Chinar, Americar and Russiar

"Chinar, Americar and Russiar"

January 20, 2010

What a day!

We woke up at the crack of dawn today to catch our plane to Xi'an. We were originally supposed to take a train, but for some reason a decision was made to fly last minute.

Our hotel was very stingy on check out procedures. They wanted all room keys turned into the front desk and threatened to charge if they weren't turned in. I managed to keep one for my hotel room key collection. J

Next we headed to the airport in Chengdu. We all dubbed the city as Chengdon’t because it has been our least favorite city and tour guide so far. Our luggage had already been checked in for us. We went through security and then took a bus from our terminal to our plane. We had to board the plane private jet style, from stairs in the middle of the runway. I was amazed they were able to fit all the students and professors on a plane with only one and a half days notice. I slept most of the hour and a half flight.

From the moment we landed in Xi’an, it was obvious that we liked it much, much better. We could tell looking out of the plane windows, the sky was more clear and the city was not as smoggy as Shanghai or Chengdu. We boarded our bus, which had more leg room than the last. Our tour guide in Xi'an's name is Jerry. He is very stylish. He reminds me of the Asian version of David Yohan, for those of you from Columbia. He talked the entire way to the hotel. When he talks about things that end in an "a" he adds a "r". Therefore America is Americar, China is Chinar and Russia is Russiar. He is so pleasant and much more fun than our last tour guide. Definitely more organized than the last tour guide, and much more professional.

When we arrived at the hotel, we found out we had been upgraded to the executive suite. We also have free internet during our stay. Our hotel has a disco, western restaurant, sauna, gym and a barber.

Later, we boarded the bus and went to lunch. The lunch was very different but scrumptious. After our tasty lunch we went to see "the Wild Goose Pagoda".
The Wild Goose Pagoda is also a Buddhist temple. Our tour guide explained the whole life of Buddha. Interestingly enough, it has some similarities to the life of Christ. I found out there is a small population of religious people in China. For example, out of one thousand people, only one hundred people in China are religious. This means there are 900 atheists. I am constantly amazed at the culture and what the Chinese believe and think.

We left the pagoda and headed back to the hotel. We were exhausted from waking up so early, so we decided to take a nap before dinner.

We left for dinner and went to a restaurant about 15 minutes away. Each individual person had their own hot pot. Fresh ingredients such as lettuce, mushrooms, noodles, egg and meat varieties were provided. We got to put combinations of ingredients in and cooked our food. While it was cooking we went up to a buffet style table and made our own dipping sauce. I put soy sauce, garlic, and scallions in mine. The food was very appetizing. It was one of my favorite meals thus far.

We headed back to the hotel. I Skyped with John and then showered before bed. Tomorrow is a busy day. I'm looking forward to experiencing so much history.

Oh one more thing I need to share.
Our tour guide always says before we get off the bus:
"You may leave all your things on the bus. Very safe. Except for valuables."

Haha, how funny!