Beijing and Xi'an!‏

I am home!  Well...home in Kaiyin that is.  I recently returned from my long vacation.  It was such a fun trip and we did so much that I don't think a blog post can do it justice...but I will give it a shot!  We packed up our luggage and hopped onto a 21 hour train ride on April 30th.  I definitely was not ready for this train ride.  It was as horrible as I thought it was going to be.  We were all crammed into a tiny space and we didn't have much room.  It was hard for me to cram my 5'9" body into such a small space.  We decided to save money and so we only bought hard seat tickets.  What amazed me was that some people bought standing tickets!! People stand on a train for 21 hours!  They just stand there.  Sometimes they sit in the aisle, and even some people lay on the floor in the aisle.  Definitely not a sanitary decision. 

Our first stop was Beijing.  In Beijing we were able to see:

The Summer Palace

The Temple of Heaven

Tiananmen Square



The Forbidden City



I loved going to and seeing the Forbidden City.  I felt like I was in Mulan.  Forbidden City is HUGE!! I had no idea how big the grounds were.  We spent a good couple of hours wandering through the ancient buildings.  In case you didn't know, the Forbidden City served as the home for the Emperors and their households for almost five hundred years.  It also was the political center of the Chinese government.  It consists of 980 buildings and covers 7,800,000 square feet.  Along with seeing the Forbidden City, we were able to see Mao Zedong's body.  When Mao died, the froze his body and put it in a glass casket.  During certain hours of the day, people can come and see his body.  We weren't allowed to bring anything inside with us, besides our passport.  It was crazy to see the way that people still respect him.  When you first enter, you can buy white roses that are placed by a picture of Mao.  We were there at 9:00 AM and there were already thousands of roses laid out.  Once led inside, you are told that you can not talk and that you must remain quiet.  You then enter the room where Mao's body lays.  His body looked like it was made of wax and his face glowed.





The Olympic Nest



My favorite was probably the Great Wall of China.  It was remarkable to stand on the wall and look out on the horizon.  I couldn't believe that I was actually standing on the GREAT WALL!  I can now say that I have been to and have seen one of the Seven Wonders of the World. 

To see the Great Wall, we did a tour with our hostel.  We had to take about a two hour bus ride through winding streets until we reached the entrance of the Great Wall.  I thought that you would see the Great Wall along the tops of the mountains miles away, but it wasn't until about a half an hour away that we could see the first images of the wall.  At the entrance, you had the choice of either taking a ski lift to the wall or hiking to it.  We decided to hike.  We didn't think that it would be that bad, but after about 20 steps I thought that I was going to die.  I definitely was not used to the altitude change.  We had to take breaks often...but eventually we made it!  As we drew closer, I decided to start running for the last stretch.  And then suddenly I licked the Great Wall of China... yeah I don't know what happened to me.  It was absolutely beautiful!  I couldn't help but think about how many long hours and work were put into building the wall.  Thousands of people died and were buried there as well.  It is such a historic landmark and now I can say that I have been there. 

Katie, Sara and I at the Great Wall

Another fun aspect of Beijing is the shopping!  In Beijing there is the Pearl Factory and the Silk Market.  Both places have brand named clothing, accessories, basically anything you could think of.  The Silk Market is six floors tall jammed packed of things to buy.  The first floor is ALL shoes and purses, the second and third floors are ALL clothes, the fourth floor is ALL jewelry, the fifth floor is ALL sunglasses and the last floor contains antique chinese items.  We spent a good amount of time shopping!  I have become a professional barterer and got some sweet things for such a good price.  For example, I bought four pairs of toms shoes for only $23 USA.  I also bought a Northface Coat for only $26 USA.  The other items I bought have to be kept a secret!

We left Beijing on May 5th and jumped on another train headed to Xi'an.  This time the train was only 15 hours long.  Even though it was shorter than the first train we took, it didn't help the cause.

In Xi'an, we were able to see:





The Muslim Quarters



...and the Terracotta Warriors.  Which was freaking sweet!  The Terracotta Warriors is a collection of sculptures depicting the armies of the first Emperor of China.  The sculptures date back all the way from 210 BC, and were discovered in 1974 by a local farmer.  There are three different pits that contain the Terracotta Warriors.  The current estimate of the three pits combined is  8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses.  The most interesting thing to me was that the figures all looked different because they each represented an actual human being.  The figures varied in height, roles, clothing, and weapons. 

The Terracotta Warriors

Our vacation was a success!  I had such a great time!  We then had to catch ANOTHER train to come home.  This time the train was 28 hours long.  I spent an entire day sitting on a train and I am not kidding.  I think towards the end we all had gone crazy!  It didn't help that our train happened to be 2 hours late,and because of this we missed our bus home.  Instead, we found a sketchy little van that was willing to cram ten people inside.  The driver had no idea where he was going, and we pulled over multiple times.  Luckily, after a good hour or two, Katie and I recognized where we were and we helped the driver by pointing which way to go.  We eventually made it back to our apartments in Kaiyin! 

Just a side note... I may or may not have eaten a scorpion and donkey meat!  On the other hand, I had wonderful street food including a CREAM PUFF, strawberries on a stick coated in sugar, and a ton of different little pastries.

Only 45 days left!!