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Published: April 18th 2011
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Terracotta Army
Right before i get bruised, notice how i had to go to a bad spot to get a picture We finally arrived in Xi’an after drinking to much on a sleeper train. There was no time to rest as we headed on a private bus for about an hour drive to see the Terracotta army. When you first walk in it is simply amazing to see how large these pits are. That feeling quickly vanished for me when I received my first elbow to the kidney. The Chinese tourist do not like to wait in lines and I am certain they come up with plans ahead of time of how they will get in front. My favorite move was when I got the elbow to the kidney (which felt like a steel baseball bat) and I looked to my right to see a five foot 60+ year old lady. The second I looked though 3 other five foot ladies snuck in on my left and somehow within seconds i was behind 10 people. This is a common theme everywhere in China, i guess i have to be more aggressive.
After we got back a group of us just went walking around Xi’an and found a place to eat. Little did we know the portions at this place were
designed for families sharing plates. We should have picked up on it when we were ordering and the waitress looked at us like we were crazy and started calling other waiters over but we didnt understand what they were saying till they brought the first plate out which would have fed 5 people. Each of us ordered two plates so needless to say, there were a lot of leftovers. Afterward we just went to this public park where teens come to skate and watch the teenage boys try to impress the western ladies and crash every time.
The next morning we went to the ancient wall that surrounds Xi’an which again is massive. We rented bikes which felt as ancient as the wall, mine had no brakes or gears. We lucked out with the weather, every day here in China has been sunny and 80 and there were only a few days were the smog and pollutions were really bad. We rode the bikes on top of the wall the entire length which took about an hour and a half. Once again I realized how out of shape I am and I understand why i haven't seen one overweight
Chinese person. We ate a massive lunch of 16 types of dumplings and then we were off to Xi’an’s night market to do some haggling. After getting back to the hotel i feel right to sleep for an hour before heading back out for dinner and back to the park with the skaters. This time we found someone that rented old school rollerblades and had a blast skating with the locals who seem to love us. I joined in a few chains we had going and kept racing some kids who kept beating me since one of my wheels were broken. Thats when I met little Havi Jr. He was some 6-16 year old boy who was fascinated with me and kept racing me on foot and wouldn’t leave my side, so I named him Havi Jr. I think he wanted to come back to Cleveland with me. Despite the language barrier, all the locals loved us and even some parents kept bringing their babies up to us to play, till one girl took a squat right in the middle of the skate park. Oh and one of the funniest things in China is that kids that are just learning
Wall at Xi'an
Notice how you cant see the end, and thats just one side to use squatters have these special pants with the butt cut out. All the time you see these kids walking around with their tush completely showing, I don't understand how the parents know when the kid has to go. Anyways, they were all sad to see we had to go. Next I have an early morning flight to Chengdu to see the Pandas and then a 3 day boat tour down the Yangtze, followed by a few nights in a Buddhist temple, so I’m not sure I will be able to update in awhile.
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Steve
non-member comment
Fun
Alan, your trip sounds so cool so far! I bet you are having a real blast. The pictures are great, keep them coming.