Battling like Warriors in Xian

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The next high-speed train I boarded was en route to Xian, home of the Terracotta Army. This train would share a similar time as the one for Beijing, but I would be awake for a little more of it. Richard would meet me there via air from Shanghai. I was stoked because this would be the first actual “on the road” travel experiences I’d have with him. As the train arrived at the station, I already began to feel like a bit of a pro. I had the trains down, networks of metros seemed fairly easy, and I was actually picking up a few functional words in Chinese. I disembarked the train and made my way directly to the metro ticket line, and bumped into two fellows from Switzerland and France. We chatted for a moment and they admitted they didn’t have a hostel booked, so they followed me to the one Forbes had booked for us.

The three of us left the Metro station and my first glimpse of Xian already impressed me. It is a walled city, with a large ancient wall surrounding the central section of it. There are many large pagoda styled buildings, and it seemed like a nice balance between old and new architecture. I continued to be pleased as we entered the hostel and I was happy Forbes had chosen it. It followed the similar Chinese/Foreign style balance as Xian did, and had a hopping bar downstairs that many foreigners and locals frequent, many who are not staying at the hostel. It was a convenient opportunity to enjoy social time with a vast array of people. I had a bite to eat while waiting for Richard and already became acquainted with another Swiss fellow and his Belgian friend, both who had been traveling for nearly 8 months. As Forbes arrived, our group grew and we all shared some beverages and had some good traveling conversation.

The following day had the infamous Terracotta Army in store. Sadly, we had not learned from my previous “time saving” experience in Beijing and we decided to negotiate with a taxi driver to take us the hour long ride out of the city to the Terracotta site versus taking the bus that would have been a fraction of the price. This option wouldn’t have been a problem, but my addiction to Chinese dumplings would, as we were soon to find out. However, we made it to the museum in decent time and began to enjoy the sites. We dodged the numerous offers to be guided through the site, and often joked that we were our own tour guides, trying to convince the official guides that we actually studied the Terracotta Army in school and were experts. It never worked. Nevertheless we made it to the first exhibit and were immediately impressed by the vastness of the dig site and intricacy of the pottery formed warriors and horses. It was interesting to connect that over 8,000 soldiers, horses, and other pieces of army equipment were buried for the first emperor of China to protect him in the afterlife. They were discovered by a group of farmers in the 70’s and meticulously uncovered by archeologists, some of which are still being unearthed today. After spending a few hours at all of the pits, we sat on a grassy area and were approached by many Chinese tourists requesting pictures with us. It was a pleasant way to wrap everything up. Nevertheless, I couldn’t have this smooth feeling dominate too much, as I would insist that Chinese dumplings would complicate things. As we approached our cab driver, who was patiently waiting for us, but eager to get going, we decided that food would be a necessity. Again, this wouldn’t have been a problem if we realized that our cab drivers shift ended in about an hour. So, we enjoyed Chinese dumplings and a few beers and had a great time with the owner of the restaurant who joined us for a few “gambei”. As we finished paying the bill is when things would get complicated as Forbes’ little working knowledge of Chinese could not negotiate that the driver needed to drop us off first before changing shifts, requiring us to pay an extra 100RMB. After numerous attempts and finally surrendering to our hostel staff to help translate over the phone for us, we made it back to our hostel, only costing us more time than it needed. However, as I mentioned in the previous blog, everything happens for a reason.

After returning from the marvel of the Terracotta Army, we rented some bikes and cruised along the top of the wall that covers a large area of the city. It was a nice way to burn off some of the frenzied experience we just had. In addition, the setting was perfect as the sun was just coming down as we finished our ride. When we were returning our bikes, we met a fellow teacher, who was traveling with her mother and a friend. After chatting for a while, they invited us to enjoy a local Muslim styled dinner with them, that is unique to Xian. We couldn’t refuse, so freshened up and joined them. This was our first experience of Xian at night. The city continued to impress with large lit up pagodas, towers, walls, and busy streets lined with vendors and hole in the wall restaurants. It would be in one of these holes in the wall where we would enjoy our meal, which was delicious! After dining, we bid farewell to our new friends and decided to go back to the hostel bar for a few beverages and meet up with some new people. We ended up indulging the night away and socialized with folks from the USA, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Japan, England, China, and Malaysia just to name a few. As the night came to an end, we were excited to embark on tomorrow’s journey high up to Hua Shan, an experience that would emphasize, “Everything happens for a reason”.

We woke up a little groggy, but enjoyed a good breakfast and set out to Hua Shan (Mount Hua). It was funny, we knew many people who had experienced this before however, our fly by the seat of our pants style of traveling kind of kicked us in the ass this time around. We figured that it would be a short jaunt away, we would enjoy some hiking, views, and our day would be done, so as we left our hostel around 11:30am, we had very misinformed expectations. We were quick to realize that it would be an hour bullet train, 15 minute taxi ride, 45 minute bus ride, and then a 30 minute cable car ride to where we wanted to go. Not only that, but when we began sorting out our tickets, we were also surprised to have to pay nearly 800RMB ($130) for the return trip. With that in mind, after griping about the early morning obstacles, the minute we stepped onto the gondola, our frustrations quickly disappeared. The sight of Mount Hua was spectacular. This may sound strange coming from a guy that has lived near the mountains for the majority of his life, snowboarded for years, and has probably ridden a chairlift and gondola a hundred times, but I was nervous. The gondola ride took my breath away and rivaled the Peak 2 Peak in Whistler. Forbes and I couldn’t help but take a few deep breathes as the gondola climbed up the mountain peaks and descended back down the valleys. When we finally arrived at the top, we already got our monies worth, but still had a lot of the mountain to explore, specifically the area called “Cliffside path.” I’ll let your imagination run for a bit there. So we explored the many peaks of Hua Shan and took some pretty death-defying photos, however, our real chance to cheat death was yet to come. We hiked for about an hour towards the Cliffside Path, and if you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s a place to risk your life walking along a few wooden planks nailed into the mountainside with nothing but a 2,000 meter drop below. Now, before you get too worried mom, we were strapped into a harness which attaches to a safety line. Needless to say, the Chinese have a bit of a different set of safety standards, so it wasn’t much of a reassurance. However, as travelers should do, we put our heads down and went for it. It was a heart pounding experience and we got some pretty cool photos and video to remember it by. We managed to survive the challenge and were conscious of the time, as the gondola shut down at 7pm and we weren’t sure when the last bullet train back to Xian city was. We ripped up and down the many steps and finally made it back onto the gondola where we enjoyed a celebratory beer on our decent. Conversely, in the back of our minds, we were worried we may not make it back in time. Our fear eventually became a reality as we ran up to the ticket window at 8:15pm, only to find out the train had left at 15 minutes earlier. However, this would be another excellent example of twists of fate, which work out for the best.

Being fairly seasoned travelers, this mishap did not rattle us and despite the fact that we had a flight leaving back to Shanghai tomorrow morning, we quickly began thinking critically and trying to see how we could back to Xian. We knew there was a regular speed train, but were unsure how long it would take us. We managed to get a cab, who took us on a dodgy route to the station and we were saved by a slow, working class train heading to Xian that would only take about 2 hours. We breathed a sigh of relief. As we were buying our tickets, which were a fraction of the price, we bumped into a small group of Chinese students who we saw on the Cliffside path. Forbes immediately struck up a conversation with them and they were heading back to Xian as well. After picking up a few tall boys and our dinner which consisted of a package of baby cookies, we boarded the train and began conversing with the students who wanted to practice their English with us. We were tired, hungry, dirty, and our surroundings were a bit harsh, but this was another amazing social experience as we all sat down together on the run down train, which was full of transient workers and poor conditions. However, I love any type of train and was extremely glad to have experienced this one. The highlight of the whole meeting was a time when we found out one of the students did not have an English name. Forbes and I offered to think of one for her, which she gladly accepted and decided on Lucy. It shared some letters of her Chinese name, and seemed to fit her look and personality. In return, we asked if they could think of a Chinese name for me, which they began grappling with. Some other commoners on the train began to start paying attention, and after a few suggestions that didn’t fit, one of them shouted, “Li Long” due to my resemblance to Bruce Lee (???) who’s Chinese name is Li Xiao Long. It also fit well because Richard’s Chinese name, Li Cha De also contains the surname Li, which makes us Chinese brothers. Long, translated from Chinese means dragon, which is held high in Chinese culture. As the train came to a halt was the exact same time as we decided the name was perfect. If we would have planned the day thoroughly, been on time for the day, not had missed the bullet train, then entire interaction would have never happened, and both Richard and I would have missed out on another great encounter.

As we were on our flight back to Shanghai, we continued to marvel in the way things worked out during our trip to Xian. The entire journey brought unforeseen situations, which were always handled with a sense of experience, was taken lightly, and turned out to be one of the best trips I’ve had yet. However, I still had 5 more days in China, and I wasn’t quite ready to wrap it all up yet.

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Comments

[Lori]

Wow!! Those pics- u guys crazy!! That one with a blue sneaker hanging over the ledge gave me chills!!! Sounds like yet again another amazing adventure!! Your story of your Chinese name and you and Forbes now being brothers was too funny!!! Great blog!!! One of my faves!!