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Published: July 26th 2005
Asleep on the train ride
Some of my students sleeping on the wayWhen one of my colleagues approached and asked me if I wanted to go on a trip to Xi'an with my chinese students, I thought it would be fun and agreed. The school was going to pay for all the expenses - and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get to know my students a little better. Little did I realise - that it was going to be one of the most exhausting trips of my life.
We travelled thirteen hours hard seat to Xi'an. Which wasn't too bad - just not too good either. I managed to get a little sleep - maybe about two hours or so. I was looking forward to getting into the hotel and resting. When we got into Xi'an - we were rushed into a tour bus - and shipped off straight away to the Terracotta Warriors. Which would have been awesome, if I wasn't so tired! Then in the afternoon we were dragged to some museum. I don’t really remember much of it.
For a week - my life consisted of getting up, having a breakfast, getting on the tour bus, being dragged from site to site. Then getting
home in the evening, tired. Our hotel was right above a nightclub- so we didn’t get to sleep until after three am in the morning. I have lost count of the museums, temples and historic sites we saw in one week. It was interesting - but I also would have loved the opportunity to take things slowly.
It definately was an experience - taking part in a Chinese tour- with the tour guide speaking chinese all the time, and seeing China through the eyes of a chinese tourist - instead through just western eyes. But it did mean that I didn't have a clue about some of the sites we were visiting - and didn't really know their significance. My chinese is good - but not quite up to it yet. There was only one other western teacher on the tour. And the two of us kept our eyes peeled for such essential items as coffee and western food. Which is plentiful, thanks to the large amounts of tourists who trek to this city.
One of the highlights was seeing the water fountain in Xi'an - every night - near one of the city squares, they have a
Xi'an city wall
The lanterns hanging from the old city wall water fountain - set to classical music. Almost all the chinese venture out to watch it. I had more fun observing the crowd then watching the light and water display.
For some reason, I really loved the city of Xi'an. I really want to go back there - maybe in a little more comfort - and with time to do what I want. The city seemed so much nicer, cleaner and more organised than Beijing. But apparently - it isn't safe. My Chinese collegue kept telling all of us to be careful - with our money - apparently people get mugged all the time.
I did get to know my students a little better - I got to see what they are like with very little sleep, and lacking in motivation for the organised activities (which, actually isn't all that different to normal).
Towards the end of the week - I found myself getting really, really tired. All of a sudden, the hawkers - who kept trying to sell stuff to me, or the shop assistants who watch me like a hawk - suddenly really began to annoy me. I was getting easily annoyed and had to
Jo and the view
Me standing on the city wall keep myself from being rude to them.
The trip back home - hard seat for thirteen hours - was hard. I was tired - but couldn't sleep. I got up a few times to walk around - and found people asleep in the toilets and in the sink (some people buy standing tickets and then try and find places to sleep). It was a relief to get into Beijing. My students were all in a scramble to be the ones to get into my taxi back to the school - they knew that i would take a taxi - not a bus - and they wanted a seat in my taxi.
I'm glad that I went - but next time someone approaches me and asks me if I want to travel hard seat for more than two hours - I will definately speak before I answer!
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