Alright, it’s time for the vacation rundown (it’s taken me
so long to write this because it’s so freaking long…sorry! Go get a snack or something, cause this is gonna take a while).
From October 1st
– 7th, I was on vacation for the National Day holiday, aka one of
the ‘Golden Weeks’. This holiday celebrates the founding of the P.R. China on
October 1st, 1949. Most of the schools get a week off. Some workers get 3 days. Your average Chinese
don’t really get much of a vacation though. For farmers, the work is still
there, and shopkeepers tend to stay open, often for longer hours to accommodate
increased business, during the holiday. Most of my students went home and
worked for their parents’ farms or shops, or at least helped around the house
while their parents worked; or they took on part-time jobs for the week. If you are lucky enough to get the time off
work though, this week is a popular time to go home and visit extended family
or take a rare sightseeing trip. It is also a popular time for weddings. When I
asked my students what they did on their holidays, I was surprised to hear how
many of them went to their brother’s/sister’s/cousin’s wedding. I guess it is a
time when more people will be likely to travel to the event, so it makes a lot
of sense. For many people though, this is one of the few vacations you get a
year (only about half of Chinese workers get paid vacations), so tourism also
spikes in all the major cities.
With all the travelling that goes on at this time, I was
warned that public transportation would be horrendously busy. I didn’t realize
quite how bad this would be. We (Laura, my fellow Jiujiang CIEE teacher, and I)
only finalized our travel plans about a week or so before the holiday, so the
seats were all sold out by the time we bought train tickets. So, on Friday
night (September 30th) we headed to the train station, ready for a
16 hour train ride, squatting on the floor. This is what that looked like:
UNfun. Fortunately, we only had to squat on the floor
between the trash can and the smokers until about 4 or 5 am when a few people
started getting off and we were offered seats. By the late morning, we had two
seats each and were able to actually get some sleep, although it was still
rather uncomfortable. But, we eventually made it to Xi’an, which is really all
that mattered in the end.
Rather than give you a day-by-day rundown of our week, I’ll
just hit the highlights (which will probably still take a while).
THE FOOD: We discovered that food in Xi’an is much less spicy
than in Jiujiang, which was at first a little boring to be honest. But,
we
still managed to find some delicious masterpieces.
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| first meal in Xi'an |
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| extremely delicious fat noodles |
There
is a large Muslim population in Xi’an, so there were lots of delicious noodle
dishes. We actually ate a lot of our meals in the Muslim Quarter which was
about 5 minutes from our hostel and is full of relatively cheap and quite
delicious dishes.
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| around the Muslim Quarter |
We of course tried some local specialties. This one is called yangrou paomo. You rip up some flat bread into the bottom of your bowl, and then they cover it with a delicious mutton soup. Mmm yummy!
We
also tried roujiamo, pita bread meat
sandwiches, and some others that I don’t know the name of, including little
noodles steamed in balls and covered with a spicy sauce, and fried sweet potato
cakes!
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| more delicious food in the Muslim Quarter |
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| sweet potato cakes |
Although, there were some questionable restaurants that we
avoided…
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| this reminds of the elephant graveyard in The Lion King |
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| our hostel is the left part of the building |
THE HOSTEL: Our hostel turned out to actually be pretty
great. I was worried that since we were booking it so late, we would be stuck
with a questionable hostel. And, its
reviews online weren’t so great. But, I really enjoyed it and would recommend
it to anyone traveling to Xi’an! We stayed at the Bell Tower International
Youth Hostel. The location was absolutely perfect. It is located right in the
middle of the old town right next to the Bell Tower. Like I said, we were 5
minutes from the Muslim Quarter, where all the food was, so that was great.
And, since the Bell Tower marks the center of the city, you can catch a bus to
pretty much anywhere from one corner or another.
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| hostel bar/restaurant |
As for the hostel itself, it
was pretty much what you’d expect from a decent youth hostel. It was pretty
clean and the bathrooms were definitely just as nice as some of the good ones
in European hostels (and better than some - anyone remember the questionable
showers in Prague? Eww). They had free computers with internet access, the
staff was nice and helpful, and there was a bar/restaurant run by the hostel
too. The food there was pretty expensive, but we splurged on the last day and
had a legitimate western breakfast – first since I’ve been here, and last for a
while I’m sure! The drinks were overpriced, but that’s pretty much the case in
all the bars.
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| view of the Bell Tower from the hostel |
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| One+One |
The best part was definitely the people. We stayed in the 10
bunk dorm rooms and got to meet some cool people from all over: Canada,
Germany, Poland, France, etc. We had an epic night out to a club called
One+One, complete with drunken Chinese friends with questionable dancing skills
(see facebook videos for more on this). It’s
comforting to find you’re not the only one off on some crazy journey through
China, or wherever. It’s so cool to think about how you’re kind of intersecting
each other’s paths at different points, and you get to share a small part of
your journey with them, and vice versa.
THE SIGHTS: Alright, time for the best part. You know, the reason
we actually went to Xi’an. It is one of the oldest cities in China and
considered one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. It is therefore
overflowing with historical artifacts and places of significance – a treat for
any history buff and a must-see if you’re making a trip to China. Here’s some
of what we saw while we were there (as always, refer to fb for more pictures!)
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| small goose pagodoa |
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| ride 'em cowboy! |
XI’AN MUSEUM and SMALL GOOSE PAGODA: Our first stop
of the
trip was to this (free!) museum. We actually meant to go the Shaanxi
History
Museum, which is more famous and supposed to be much better. But, due to
my
poor sense of direction and an overcrowded bus system, this is where we
ended
up. We still managed to see some pretty cool stuff, including a scale
model of
the old capital, then known as Chang’an. The grounds were quite
beautiful and
included the Small Goose Pagoda. We even managed to find a Belgian tour
group
to stalk and eavesdrop on some historical facts en francais!
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| best fountain ever |
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| model of the old city |
BELL TOWER and DRUM TOWER: Since these structures
were
located just outside our hostel, I got many late night shots of them all
lit up
in their splendor. We only paid to go up the Bell Tower, which was a
little disappointing
on the inside. But, we got some good shots off the top and the entrance
fee was
only about 4 USD, so not too bad.
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| bell tower |
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| view of the drum tower from the bell tower |
OLD CITY WALLS: Instead of renting bikes (which looks like
it would have been rather unpleasant given the bumpy and uneven nature of the
surfaces), we decided to set off walking the 9 mile track around the city. The
views were so-so, but the people-watching was fantastic! We only made it about ¾
of the way around before getting off in favor of some souvenir shopping at the
south gate.
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| winning outfit of the week on the city walls |
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| chillin' at the mosque |
GREAT MOSQUE: Located in the Muslim Quarter, the Great
Mosque of Xi’an is the oldest in China, founded in the 700s. It was a neat mix
of cultures, with distinctly Chinese architecture covered in Arabic
calligraphy.
XINGQINGGONG GARDENS: A little off of the normal tourist
path, these huge gardens are located further away from the center of the city.
As long as you avoid the cheesy Chinese amusement park rides and novelty pedal
boats, it’s really quite beautiful. Of course you can’t avoid the curious Chinese
youngsters stalking you and wanting photos with the waiguoren, but it makes a nice (free) escape from the overcrowded
tourist attractions.
