just six meals the past ten weeks.) I’ve navigated public transportation without a word of Chinese. I’ve survived 110* heat and battled a rattling cough from the pollution. I’ve prayed in temples, shrines, pagodas, and mosques. I’ve come to understand an amazing culture unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I’ve discovered China…and I survived with style.

Not to brag, but it is all pretty awesome when I think about it. As I think about graduating college next year (in just 286 days!) I also think back to my High School graduation party. I remember talking with my cousins about what I was going to do in college. If you told me I was going to do any of this—Europe or China—I would have thought you were on drugs. This is not at all the life I thought I’d be living, but it is exhilarating.

Before Arafat left the other day he made the comment to me, “When you get back to America you will miss this place.”

I laughed when he said it and replied, “Oh I hope not! I already miss Europe, I can’t miss Asia too.”

But I know he’s right. I think the thing about extended travel like this is that you develop a new life. The homesickness we feel when we travel is a longing for the familiarity of our life back home. When we get home, we have a longing for the familiarity of the life we created abroad. Just as I miss things about living in America, I also miss things about living in Prague. I’m sure when I get home, I’ll miss things about living in China too. The trick is how to be both “American lifestyle Zach” and “European lifestyle Zach” and now “Chinese lifestyle Zach.”

When I think about my time in Europe, I feel like I conquered a lot of fear while I was abroad. Here, I don’t feel like I conquered fear so much as I had to really confront some of my personal beliefs and thoughts about life and the world. History and religion are so “unimportant” in China (I put that in quotes because it is not non-existent, but compared to the US or Europe, both are much more downplayed here) but at the same time relationships and reputations are so much more important here.

There are also so many similarities between the American psyche and the Chinese psyche that it is funny to see how similar thought processed play out differently. For example, the average American (not every American of course, but a percentage of the population) seems to be under the impression that America is the greatest place to live and they assume other people want to live in America. In China, so many Chinese people are under the impression that when you visit China, it is your intent to move to China, because that is what most of the world wants to do. The nationalism and poltical ideology between US and China are not that different really. The execution definitely is, but the motivations are very similar.

Over the next 4 days I have left in China, I hope to do some sorting and figure out what it all means. I do feel like I’ve been away from the US for a long time. Even though it is about 6 weeks shorter than the time I spent in Europe, I feel like it has been even more life changing than Europe. Ireally have some concrete ideas about what I want to do next (and as a teaser, one idea involves 12 days at Machu Pichu…maybe there will be more on this later) which really is a very satisfying feeling going into my senior year.

The Eighth Wonder of the World

Today was the big day. I still remember being in Mrs. B’s section of 6^th grade world history. I’d studied Anchient Greece and Rome in Ms. R’s section. Next quarter I would study anchient Egypt with Mrs. C. But Mrs. B taught Anchient China, and on that first day of class, she passed out an article about a farmer who discovered statues of soldiers buried in his field, which became the greatest archeological find since King Tut. These soldiers were the Terra Cotta Army that guarded Qin Shihuang’s tomb. We studied them twice more after 6^th grade, once in 10^th grade World History and once as a Senior in AP Human Geography.

Today I got to see them.

When I woke up, the guy on the bottom bunk was gone (thankfully.) Unfortunately, so was Arafat. IT had been nice having someone to talk to at night, but hopefully we can keep in touch. Kate was still here and in fact she was going on the Terra Cotta tour today as well.

The tour included a breakfast of French toast. Once again it wasn’t really French toast but an attempt at the dish. It tasted good either way and was definitely filling before we piled into the 15 passanger van to go to the warriors.

There were 23 of us on the tour from 3 different hostels. We were split up into two vans, and our guide switched back and forth between them at the toll booth.

“Hello,” she said as she got into our van. She was a Chinese girl, and I would guess she was between 25 and 30. “My name is Jia-Jia” [that’s my best guess at the spelling, it’s pronounced more like ‘Jaw-Jaw.’] “I will be your tour guide today. There are 23 people on the tour. I would like each of you to introduce yourself and say where you are from.”

We went around and introduced ourselves. I was the only American. There was a Swedish company, a ton of Dutch people, quite a few English folk, Kate from Australia, and some buddies from Rio in Brazil (it turns out it is too soon to talk about the World Cup.)

“Ok,” Jia-Jia said. “Today we will go to see Terra Cotta Warriors. Very famous. We will also see tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuang, very good emperor. Then we will see a cinema, then we have lunch. Lunch not included. Then we come back and that’s it. Again, my Chinese name is Jia-Jia. My English name is Lady Jia-Jia.”

Everyone laughed.

On the way to the tomb she told us about Emperor Qin Shihuang. I was actually surprised how much I remembered from that article in 6^th grade. The Emperor was the king of the Qin kingdom. He found many battles and invaded many neighboring kingdoms to unite them as one kingdom. This kingdom (called Qin, again from which the name “China” comes from) closely resembled the modern day borders of China. He was the first to declare himself “Emporer” (which meant he was a son of a god) thus making him the first Emperor in China.

Once he was Emperor (at age 22) he began buiding a great wall to keep invaders out of his newly unified kingdom. He also began building his tomb. He also developed many forms of torture, and was the first recorded leader to use the method of “drawing and quartering” people. The proper technique for this form of torture is tie the arms and legs of a victim to four different horses and send them in opposite directions. While the person is stretched out and hanging mid-air, a sword is used to cut off their arms and legs, while their body goes into shock and eventually bleeds to death. Wanting to be emperor in the afterlife, he built the largest tomb in recorded history. It is significantly larger than any of the pyramids or tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs. According to records, the mausoleum that would house his body was carved almost 100 meters down in a man made mountain just outside his capital in Xi’an. His body was to be surrounded by a moat filled with mercury, and all entrances and rooms of the tomb were boody-trapped (Indian Jones style) to kill anyone who entered—because of a moat of mercury wasn’t enough.

“The tomb is just a hill,” Jia-Jia told us on the bus. “I hope you will not be disappointed. We cannot go inside yet because we do not have technology. There are plans to open it in 20 years. Maybe you come back.”

When the tomb was found, the mercury levels in the soil are 1000x greater than naturally occurs. This seems to confirm the historical record that his body was surrounded by the moat. If that is true, it makes archeologists believe that the other legendary traps were also true.  At this point in time, we do not have the technology (a) to keep a person safe from the high levels of mercury once inside or (b) to protect the 3000 year old artifacts from oxidation once the tomb is open. As the mecca of archeology, scientists are working to develop a method of entering the tomb, but it doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon.

The emperor really had a thing for mercury. He didn’t choose it because it was dangerous, but because he thought it was magical. In fact, he took a mercury supplement every day so that he could live forever. Shockingly, this didn’t work and he died suddenly (before the entire tomb was completed.) We’ll talk more about this later. His body was buried inside along with all of his gold, treasures, live animals to give as gifts to the gods, concubines (both human and clay), as well as all of the workers who had built the tomb were buried alive with him, as to not give away the secrets of how to get in or out.

When we arrived at the tomb, it was in fact just a hill.

“That is it,” Jia-Jia said. “The hill is man-made and the body is buried underneath it. The emperor chose this area outside of Xi’an—which was his capital—because it has good Feng Shui. Feng Shui? You know it? It is good energy. Certain features of nature have Feng Shui. For example, building your house with  mountains behind it is good Feng Shui and will protect your house. The mountains as you can see are behind the mosaleum.”

I couldn’t help but notice there was significantly more pollution here than in Xi’an. You could barely see the Feng Shui mountains behind the tomb.

“You can ride little carts around the tomb,” Jia-Jia said, “but I think here is the best picture.” We took pictures and then walked on to see the Warriors.

The Warriors are far more famous than the actual tomb. Mr. Yang was a Chinese farmer outside of Xi’an. When digging a well on part of his property he began finding remnents or armor made of Terra Cotta. Archeologists came in and discovered over 6,000 Terra Cotta Soldiers buried on the property. Further investigation led to the discovery of the tomb, all of which confirmed the myths and legends of Emperor Qin Shihuang.

The Warriors were designed to protect the emperor in the afterlife. Servants were commissioned to design them. They were supposed to be taller than the average person, with solid legs and hollow bodies and heads. Servants worked in pairs, each working on their own soldier, but they would design the face of their soldier to look like their partner. The clay would molded and then baked at 1000*Celsius. It took nearly 7 days to get the ovens hot enough to harden the clay. They were then painted. Once both partners finished their soldiers (which looked like each other) they were both killed so that their souls would be transferred to the statues in the afterlife. On one hand, it’s a promotion. You go from servant in this life to soldier in the next…on the other hand, you’re dead.

There were 4 types of warriors: Generals, Infantry men, Chariot drivers, and Archers. The Generals were the tallest and typically had two large buns on top of their head. The Infantry men were all tall, but only had one bun. The Chariot drivers were positioned in actual chariots, while the archers were positioned squatting. Originally they were all buried with weapons, but being made of wood—and 3000 years old—they have rotted away.

“The archer is magical,” Jia-Jia told us. I never quite figured out why, but she used a poster to explain that the first statue found was an archer. The statues have incredible detail down to the treads on the bottom of their shoes, and individual hairs carved on their heads. She also explained that shoes were important in the Qin Dynasty. Wives made shoes for their husbands. If a man did not have shoes, it meant he was unmarried. Additionally curved toes denoted nobility while flat shoes indicated they were commoners.  

There are current 3 pits of soldiers that haven un-earthed. There are probably more pits but Ill explain why they are still buried later.

We started our tour at pit 3. It was about the size of half a football field. The bottom was wavy with chunks of armor and broken horses sticking out of the ground. Every now and then the ground would break away and there would be an intact soldier.

“The wavy appearance is caused by the rotted roof,” Jia-Jia said. “The roof is gone so the soldiers are trapped in the dirt. The waves show where their heads are.”

They have decided not to unearth all of the soldiers in order to protect them. The soldiers were originally painted (and when they are found they are.) Because of the age, the paint oxidizes in minutes and the color is lost almost as soon as the clay hits the air. Again, archeologists hope to develop a technology to preserve the color, but until they do, they are leaving the older soldiers buried. But that doesn’t mean that they haven’t dug up a lot. In Pit 3, there are 700 unearthed soldiers. In Pit 2, there are 2000 and Pit 1 has 4000.

Pit 2 is smaller, but also cooler. It is shaped like a U with three distinct rooms. The first room is a meeting room filled with generals. The second room (across the bottom of the U) was a storage room for chariots. The final room was for animal sacrifices. Animal bones—including deer antlers—have been found in this room. Most of the soldiers in this pit are assembled, and they truly look just like the pictures. The horses have large round holes drilled into the side so that when they were baked in the oven, the hot air could escape. The soldiers are baked with their heads and bodies separate. The neck has a hole to let air escape and the bottom of the head has one as well. Once both were cooked, they were connected.

Pit 1 is the largest pit and also the original. In it, 4000 soldiers are lined up row after row—most of them infantry men—all in formation ready to defend the tomb. At the back of the room, there is an area where archeologists reassemble the broken fragments of soldiers.

I have to say, they were as tall as I imagined, but not quite as big. For making “giant people,” the proportions are a little off. They almost look like their torsos have been stretched rather than just being made larger.

But they were incredible. As I stared at them, I just had a total ah-ha moment of how old China is. I cant imagine the servants who carved these things, hundreds of years before Christ. I can’t imagine what to tomb must have looked like, or what kind of nut-job Shihuang must have been.

And Chinese history is starting to come together for me. Qin was the first dynasty (which unified China and started the Great Wall). It was over thrown by the Han (the bloodline that most Chinese people today come from), and later by the Tang (which was pretty much the Renaissance period of Chinese music and culture.) That ended with the Mongolian invasion which gave rise to the Yuan dynasty. They were driven out by the Ming Dynasty (who built the Forbidden City and finished the Great Wall.) Eventually the Manchurians invaded to form the Qing Dynasty (who built the summer palace) and they were the last dynasty leading up to WWI. After about 50 years of disorganized government, Mao came to power to unite China under the People’s Republic.

After we left the pit, we went to see the movie in the museum. The attempt at a 360* panorama video waqas really just nauseating and didn’t show anything that Jia-Jia hadn’t told us. Our final stop was the gift shop where we got to meet Mr. Yang (the farmer) and Jia-Jia used some of the souvineers to point out more details on the soldiers.

Lunch—which Jia-Jia continually emphasized was not included—was very cheap. We went to a nice Chinese restaurant, and for 5USD each, we all shared dishes. Many of them I recognized as things my co-workers brought for lunch like sausage and peppers, egg in tomato, and different types of cabbage and fungus. There were other dishes I’ve had in traveling including sweet and sour meat, caramelized potatoes, and spicy green beans. I have to say, while I won’t miss some of the scary Chinese food, I will miss a lot of the good stuff.

On the bus ride back, I slept most of the way. As I drifted in and out, I heard various conversations about the difficulties of living in China, including pollution and life without Facebook.

For Dinner, I had bought tickets to go to “dinner and a show” at the local performing arts center. Kate from Australia was also going, as were Veronica and Karen (from Jingdi’s tomb.)

As we walked in, we immediately felt under dressed. The tables had red, white, and yellow table clothes on each table and a full assortment of dishes and glasses. We each got a cup of tea, a cup of rice wine, and a cup of sprite. The food then came out on over 26 trays (one again triggering Beauty and the Beast’s “Be Our Guest” in my head.)

The first course was vegetable soup, which had mini dumplings in that were about half the size of an American dime. We then had seafood dumplings stuffed with crab, followed by wild mushroom dumplings. There were duck dumplings and pork dumplings. We had some that were filled with lotus root (another vegetable I will miss when I get home.) There were dumplings that had fish in them, and were actually shaped like little fishes—with the extra dough folded into fins and green peas used as eyes. There were ham dumplings (not sure why ham and pork are different but I didn’t ask.) We had a platter that had tomato dumplings, cabbage dumplings, and purple sweet potato dumplings. There were also pork and carrot dumplings, as well as shrimp dumplings. The final rounds were fried dumplings and steamed dumplings. We then got into dessert dumplings which included roasted dumplings (that tasted like baklava) as well as walnut dumplings (which were not as good.)

All of them tasted amazing! The pork dumplings and tomato dumpling stick out specifically because they were super spicy, while all of the other ones just kept tasting better and better. The rice wine was also very sweet and pretty tasty (although it did little to soothe the spicy flavor.) As we ate, a woman sat on stage playing some sort of flat harp that made the sweetest most atmospheric music for the occasion.

The dinner lasted 2 hours before the show began. When it did, it was just as breath taking as the warriors. The directors came out on stage, one speaking Chinese and one English, both wearing silk robes and fancy crowns. They introduced each act before it started.

The first was a musical performance. Sitting on the stage, musicians cloaked in silk played drums, bells, and cymbals. It sounded like some sort of war march and immediately drew you back into the glorious culture of the Tang Dynasty. Next was the “White River Dance” where girls in blue robes with flowing white sleeves danced and twirled in perfect unison. They were so synchronized even the ripples of their dresses matched. I couldn’t help but think the costuming looked a bit like Princess Elsa, but I decided not to make too many Frozen jokes.

Up next, and actor came out to entertain us. The Actor was more of a musician, so I think we might have had a mistranslation. He played a nose flute which produced both beautiful and god-awful noises, almost simultaneously. If you listened to it as music, it was tough to enjoy, but if you thought of it like the chirping of birds, it was sweet and melodious.

The next act was a group of young girls performing a spring dance. Again they wore flowing dresses with long sleeves that billowed as they spun and twirled. They were followed by a male dance troupe that did a masked dance to ward off demons.

The next one was one of my favorites. They said it was inspired by a painting in Suzhou called “Looking at birds and chasing cicada.” They introduced it as “the painting is of 3 women. The first is looking at a bird, the second is chasing a cicada, the third is missing her family.” Our dancers will bring this painting to life for you.

As the three women on stage recreated first the painting and then danced out an adventure of chasing birds and catching bugs, I realized, the three emotions have a lot in common. Looking at birds symbolizes wanting freedom. Chasing cicadas symbolizes persuing adventure. Missing a family is a bit more obvious…but all three have a yearning, and yearning is a pretty universal emotion. They are also three emotions I feel like I’ve experienced on this adventure. When I first left the US, I wanted to be free. As I got here, I wanted to chase adventure. Now that I’ve done both of those things, I miss my family.

There was another dance after that to celebrate a good harvest, as well as two more musical numbers called “hunting ducks” and “smiling tiger.”

But the finale was awesome. All of the performers came out in read and golden gowns. They dances, and pounded drums while an orchestra off stage played the most powerful and beautiful music I’ve heard in a long time. As I watched the majesty of Chinese tradition unfold, I thought back to Yu Cui’s text when I left for Huangshan…”Now discover china” she had said. I feel like I’ve done that. I really understand their culture, I love the people, I enjoy the food, I know so much more about their history, and I feel like my perspective of China has changed 180* since I arrived.

Thinking back to when I arrived, it does feel like forever ago. I have this overwhelming sense of “holy rap I did it.” Its been so hard, but it has truly been an adventure. I am absolutely a different person than I was when I arrived. I am more aware of how different the world is. I am also more aware of who I am as well as who I want to become. I also have a whole new respect for myself. Looking back at it, I think if you’d told me everything I’d go through in Hong Kong and Beijing, I never would have believed it or have gone for it, but these past 14 days have been incredible…this whole summer has been incredible.

And this beautiful show was a perfect finale. China is beautiful and I am so glad I came to see it!

The Lost Temple Post

Unfortunately, this post too was lost somewhere in the great firewall. Here are a couple highlights I remember.

My tour group was made up of three Canadians, Karen, Scott, and Veronica.Karen and Scott were brother and sister, and they went to school with Veronika, who now works in China. They’d been traveling around for the past two weeks and really covered a lot of ground. Our driver took us to the tomb which was about an hour outside of town. Jingdi was one of the Han dynasty emperors (most Chinese people today are ethnically Han.) He led China to an era of great prosperity.

On the way to the temple, we stopped at a gas station. Our driver (who spoke virtually no English) insisted that we all get out of the car while he fueled up. We noticed that everyone else was also having their passengers wait at the curb while the drivers of the vehicle fueled up the cars.

The tomb looked like a giant hill from the outside. In order to go inside we had to wear these blue shoe covers that looked like shower caps. I'm not sure if they were to protect our shoes or the tomb, but they worked. I remember that they made my feed incredibly sweaty inside my sandals.

Inside, the tomb was filled with pits that had different clay carvings of animals, concubines, and euunichs, as well as pottery and life size chariots. We walked across a glass floor that let us look down into the pits. Information signs informed us that the belief was that all of the ceramic statues would come to life in the afterlife. In other words, the animal statues would be the emperor's food, while the concubines and euunichs would keep him company.

 At the end of the tomb was a little museum. There was a movie every 15 minutes in which a holographic man explained the history of the Han dynasty. It looked like the little kid that winds up inside the TV in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

 Outside, we went around the side of the tomb to the South Gate, which was the more formal entrance to the tomb. All of the signs were in Chinese but we gathered that the emperors actual body might have been underneath the ground we were standing on.

One of the more humorous things I remember from that day was that we couldn't find our driver after we exited the tomb. We walked around for several minutes looking for him, before we realized  that he was sleeping in the backseat of the car.

The driver dropped my fellow travelers off at the bank on the way back before taking me to the hostel. When I got back, I was really hungry so I decided to walk over to the Muslim Quarter for lunch. I'm glad I did, because it was incredible. It felt as if I'd left Xi'an and was in yet another entirely different world. There was street food everywhere and it all smelled amazing. I remember people crushing nuts with giant hammers, the powder being used to make homemade taffy like candies.

The meal I wound up getting for lunch however was not one of the better ones. I'm choosing to this day to believe that it was noodles in lamb broth, but I am aware it may have been something else...something I may not have eaten if I'd known for sure. I gagged it down along with some sort of blackish tea that was really bitter but had a sweat after taste.

As I finished eating and wound my way back through the streets, I was surprised when I saw an older lady yelling at some teenagers for littering. Littering doesn't really seem to be a problem in China (both in that you don't see a ton of it, but when you do see it, no one seems to care.)

I went through little side alley after little side alley walking past vendor selling all of the typical tourist junk. It turns out that in Xi'an you can buy Terra Cotta Warriors everywhere.

On accident, I found the Xi'an Mosque. Paying for a ticket, I went inside.

For my first mosque, it wasn't super traditional. There was definitely a lot of Buddhist influence with the garden that surrounded it. There were a lot of archways that divided the garden, the most memorable of which was the Pheonix arch. It didn't resemble the fiery bird at all, but it was grand with lots of pointed spires above each of the three walkways. I also remember being disappointed that the minaret was under construction (my first mosque and I don't even get to see the minaret.) The prayer room was closed to tourists so I wasn't able to go inside of it either.

While I didn't want to type out my whole journal entry here (mostly because it is long and I need to get to some homework) I do want to reproduce a small part of it that struck me tonight.

 I sat down on the steps and looked around at the flags fluttering around the top of this particular courtyard. It was in that moment that I realized all that I had done in these past 10 weeks. It reminds me of the games my brother and I used to play when we were little. Jumping around on the couch, we'd be astronauts, or pirates, or explorers. Sometimes we were colonizing aliens, others we were sailing across stormy seas, and others still we were in magical jungles fighting gnomes and freeing leprechauns.

While I'd hardly call my travels these past few weeks "heroic" they were "epic" in their own right. I've learned a ton. I've learned that people everyone really are good. I truly believe that evil is a man-made concept and that people everywhere are just doing what they think they have to do to survive. On the note of survival, I've realized I can survive more than I knew. From strange foods, to unbearable heat, China has been harder that Europe ever was.

At the same time, I think in a lot of ways, China has been more transformative than Europe was. Maybe its just because I did China second so I was able to "finish what I started" in Prague, but I feel like I've gone even deeper and have yet a new understanding of myself and the world. It's been hard, but I don't want to go home. I feel like I'm in survival mode every second of every day...but I've never felt more alive.

Back at the hostel, I messaged with Brenda about staying with her and Dayana when I got back to Shanghai. They told me that they would only have room for me to sleep on the couch one more night. I started looking for a hostel in Shanghai, while also meeting some of my new room mates.

When Arafat got back that night, we went out walking again.  We saw the bell tower and the drum tower all lit up and they were beautiful. We stopped for green tea ice cream and walked around more tight little alleys (which were way creepier at night)

When I got back to the hostel, I journaled about the day. The last sentence I wrote in the journal was:

A year from now, I'll be done with school and life will look totally different. For the first time, I think I have a direction of where I want to go...but I have no idea of where to start to get there.

Nightlife

Well my plan to get to bed early turned out to be just a plan. After I finished journaling I went downstairs to use one of the coin operated computers in the lounge to check the balance in my account. Thus far I have stayed under budget but only marginally.

When I came back to my room, I had a new roommate. He was Arabic and I think I startled him when I opened the door.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hi,” I said. “I’m Zach.”

“Arafat,” he said. “Where are you from?”

“The US,” I said. “And you?”

“Morocco,” he said. “What city in the US?”

I told him.

“I have heard of it,” he said.

“Where are you from in Morocco?” I asked. He told me the name. “I do not know it. But I have a friend who is going to study in Casablanca this next year.”

“In Morocco?” he said.

“Yes,” I said. “He’s studying journalism.”

“Me too,” he said. “But I study in Moscow, Russia.”

We talked about the different tours the hostel offered. He was signed up for the Terra Cotta Warriors tomorrow as well, but that was the only one he was going to have time for before he headed back home to Russia. He’d been traveling for the past few weeks and his trip was winding down now.

“What are you doing now?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, realizing it was still pretty light out and going to bed sounded incredibly lame. “The guy at the front desk mentioned there was live music somewhere every night.”

“Yes,” he said pulling out his map. “Here,” he pointed. “I am going there too. Only so much time in China, we can sleep when we got home right.”

I guess I needed someone to tell me that. “Right,” I said (and now that home is just one week away, I guess I am starting to feel the need to take advantage of every second.)

We headed outside and walked along the city gate. “We have to catch this bus,” he said pointing at the map.

The breeze felt so good, and I could even see the slightest twinkle of stars through the twilight of the sunset. “Why don’t we walk?” I suggested, wanting to enjoy the fresh air I hadn’t felt in forever.

“Okay,” he said.

We walked under the city gate and followed the road that looked like it would lead to the pagoda that the music was supposed to be next to.

“So do you have Chinese girl friend?” he asked.

I laughed. “No,” I said. “It seems like every Chinese person I meet asks me that too.”

“Me too,” he said. “I am almost 29 and when I tell them I have no girlfriend they ask me if I a gay.”

“Really?” I said.

“Yes,” he said. “I think their culture assumes everyone will be married by 25 or 26. In my culture if you get married before 25 it means you got someone pregnant. But I never got married or had serious girl friend. I was too busy studying and by the time I finished studying I decided to change major and start studying something else.”

“I can relate to that,” I said. “I’ve always kept myself busy doing stuff I wanted to do that finding time for a relationship never fit into my schedule.”

“Yes, me too,” he said. “But Chinese girls are very virgin don’t you think?”

That wasn’t the way I was used to hearing that adjective.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean they are very gentle and playful. There is a sweet almost childlike nature to them.”

It wasn’t a way that I had ever heard people described, but it was more poetic than just ranking body features.

Arafat was persistent and willing to ask for directions, even though he didn’t speak a word of Chinese. I couldn’t help but notice that everyone he asked pointed us in the opposite direction of the location on the map.

“Either this map sucks, or everyone is wrong,” I said. “I’m thinking it is the first option.”

“I love the Chinese culture,” he said. “Look at these men just sitting out playing Mahjong and the food smells fantastic. I love Chinese food. Especially in Hong Kong.”

I realized he was not as perplexed by the map delimma as I was. In fact, he didn’t really seem to care if we were going the right way. He was just enjoying the moment around him and staying connected to the conversation. I started to feel guilty. I’ve thought so much about living in the moment, but when I’m on the go, I very rarely actually do.

So I decided to re-engage. “Ya,” I said. “The food in Hong Kong was really good. But Macau was frustrating. I’ve been 17 countries now and Macau is the only one that I actually felt scared I might really be lost in.” I recanted my story of foolishly hopping on too many wrong busese.

We swapped travel stories as we walked along, with Arafat occasionally asking for help or directions from someone else (who inevitably pointed us in a different direction than everyone previously had told us to go.)

“You know in traveling,” he said at one point, “you learn that people really are different from the regime. I mean in China the regime is not so good, but the people are so friendly. When I went to Iran the regime is very scary and does awful things but the people are the kindest you will ever meet.”

“I have heard that from a lot of people,” I said. “And Russia certainly proves that too. That regime has been doing some scary things.”

“Russia feels humiliated,” he explained. “Ukraine is not their country but it is like their baby and they did not like the way it was being treated by Western world. It will blow over I think, but sometimes Russia’s regime reacts without thinking of the consequences.”

He also explained to me that Morocco was the home land of the Moor’s, as in the Islamic group that once ruled Spain, Portugal, and Northern Africa. The whole “Mor”-oco thing should have given that away, but I never put it together.

“You know Morroco was the first country to acknowledge the US as a trade partner separate from Britain,” I said.

“Yes, I know,” he said. Of course he did. The rest of the world generally knows our history better than we do. “Morroco was championing democracy around the globe before America made it cool.

As we talked more he made another point that I have firmly come to believe in my trip around China. “There are no perfect countries,” he said. “Each culture has its unique beauty.” I think that is really true. No one has the perfect government or the best system. Everyone has come up with a system they think will work, or accepted the one they have as good enough. And each culture has it’s pros and cons. For example, Americans are loud and opinionated, but they are also open and friendly to a fault. Europeans may be a bit snobby and guarded, but they are very genuine and affectionate once they let you into their social circles. And in China the people…well everything is a little different, but people are so caring and helpful, it almost makes you feel guilty. Not to mention that each country has its own traditions heritage that make it fun and unique to visit.

We finally decided to take one of those rickshaw cabs to the pagoda. Climbing in, Arafat bumped his elbow on the edge and had a shooting pain down his arm.

“In American English we call that your ‘funny bone,’” I said.

He laughed. “Why?”

“I don’t…know,” I said.

As we rode along I was struck by the fact that everything really did kind of look like Shanghai, except with fewer people, cleaner air, and way more neon.

“The new Xi’an,” Arafat said taking photos of the skyline.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

“Beautiful does not always have to be old,” he said. “Beautiful is just beautiful.”

I think that too I something I’ve come to appreciate on this trip.

When we reached the pagoda, I think we were both a little surprised at what we found. All around the courtyard there were festivities going on, but it wasn’t the live music we expected. In one area there were arcade games set up (including a bumper car arena.) In one area, street performers dressed as demons would chase little kids. I couldn’t decide if that was entertainment or just really creepy.

Arafat stopped at one vendor and asked me, “How do you say ‘Pork’?”

“Zhurou,” I said.

He tried saying it to the lady and pointing at some sausages, but she didn’t seem to understand, She just kept holding up 9 with her fingers. I tried but got the same result. Soon, she was handing us 9 of the sausages. I realized the mistake we were making was pronouncing the word as a question, which changed it to the second tone, and in turn the entire meaning of the word. We decided to try plecco.

She understood and sure enough there was pork in the sausages (so Arafat couldn’t eat them.) we bought drinks instead, which also took some work as she apparently did not want to sell me her last Mirinda. I wound up downing a Gatorade instead.

In the main courtyard of the pagoda was where the real action was. I recognized the tune of Justin Beiber’s “Love Me” before we saw the mob. In the center a large group was line dancing to the tune. No two people were really doing exactly the same thing, but it was so energetic and fun. Overhead, people were flying brightly colored and lit up kites. Smells of food wafted all around us. The atmosphere was just electrifying.

I got so lost in it, I was almost startled when Arafat called me over to take a photo for him. After we did, we watched a few more songs of the mob before it changed from line dancing to couples swing dancing.

“It’s times like this it would be nice to have a girlfriend,” I said.

He agreed.

As I watched the crowd, I smiled. Then I laughed. I realized this was the first time I had done anything like this since I started traveling. In Hong Kong I’d been frustrated because every time I ventured out, I got lost. In Beijing, I was so focused on seeing everything I wanted to  (without getting heat stroke) that I never just walked. I forgot how much fun it was to “get lost” instead of worrying about “being lost.”

We continued walking around the Pagoda seeing different vendors, brightly lit up trees, zen gardens, and artistic statues. It was about 10:30 when we decided to catch a cab back to the hostel. That also turned out to be an adventure. I’ve now ridden in 4 cabs in the past 2 weeks (more than in the rest of my life combined) and I feel like I am becoming quite the expert. That said, I had never hailed a cab before.

Surprisingly the first few I waved at didn’t stop. When one did, the driver didn’t read Chinese or English. We got out of the cab and waited for the next one. One of the ladies with a rickshaw pulled up, but when she showed her the address she said it was too far. We finally caught a cab, and despite being lost twice, he got us back for under 10RMB.

When we walked in, the kid at the front desk recognized me. He told me there were enough people to run a tour of Jingdi’s tomb tomorrow, if I would switch to the Friday Terra Cotta Warrior tour. I said I would, and he sold me a ticket.

With that, we went upstairs. I took a shower before getting on my computer to journal some more. It was so nice getting out tonight to just explore. It was also nice to not be explore alone. Looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure!

Going to Xi'an

It was bittersweet leaving Beijing. I really, really enjoyed it. While there have been snippets of history here and there, this was the first city I could really dive into to see the history. I wish it hadn’t been so hot, because it really was miserable being out the heat. Not that it really detracted from the experience—I mean I’ll never forget living the hutong, exploring the city like a local on a bike, or going to the wall—but the heat required constant attention to not get hung up on.

I would come back to Beijing. Not that there is necessarily more that I want to see here, but I think it is worth seeing and I would certainly bring my own kids here someday. I also thing my parents would like to see it—in less heat of course.

I took the Airport Express to Beijing Airport. This is the only metro train that costs 25RMB to ride as opposed to 2RMB like every other line in the city. Beijing Airport is actually laid out a bit different than most international airports. It has all the same features—big departure board, islands for checking in, etc—but its more cluttered and not arranged quite the same way. This flight was actually a first for me. It is the first domestic flight I have ever taken abroad. Because of that, I was able to check in at a kiosk before going to find some lunch.

For lunch, I got scammed! I was looking for a starbucks, but I got talked into a noodle place by the lady passing out menus. The food was awful. I avoided getting upsold to a more expensive combo meal that I didn’t want, but luckily they talked me into a side of fries. The beef tendon wasn’t doing it for me, so the fries became most of my calories for that meal. The lemon tea wasn’t so bad though.

After I ate, I went through security (where I got stopped again for my little safe—which while inconvenient does give me more hope about the Chinese Aviation Security system (for a while no one seemed to be concerned about this safe which was always causing concern in the US and Europe.)

I was struck by the lack of duty free shops inside the terminal. That’s when I put together that I wasn’t on an international flight this time. Nothing was duty free because I was staying inside the country.

At the gate, I took out the book Forbidden City that I have been reading. You probably never read it, and probably wont be able to find it since it is out of print. Both of these statements are tragic. It is fantastic. As a historical fiction, it follows the son of a journalist sent to cover Gorbychovs visit to Beijing in 1989. This is of course when the student demonstrations began, which turned into a riot, and later a massacre. The book is very simple in its language and only about 200 pages long, but it vividly describes the events from Tiannamen Square that summer, as well as some of the political undercurrent that drove the movement to become so violent.

I read the book during my entire wait at the gate, all through take off, and up through landing—stopping just briefly to enjoy my inflight meal. I seriously have never experienced meals on a domestic flight like this. The food wasn’t the highest of quality, but it was tasty and very filling. This one included rice and chicken, along with a cup of yogurt, a roll that I did not eat, and a Chips Ahoy cookie. The yogurt here is really liquefied and more of a drink than a food item. It tastes good though.

But back to my book…if you can get your hands on a copy you should. I was just about crying as I read the second to last chapter. I was even irritated our flight was ontime because I didn’t have time to finish it yet.

My hostel had emailed me that the airport was too far and inconvient to get to their location from. They had given me the bus route which would require three transfers and about 2 hours, or they offered to arrange a driver for me for about 20USD. I accepted the car offer.

When I came out of the arrivals, I did not see my driver. I didn’t panic because in terms of bad airport arrival situations, this one didn’t even rank in the top 5. Okay, actually maybe it did because most of my arrivals have been seemless, but this was already better than Hong Kong. I tried to get a Wi-Fi signal to see if the hostel had emailed me anymore specifics, but my phone wouldn’t connect.

Luckily, as I paced around, I saw a man walk up with a sign that had my name on it. I approached him, and he took my pack and lead me out to a car.

In reality, I was glad I took the car. Even by taxi, it took 90 minutes to get from the airport to my hostel. The city however looked amazing. In a lot of ways, it was the spitting image of Shanghai but with about ¼ as many people. Sky scrappers were everywhere and little bakeries lined every corner. I also saw the university in China that my university has a “sister exchange” with.

But the defining feature that makes Xi’an unique—besides being about 4000 years old and the original capital of China—is the city wall. Even though it has been rebuilt and reconstructed several times, it is one of the only city walls in the world that still stands keeping out “intruders.” Driving through the gate was really, really cool.

I got to my hostel and got checked in. This is definitely one of the most atmospheric hostels I’ve stayed at. With three large courtyards, their signs and my books both boast that this is traditional housing style from 200 years ago in China. The incense that burns in the public bathrooms as well as the caged birds hanging amongst the plants in the hallways really gives it a lot of character.

Depending on interest (they wont do it for just one person) they offer tours to some of the better known sites around Xian. These include the Terracotta Warriors, the tomb of Qin Shi Huang (the first emperor of Qin…the kingdom that became China…4000 years ago), the tomb of Jingdi, a Tang Dynasty show, a dumpling class, and a Panda sanctuary. My plan is to do all of them, but they said there needs to be more interest first. Right now, there is only enough interest to run the Terracotta Warriors and Qin Shi Huang tomb. So I’ll be seeing those tomorrow.

Around the Hostel, I want to go to the Muslim quarter, especially the Great Mosque. I’d also like to go to the Wild Goose Pagoda.

But for dinner tonight, the front desk suggested travelers café, and international restaurant. I have to admit, when i walked in and saw hamburgers on the menu, I stared salivating. I went for the risotto and I will say, I think it was the most authentic Italian flavor I’ve had outside of Rome (although the cuts o meat were a little interesting.) Washing it down with a mango smoothie was great, although the cheesecake was once again…cheese. I’ve made the mistake of ordering this 3 times now hoping to find New York style cheesecake, but every time I get some sort of cheddar based dish. This was the first time I ate all of it, and it isn’t bad…it’s just not dessert.

Luckily, I have chocolate stashed in my room (something I picked up at the Beijing airport.)

I’m planning on having an early night tonight because my tour for the Terracotta Warriors starts at 7:00am tomorrow. Looking forward to diving even further back in history for another fun adventure!