Muslims, warriors and prostitutes

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Tuesday August 22nd

We had another early morning bus to Lanzhou but this time we opted for one at 7:30 instead of being sadomasochist and go for the 6:30 one. We nevertheless woke up everyone in the dorm while we packed our stuff except for the israeli girls who were taking a bus to Langmusi. I realized at that point that for the last 2 nights I was the only guy in the dorm with about 6-7 girls. Travel's hard.

We bought some local bread and took a rickshaw with the israeli to the bus station. We ate our bread thing with the honey Aisling bought the day before and it was some good stuff. Thank god for the Hui and islam. They brought decent honey and bread in China. As soon as we decided to listen to the ipod they started playing this overly loud chinese/tibetan karaoke thing on tv so we turned the ipod off. Aisling was feeling increasingly bad so at the first stop I got under the bus to look for my bag and got some Gravol. My mom made me pack a few things I would've forgot and Gravol was one of those. Mommie: Aisling says thank you for forcing me to bring it, she also thank you for giving me that sewing kit I never used (and don't know how) because she used it a few days ago and it saved one of her shirt.

Aisling asked the driver to reduce the volume but he just turned it off completely which is even better. A few minutes later she was feeling better already and we switched the ipod back on. We hit Lanzhou at around 11:30, one hour early. Now for those who read the LP they know that Lanzhou is described as a dusty shithole whose only honour is that it is the most polluted city in the world. This seemed to be what most travellers told you if asked about Lanzhou. I was a bit skeptical about this because Let's Go was actually positive about Lanzhou and I figured people were just parroting the LP and it must be quite charming. Well I was wrong. It is everything that the LP tell you it is. Dusty, ugly shithole.

We took a cab from the bus station we were dropped at to the other bus station on the other side of town close to the train station. This is where me and Aisling were about to split. She was going west to Dunhuang while I was going east to Xi'an and Beijing. She got a ticket for 5pm to Dunhuang and we headed to the train station as there was no bus to Xi'an. The place was packed and the lines were long. But hey it's not like if we had a choice so we waited. If someone ask me, later in my life, if there was a place where I loved authority very much I will answer without hesitation: Lanzhou train station, China. Why? Well because there were actually waiting lines and the police was making sure that no one was trying to cut to go in front like they all do in China. In addition the ticketwomen didn't talk to people who cut in line. Manners in China? Yes it might happen someday if Lanzhou is any indication. I almost french-kissed those police officers. If there is a pro-democracy manifestation in the future in Lanzhou and the police go and beat the protesters, don't be surprised if I side with the police. I mean THEY FORCED PEOPLE TO MAKE A LINE!!!! They're my best friend forever now. If you think I'm exagerating, please travel in China for 6 weeks independantly and on a tight budget. I'm ready to bet a lot of money you'll be thinking like me.

Aisling did the talking and she got me a hard seat ticket for the evening. We were quite happy of ourselves. We had nothing booked at the beginning of theday and we both managed to get a same-day ticket to our next destination. We ate some aubergine in spicy sauce and sweet/sour pork at a restaurant close to the train station. At some point during the meal I took out my ticket to look at my seat number only to realize that I had none. Even though we had asked for a hard-seat they had given me a standing ticket. I did standing once and it wasn't fun. It was a very serious "wasn't fun", more like "I'm not doing it again, never". I don't mind though transport. I can take it. I've done some crazy 66 hours seat bus ride, 36 hours insane boatride, several several 12 hours mountain road buses and I'd redo all of them. All except that goddamn standing ticket train thing.

So we went back to the train station, got our ticket reimbursed at 80% (lost about 19RMB, or 3$ so it's not dramatic) and bought another ticket but this time we made sure I had a seat. The train was leaving earlier at 6:40 so I figured all the better. Aisling had to go to the bank to deposit the money she had gotten with Western Union so we walked on the main srteet till we found a Bank of China. We had tapioca tea which Aisling had been raving about for ages but unfortunately I'm not a big fan. Not too bad but not the best thing I've had. It was 3 already so we decided to hit a wangba and go on the net for a while. At 4:30 we headed to her bus station. Turns out we went on the wrong street. We realized that only at 4:50 and freaked out a bit. We ran to a side alley which we thought might lead us there but it didn't lead there. It was about 4:57 when we managed to get back to the street and 4:59 when we managed to get into a cab. Thankfully we were close and we made it to the bus station by 5:00 and Aisling made it right in time. We said goodbye very fast because the bus was leaving. I don't think I travelledwith anyone for more than a few days before and I must say I enjoyed travelling with Aisling. Our route might meet again as she's also heading to the indian subcontinent.

After she left I wandered the street a bit and headed to the train station since my train was in an hour and a half so I had nothing to do in the meanwhile (and I wanted to eat in the train as it makes time pass faster). It was wierd to be without Aisling. I felt mute and deaf. For the past week I had been able to communicate and understand the chineses through Aisling but now I felt lost. I had to get accustomed once again to not understand anything and gesture/point to get my point accross. I got on the train and found my seat which was on the aisle side. The train was pretty empty with almost no one standing up. I had my obligatory bowl of instant noodles at the beginning. A few hours into the ride a seat freed up next to me so I had quite a lot of sitting space. I half-slept most of the night somewhat comfortably.

Wednesday August 23rd

I woke up at 3AM and noticed there were lots of building outside and that we were slowing down. I got up and asked the conductor whether we were in Xian and he confirmed. Bloody hell the ride was supposed to take 12 hrs which would've brought me in Xian at 6:40 but it took only a few more than 8. I got out of the station to find out that there were a few hundreds of chinese on the pavement, sleeping (or trying to). I went in the ticket hall which was, quite surprinsingly, manned and bought my ticket to Beijing for the evening, a hard-sleeper this time (luxurious travel ahead, how exciting). I then imitated the chineses and sat on the pavement as it seemed to be the only cool thing to do. I looked at my options. I could get a hotel room for a few hours and sleep until morning or I could turn my situation to my advantage and explore a chinese city at night.

Being young and naive, I thought the second option would be fun (it does sound fun when you say it I must admit, it's different when you're actually doing it). Immediately after taking my decision I fell semi-asleep for about 15 minutes until I decided to get up and see what Xi'an had to offer at night. The answer? Prostitutes, overly expansive cheap food and empty streets. I wondered around the train station which is close to heavily restorated (no doubt for tourists) city walls. A few prostitutes tried to lure me into some dark corners but thankfully, getting clamydia is not on my "Things to do while around the world list" or maybe they weren't prostitutes but simply women wearing too much makeup who couldn't resist the virile male that passed near them, we shall never know.

I stopped at some restaurant that was still open somewhat close to the train station and had a few spicy meatballs. I got screwed so bad. She asked for 10RMB and I gave it to her. This thing was not worht more than 3 but I was so tired I wasn't thinking straight. I ate my balls slowly, almost falling asleep. After a while I picked up my energy and walked toward the Bell Tower and the Muslim Quarter. The street was pretty boring aside from a few other prostitutes and a drunken men who was pissing on the sidewalk I didn't encounter anyone. I made it to the Bell Tower by sunrise and walked over to the Muslim Quarter. I unfortunately missed the pre-dawn prayer but I did see the muslims leave the Mosque and I had a chance to walk around the neighbourhood almost alone which is quite cool.

I decided to walk back to the train station to get an early morning buses to the world-famous Terracotta Warrior. Everyone who goes to China goes to Xi'an to see them and you've probably heard about them somewhere. China's first emperor decided to make a terracotta army for his tomb and the hundreds of soldiers' statue were discovered only in 1976 by peasants who were building a well. Quite cool but travellers who had been there invariably said "give it a miss" or only "allright" so I wasn't expecting much.

There are countless of "tourist" bus that promise you they'll go to the warriors but in fact will stop every 30 minutes at "jewelry" shops for 30 minutes so that you can buy "souvenirs". I really didn't want to get into one of those because I knew I'd turn violent. I therefore looked hard for the public bus 306 and I eventually found it. I paid 7RMB and fell asleep. I woke up at some point and a few minutes later we were at the Warriors. Lovely. I heard stories about people spending the entire day stuck on those buses visiting stupid souvenir shops so I was happy to have avoided it.

I walked to the ticket booth (quite a long walk actually) and told no to about 15 women who were trying to offer their services as guide as well as some guy who wanted me to take a freaking golf cart to the warriors. Pfft. What next they'll offer me special shampoo for balding hair. I'm 22 for god's sake. I paid the hefty 90RMB entrance fee even after trying all my charm to get a student discount. "You have such nice eyes" doesn't seem to have much effect on chinese women. Especially when they don't speak english. Might try french next time.

There are 3 pits, the first one being the biggest and third one smallest. Well it was allright but it is exactly what you see on the pictures. I didn't get overly excited. I don't know why I thought the whole story of how and why they were made was way cool when I first read it. It might be that the whole place feels like a high school gym and you know that whatever you're seeing is not really authentic but just close duplicates of the real thing. I understand the reason why they're not showing the real here. The statues are very fragile and they're trying hard to preserve them. But still there's no "magic" feeling of wonder and excitement when you see them so I suggest you give them a miss like more than half of the travellers I've encountered said. If you do go, have low expectations. The museum was the saddest thing I've ever seen. Go there for a good laugh.

I left the site after about an hour and made my way back to my public bus stop. It's wierd this is the place I've encountered the most westerner in China. It seems everyone comes to Xi'an. On the way out a women tried to sell me something that sounded like penis but I was too scared that she might be one of the prostitute from the night before so I walked away instead of asking for more details. In the parking lot a rather aggressive guy tried to sell me some small-scale replicas of terracotta warriors. He took my "no" as a bargaining strategy and wouldn't leave me. In the end he cut his price by 4 and actually tried to force me to take the statue. He finally got the point when I showed him in which orrifice he could shove his statues. I used to get annoyed by these guys but not anymore. I just find them funny.

I took the bus back to Xian and slept the whole way. At the train station I walked back to the Muslim Quarter (the walk is about 45 minutes one way so it takes a while but keeps you awake). In the Muslim district, I walked in the street I had walked a few hours before when they were empty and found them full of street stalls selling everything from kebab, to Mao's Red Book, tshirt where you can inscribe you're favorite chinese character as well as some pretty delicious dumplings. I visited the Mosque which was quite interesting. Very similar to Xiahe but bigger and since it was prayertime I had the chance to see Hui praying.

I wandered in the Muslim Quarter for awhile, stopping at shops here and there and eating a little bit of street food. Everyone who went to Xian recommended me the Muslim Quarter and I'll do the same. Touristy, but lovely. I had about an hour to kill before my train so I walked back and checked my email quite fast in an internet cafe. I bought some food for the way in a supermarket that tried to overcharge me by a few yuans. I might be a stupid westerner but I knew how to count.

I got to the station, went in the train and found my berth. I had a top berth and I loved it. It's not high enough to sit but I don't care because at least chineses can't stare at me when I'm up there. I ate my noodles after the train left and fell asleep about 2 seconds after I got back on my berth. Hard-sleeper felt like first class travel. I almost felt guilty. Almost.

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Photos

Terracotta warrior 1
Here they are.

Muslim Quarter at dawn
This street is packed full of street stalls and tourists normally. I liked it with the trees and everything. It's rare that you see green in chinese cities unless you spot a chinese with a Italy t-shirt.

Xian Mosque
A lot like Xiahe's but bigger.

Kid shooting ballon on sidewalk
This kid was shooting freaking balloon with a air-gun on the sidewalk in Lanzhou! I saw 2 people walk in front of the gun as if there was nothing to see. A freaking kid with a gun on the street and no one cared.

Terracotta warrior 2
They're not the real deal, they're just replicas ofthe real warriors. Understandable given the very fragile nature of the statues.

Terracotta warrior 3
Look at the building. Whoever built the place need to take some lesson from the Louvres on how to present some of the world's most important relics. Seriously this place looks like a high school gym.

Terracotta warrior 4
They had horses too!

Terracotta warrior 5
Some have no heads!

Bell Tower
At sunrise, but it doesn't matter because with Xian pollution you can't see the sun.

Xian Mosque 4
Hui Muslim all wear that little hat.

Comments

[Brandon]

side note from an earlier blog
Hey Victor, You asked about israel with stamps from other countries on your passport. You can expect a very through questioning of 3-6 hours but probably won't give you an anal probe. Hope that helps, Brandon