The Outpost Of Xi'an

Sunday, July 17. 2005

So I'm here in Xi'an now, with big-city Beijing behind me as a fond memory, and nothing but wide open desert surrounding this quiet, one-horse outpost-of-a-town to keep me company. Actually, not quite... ;-)

So I spent the remainder of my time in Beijing being a very lazy boy and loving every minute of it. My job/life status is currently Blissfully Unemployed, (a title that I broadcast loudly to pretty much everyone I meet) and I'm as happy as a jobless clam with this new life. This new lifestyle involves a lot of sleeping, but only when I want (and as much as I want.) And eating, again only when I want (and definitely as much as I want!) And oh yeah, seeing some pretty spectacular sights inbetween. The new chilled-out life fits me like a glove and I haven't felt this relaxed since.... well, I honestly can't even remember!

On one of my last days in Beijing I spent an afternoon wandering around The Temple of Heaven all by myself, and it was one of my most enjoyable experiences. The Temple of Heaven is a beautiful temple complex laid out across sprawling green parkland in the southern area of Beijing. (and really, with a name like The Temple of HEAVEN, you really can't go wrong, can you?) It was quiet, peaceful, and full of green grass, colourful flowers, and hundreds and hundreds of pine trees that really did smell like heaven to me. Living in Korea, you're just so starved for greenery and open grass, that upon seeing the abundant fields of open grass I had to use all my self-restraining power NOT to strip down and roll around and around and around over all that soft green lusciousness!! As fun as that would've been, it *may* have scared some of the locals.

The temples themselves were pretty cool as well, including the Echo Wall, the Seven Star Stones, and Temple of Good and Bountiful Harvests. I was really impressed - and envious - of Beijing to have such a great haven of solitude that all of its citizens can enjoy, right in the middle of all its madness.

Saturday was a bit of sad day cause it was the day I left Beijing (and my little hostel family), but also a great one cause I got to meet up with Michael! He flew in to Beijing that morning and surprisingly managed to find the hostel on his own, and I was thrilled to have my best buddy meet up with me for the trip. We made our way to Beijing West Train Station and had a really delicious meal of Peking Duck - the most famous of all local dishes - before getting on our train.

We took a night train from Beijing to Xi'an and it was a pretty cool experience. We had two bunks in the 'hard sleeper' class which is the second best class on the train. Our car was full of a big group of very friendly Dutch travellers, and a few Chinese who I think were quite taken aback to see so many whities in one single train car! Each hard sleeper car has bunk beds stacked as three on top of each other in one long row, with nice big windows and too-small seats. I had the middle bunk and Mikey got the top bunk. We stayed up and chatted for a while, enjoying the green countryside whip past us as we journeyed inland across China. The farmland was pretty to look at, but I wasn't *blown away* by the scenery or anything like that (it had a strange familiarity a-la-Saskatchewan about it.) The lights in the train went off at 10pm and it was time for bed.

Sleeping on the train was fun, as the gentle rocking motion of the train actually sorta lulls you into a deeper comfort state. Well, at least it does for me! The beds were small but comfortable and before falling asleep I took a moment to stop and think "Wow! You're sleeping on a TRAIN in CHINA on your way to Xi'an!!! How cool is that!" :-)

The train rolled into Xi'an at 7am and our free pickup to the hostel was already there waiting for us. Xi'an was not at all how I expected it to look. Xi'an is a 'smaller city in China' (small being only about 8 million people!) and is at least 4000 years old. Not only was itthe capital of various empires for a while, but it also used to be a prominent trading post on the famous Silk Road connecting traders from Europe all the way to Asia. It's a walled city that is supposed to be known for its ancient historical relics, and its proximity to the world-renowned Terracotta Warriors.

Expecting a quiet, dusty, one-horse outpost in the middle of the desert (like a Chinese version of America's Wild West or something) I was actually greeted by a bustling, modern Westernish city, complete with giant traffic roundabouts, new shining highrises, and plenty of trees and gardens. Whoa, my guess was way off on that one! We were driven to our hostel where we had a reservation but had to wait til noon to get into our room. Like the one I stayed at in Beijing, this hostel is also in an old Chinese courtyard hutong that is several centuries old. Very cool.

Our next two days should be rather interesting indeed. Tomorrow we're off to see the Terracotta Dudes, and then Tuesday we're heading out on a train to Shanghai. Getting tickets for that train turned out to be even more of an ordeal than what we experienced trying to book tickets for the train to Xi'an. It's high season right now so it's very competitive to find vacancy on the sleepers on any of the trains on any of the major routes. Combine that with the fact that flooding in southern China is sending many backpackers up this way instead, and you've got a tricky situation.

At Xi'an Train Station Michael and I went to the wrong window like four or five times before finally finding the right line to buy train tickets, and when we did were informed that our first few choices for Shanghai trains were booked up solid. We managed to squeeze into two hard sleepers on a train that leaves the day after tomorrow, however there's a catch... It's not an express train, but rather one of the regular slow ones. And slow it is indeed! Our train ride to Shanghai is going to take us THIRTY-ONE HOURS!!! Egad!!! What the hell!!?? Is the train being pulled by fricken' *pandas* or something!!??

It'll be an interesting adventure for sure! Wish us luck! :-)