one of the best parts was coming 'home' on the train.
even though it was a 12 hour train ride on a hard sleeper.
with an older chinese couple.
and the uncle snored.
wellll i will start at the beginning, i suppose, as to the epic Xian adventure.
Xian is where the Terra Cotta warriors are.
So, being in China, we had to go and see them.
The train there was fine.
Long, but fine.
My immediate impression of Xian was that it was .... smoggy. Worse than Beijing ever is! You couldn't even see the sun.
The hostel we stayed in was lovely. There was a cat and dog there; I don't remember the cat's name but the dog was named Taro.
The bad started when they told us that we would be having to stay an extra night in Xian because they couldn't get us train tickets back to Beijing. It wasn't unexpected, just annoying.
Saturday we went exploring, got lost, came back, ate some awesome food, got drunk in the bar, played some pool, got sick from drinking too much. Typical.
Sunday we went to see the Terra Cotta warriors. Fucking amazing. If i ever come back to Xian that's the only thing I'm coming back for. It was lovely out in the countryside. Clear and beautiful and warm but not awful. The warriors were everything that we wanted them to be .
Monday ... oh monday.
Monday we went to the bell tower. Nice. Got some McD's. Lounged. Got our tickets. Ate some lunch. Played some DS. Then took the bus to the train station. Got some more McD's for dinner.
The train station was ...
HORRIBLE.
filled with dirty, smelly, lecherous old uncles watching us. It was only me and four other girls, because we wanted to go ahead, and only one of us spoke fluent Chinese. The men all over proceeded to stare and point and all kinds of things, until we were in line and Karen (who speaks the Chinese) said to some of them (in chinese) "You know, we understand everything that you're saying."
it's not true that we all do, only she does, but they stopped staring.
the train back to Beijing was ridiculous.
The couple that were sharing the room with us weren't bad at all, but there was no door on our compartment ...
and the toilets were not only squatty but FILTHY and SMELLY and UNCLEAN.
(for those of you that don't know, i'e had a lot of knee surgeries so using squat toilets for me is near impossible, because my knees don't bend.)
I was so happy to get back to Beijing, mostly because we were all unable to shower for three days, and we looked like it.
needless to say, i didn't like Xian and will not go back unless I am under extreme duress.
I speak fluent english. I also have a year of Japanese and a term of Chinese under my belt.
I'm a double major in East Asian Studies and Japanese.
You can call me Kay, Kai, or Kaili, because I'll answer to all or any of them.
I am a sophomore at North Central College but this year I'm spending 8 weeks in Beijing, China, and 7 weeks in Kyoto, Japan.
I am 19, and will be 20 in about 2 months. It will be a fabulous Japanese birthday party.
When I'm not in college I live in a small town in Northern Illinois, and I hate it there. Will hopefully be moving to California to my aunt's soon, you never know.
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The Diary of Desire: Chapter 6
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