Beijing and Xi'an Spring Break Recap

My friend Whitney is visiting from America for Spring Break.  Here's a recap of our travels.

We left Tianjin last Sunday with the two most important things - passport and cash - and not much of an itinerary.  Within the first few hours of our trip we had traveled by taxi, subway, and bullet train. The hostel we booked turned out to be AMAZING!  (If you're ever in Beijing, definitely stay at the 365 Inn!)  We grabbed hot pot for dinner and met up with our other travel companion who was coming from Wuxi, China. 

After we ate our fill of hot pot, we ventured off to see Beijing.  We went to the Temple of Heaven and then did some bargaining at the Pearl Market.  I always enjoy people more than places, so I loved interacting with the saleswomen at the Pearl Market (although they can be a bit pushy) and the people at the Temple park.  As per usual, I fell in love with a little boy at the Pearl Market and a little old man at the park.

People, even strangers, are what make an experience worthwhile.  The cool sights and scenery are just an added bonus.

 

 That night we ate at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant down an alley - lamb on a stick (yang rou chuan) and friend rice.   We befriended the shopkeepers along the way and the owners of the restaurant. People are really fascinated by the very white, blonde, clearly non-Asian speaking Mandarin and are usually happy to chat.  I've really missed talking with strangers these past nine months as I've been learning the basics of the language of these people I love, and it was so refreshing to stop and talk with someone I've never met, and someone who isn't like me. That's when I realized something.

Chinese is REALLY HARD, but the agony of learning it is so worthwhile when you can have a conversation with strangers in a language besides your own.  What an AMAZING experience! Never stop learning new things!

Day 2 was the day we had set aside to go to the Great Wall.  I had heard about this section of the Wall where you can take a ski lift up to the top and then toboggan sled down to the bottom.  Um...yes, please.  We consulted with the the people at the hostel and got a vague idea of where we were going.  We woke up early and headed out, praying we would at some point reach our destination.  We got to the bus station without much of a problem, just missing the first bus.  Once we got there we were a little nervous by the fact that there were NO other foreigners there.  Uhhhhhhh.......where are all of the other tourists? This lady followed us around offering to take us to the Wall (nope...no way, lady) while we tried to figure out which bus and stop we wanted. No one in line spoke English.  No one.  I tried to communicate in Chinese where we were trying to go, and a few guys in line assured us that we were in the right line, but it's still kind of scary getting on a bus and not being totally sure where you're going or where you're supposed to stop.  We eventually got dropped off at the right stop, grabbed a taxi, and made our way to the Wall.  OH MY WORD.  The scenery was gorgeous.  Mountains everywhere, a clear sky, and no sounds of the city.  

Once we got to the bottom of the mountain (by toboggan sled), we bought a few souvenirs with our mad bargaining skills and then decided it was time to head back to the city.  We knew it would be hard to find a legitimate taxi in the middle of nowhere, so we decided we would hire an unmetered taxi to take us back to the bus station.  They quoted us a price that was way too much, and out of nowhere Chinese words I didn't even know I knew started coming out of my mouth.  The next thing we knew we had a pretty cheap taxi fare arranged.  I shook hands with the taxi driver and said something to the effect of, "We're friends, right?" to make sure he wasn't going to abduct us.  He turned out to be a really nice guy, and we talked about his family and Starbucks most of the way back to the bus stop.  

That night we made our way across town and found a REALLY good Mexican restaurant and a Starbucks.  Win-win.  Another night at our awesome hostel.  It was a REALLY good day!  

Day 3 was probably my favorite day in Beijing.  We went to Summer Palace.  Talk about natural and man-made beauty all mixed together.  The park goes on forever (we only saw a fraction of it), and every part is breathtaking. I wouldn't say I learned anything life-altering on day 3, but it was certainly a great day to sit by the water looking at a beautiful palace and reflecting on how thankful I am for this life I get to live.

Day 4 we headed off to Xi'an, which is known for the Terra-cotta Warriors.  We opted for the overnight train, which was actually a pretty fun experience.  We got to the train station after a VERY long night and were overwhelmed with people offering us tours and taxis, all of which were going to cost us a lot of money and who knows what else.  So we walked down the street a little and, unable to find a taxi, finally resorted to cramming three people and all of our luggage into the back of a tiny rickshaw.  Thankfully we were enclosed in the tiny box on the back of his bike, because he was squeezing between cars and buses and driving like a crazy person. 

Our room on the overnight train

We had scheduled a tour for our first day in Xi'an with a guy people from my school use a lot.  He was really wonderful.  He took us to a daoist temple and explained a little bit of the beliefs of daoism, which is the original Chinese religion and still largely practiced in China.  He also took us to see a place where people are living in caves, which was really interesting and extremely humbling.  Next was the Terra-cotta Warriors.  The park where the warriors are located was really beautiful.  Archaeologists are still working to piece together the warriors which were discovered in the 1970s.  They move them to another location in the museum, put the pieces together, and then move them back to their original place.  If a piece cannot be found, they just leave the soldier incomplete.  The soldiers were created to protect the first emperor of China in the afterlife.  During the tour, I kept thinking of 2 Corinthians 4:7 - "We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." (NLT)  "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." (ESV)

I'm living in a society of broken people with no hope outside of burning money for their dead ancestors and building statues to protect themselves after they are dead, and that goes back thousands of years. Praise God for His Spirit and presence in this place that can offer real Hope.

After the Terra-cotta Warrior tour we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda for the light and fountain show.  It was really an overwhelming experience.  There were SO MANY people there.  I didn't expect it to be so crowded, considering they do it every night.  But, as with everything in China, the park was packed and we had to fight for a spot where we could actually see what was going on.  It was really beautiful, though, and I didn't even mind being squished in between thousands of my closest Chinese friends. 

The next day in Xi'an was pretty relaxed.  It was a rainy day, so we spent a majority of the day in the hostel drinking coffee and relaxing.  Before the rain came, though, we had a little time to see the Xi'an city wall and the Muslim food street. 

Possibly my favorite part of the whole trip (aside from the beauty of Summer Palace) was what happened after the rain started.  We were trying to get a taxi, as were the other million people out on the street.  A man came up and offered me a ride on the back of his motorcycle.  I told him that there were two people with me and we wouldn't all fit.  He rode by again and offered again, and again I told him that we needed to take three people.  A few minutes later he came back with his friend and he told us we could put two people on his friend's motorcycle, so off we rode in the rain.  It was freezing but it was SO much fun!  We rode on the right side of the street, and then on the wrong side of the street.  We squeezed between cars and rode on sidewalks.  We eventually made it back to our hostel, soaking wet but so thankful for such a fun day.

Rain doesn't have to ruin anything...  Unplanned adventures are often the most memorable.