Xi'an

My previous experiences with trains: Metra (Ogilvy-Kenosha) in Chicago and the Chunnel in France.
My most recent experience with trains: Beijing to Xi'an, overnight expedition.

For over twelve hours, the other BeiDa students and I shared what was two or three cars on an overnight train to Xi'an with many-a Chinese local. Very new experience. The beds were small, stacked in three-echelon bunk beds, and were pretty uncomfortable. Everyone was packed together. Incredible asian scenery and cityscapes flew by through average-sized windows. The bathrooms..? We'll save the bathroom talk for when you're a little more warmed up.

Luckily, I got a bottom bunk, and the bed across from me was also posessed by Sam, a girl in our group, SO we confiscated the area and used it as a gathering-place for whoever felt the urge to chat. Myself and around 8 other students sat and talked for hours, and I can easily say I have never been in such a large group of interesting, intelligent, kind, humorous, and adventurous people in all my life (this is a recurring theme in my adventure so far--the Americans and one Swede who make up our group are becoming many of my favorite people.) After the long chat, I amused myself with a dance of jet lag: Listen to music, sleep for an hour, wake up, watch outside the window for as long as I like, listen to music, sleep for an hour, wake up, watch outside the window for as long as I like, etc. Finally, when we pulled into Xi'an, I heard many people echo my first thought: "This is exactly what I imagined when I thought of China."

There is a huge city wall encasing the center of Xi'an, and a load of traditional-looking architecture to match the wall's stately appearance. The hustle and bustle was insane, so many bodies packed into such small places. Here, we saw some of our first beggars. Here, we saw the sizzling street food and aggressive vendors. Here, we rode bycicles on an enormous wall overlooking the city of Xi'an. At night, the city lit up with technicolor neon signs adorning almost every building and business. The night life was hopping, as was the daytime--I had some of my first haggling experiences here, and let me tell you, in China, shopping is as close to a game as it can get. The game goes something like this:

Me: How much does this cost *Holds up something shiny*
Vendor: 100 Kuai.
Me: Whaaat? Hm... I don't know...
Vendor: Listen, this is the special price. Special price for [Insert "best friend," "first customer," "student," "someone who speaks some Chinese," "second cousin" or the like]. It doesn't get any lower than this.
Me: Well, I actually saw it over THERE for 80 Kuai.
Vendor: What? Okay, I'll sell it to you for 80, but that's my final offer.
Me: No, no, thanks. I'm a student, I have very little money!
Vendor: Okay, okay, just let me see your price. *Holds up a calculator for me to type in my price*
Me: Well, I don't knoooow...
Vendor: What's your price?
Me: Well... I really can only afford.... *types in 40 Kuai*
Vendor: 40! Are you CRAZY? I can't sell it for that. This is a very special price, I can't go any lower. *Types in 75*
Me: No, I really can't. Thank you, anyway.
Vendor: What's your price?
Me: Weeeeeeeeell.... *Reluctantly types in 50 Kuai*
Vendor: *Shakes head in disbelief* No, no, no, I can't sell it for any less than *Types in 70*
Me: Really, I just can't. Thank you, have a nice day. *Make a move to walk away*
Vendor: Wait, wait, okay, okay, final price, 60!
Me: Sounds good, I'll take it!

And then we have an exchange of smiles, money, and product, and go on our merry ways. You can get just about anything down to a fraction of the starting price, depending on your skill, your valor, and the amount of time you're willing to invest into the transaction. There are multiple methods, some more harsh, others more coy--I am only a novice, but plan to perfect my technique by December. The vendors seem disappointed, or even insulted, when this game isn't played. Fun, fun, fun.

NOTE: This scene is excluding the clumsy Chinese and/or English exchanged between parties. And believe me, it is clumsy.

I spent the majority of my time exploring the city, socializing with the many BeiDa students, and tagging along on the one or two adventures planned by our advisors. We saw a beautiful mosque, trekked along the city wall, and ate an enormous meal of dumplings (fourteen different types of dumplings, one after the other, finished with a dumpling soup. It's amazing I didn't gain ten pounds off of that little stunt. We were all hurting from that one.)

Now, let's do the bathroom talk.
In China, it is advised that one always carry one's own toilet paper. This is because hardly any of the bathrooms, public or otherwise, have toilet paper provided. The standard bathroom type is a squat-style toilet, with a flusher (hopefully). For me, this has been fairly uncomfortable, althoug not undoable. Cultural differences are part of the excitement, after all! But where oh where can one find a western-style, sit-down toilet? Just look for the blessed stick-figure-sitting-on-3/4-circle symbol, because there is a sit-down toilet in every handicap stall in China. Here, it's a fact that American restroom habits are disabled. Go figure.

I departed Xi'an very excited to see what lay ahead, on an airplane to Chengdu--the capital of Sichuan Province.