China Trip: Day 5

Honestly, today topped the Great Wall, the school encounter, and every funny moment on that first night in Beijing. I will never forget how fun today was, and how many amazing experiences I had tonight in Xian. This morning we saw the Banpo ruins, a matriarchal community that existed over six thousand years ago. The walls of their homes had been demolished, but the foundations of their home stood the test of time. The other thing that had been preserved well was the human remains. There were 8 or 9 there, and it was very interesting because you could get right next to the glass casing to view each skeleton. I was still having waves of nausea in the morning, but honestly I knew that nothing anyone did was going to help if I told them so I just sat down when they were bad, and caught up with the group when I was better. After seeing the ruins, we went to the Huaqing Hot Springs. The place also used to be a palace for the emperor in the Tang Dynasty. We spotted some koi fish in the many ponds there, and even got to feel the hot spring water! After checking out all of the buildings, we explored behind the buildings, finding old carts and some costumes that were laid out to dry. As we walked through the crowds, people kept taking pictures of us because most of the group had blond hair. Today we decided to fight back, and started taking picture of everyone taking pictures of us! Some people were confused, wondering why we wanted photos of them, while others put their cameras down after getting a shot of us and actually posed for us! While at the springs, I got to use my first squatting potty, or pop-a-squat, as Megan calls it. It was probably the nicest squatting potty ever: Each stall is made of this beautiful dark wood, and the actual door is really expensive stained glass, but when you open the stall door instead of a toilet there is this lovely porcelain hole. Anyway, after the springs we went to lunch, where another person in our group began to throw up. My nausea had gone away with the morning, but I felt really bad for Scott since he would only be able to glimpse the Terra Cotta Warriors before going back to the hotel. After lunch was the big event of the day: the Terra Cotta Warriors! Right before we went into the first pit, I dropped my camera. That was no big deal- until I found out it broke! Everyone in my group promised to send me pictures so it was fine, but now I had to figure out what to do for the rest of the trip. The warriors were amazing- every face was different- even their body shapes were unique. Some footmen were very large while all of the archers looked starved. Tyler haggled for this case of mini terra cotta warriors and got it down to 10RNB- less than $2! We all bought a case for that price and headed on our way. The next pit had these horses in them, but the lighting was so low that everyone was having trouble taking photos. I helped Lexa get a few shots with my limited knowledge of photography while we explored the second pit. My nose and throat were getting pretty dry from the dust in the air, and they began to burn. We all went outside, where we bought Magnum bars from the gift store. They are just like Dove chocolate bars, but even better! Ana, a girl from Boston also on our tour had told us about them. When we finally got to the hotel, we went to different restaurants based on what we wanted to try. I ended up going to the same restaurant that Schags and Ewen had gone to the day before for lunch, and we ordered something new. It was called a hot pot, and was this pot full of boiling sauces. There were two separated sides, each filled with a different colored boiling sauce. You would dip your chopsticks into some spices and put a few pieces of raw meat or vegetables into either the spicy or mild sauce and let it cook. Then you would take it out and put it into your bowl of spices. It was really good, something I hope to try again one day. That night I had planned on catching up on my journal entries, but instead I got the chance to go see the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and a fountain show. Schags, Ms.Tomasello, David, Shelby, Megan, Lexa, Brandon, and I all took two taxis to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. We had to cross the street to get to the fountain show, which was like playing Frogger but in real life! The fountain was this giant black tiled floor with holes where water would squirt up in different heights to make designs that went along to music. There were these dry areas within the fountain that people would run out to and have their picture taken. We all got our photo taken between two streams of water without getting a drop on us. Instead of being content with just a dry photo, we decide to take off our bags and watches and jump into the streams of water! Everyone in our group ran out into the middle of the giant fountain onto this one area where water didn’t spray. While they just stood there, I started jumping through the sprays of water, getting drenched. Soon everyone was getting wet too! It was really funny how all the bystanders reacted- either they joined in, gave us the weirdest look, or took a picture of us. Let’s just say that we got a lot of weird looks that night. It was only when we got out of the fountain that we realized how bad the water smelled. It definitely wasn’t sewage water, but we did smell pretty bad for the rest of the night! Once we had had our fun and walked around, it was time to head back to the hotel. The only problem was that every taxi was filled! This white van pulled up right next to us, and within a second had its back door and front row of seats down, but we said no immediately. That van looked really shady, like it was going to take us into a back alley and beat us instead of dropping us off at our hotel. Ten minutes later, we were still on the street corner failing miserably at getting a taxi when a different van pulls up. This one is a bit more respectable, and the guy even put a meter on the dash. It could have been an illegal taxi, but we were not sure. On the ride back we shared stories and started belting out songs, but the driver didn’t mind. I’m pretty sure he actually enjoyed our excited energy. We get back to the hotel safely but after curfew, and fell into bed exhausted. This was the best day yet on this trip- an amazing experience!
Although I think that the culture is richer and livelier in Beijing, Xian is an older city with more tradition. The food was better in Xian, although the lunch that second day in Beijing was really good too. The history is very well preserved in Xian, better than in Beijing because they have spent the past 20 or so years digging and restoring all of the Terra Cotta warriors. The one thing that Beijing has really done better with their history is the preservation of their architecture. In Beijing you could see a lot of slanting yellow roofs all throughout the city, while in Xian there are more office buildings than buildings with more of a traditional architecture. All in all, that one afternoon in Xian made up for everything that had gone wrong on the fourth day. Tomorrow I can only hope that Shanghai is even better!