Sep 2008

Basically I walked everywhere. The hotel was in a great location that walking was possible.

When I arrived in Xian a young Chinese man asked me if he could help me. I told him that I was OK. He then asked me if I had booked a hotel. When I told him where the hotel was he told me that he would negotiate with a taxi driver because they will try to over charge me and the fare should be no more than Y10. I agreed to this as I really couldn't be bothered at 2 am.

Well it appeared that he couldn't negotiate either because it was Y20 to go 2 Km's! I could have done it myself and got it cheaper but I didn't want him to lose face.

My return taxi to the train station was Y6. Y10 would have been fair compensation for the time of the day upon my arrival.

I did use the no 26 bus to get to destinations. Its cheap enough at Y1. It passes the Bell Tower, Little Goose Pagoda, Shaanxi History Museum and the Big Goose Pagoda. It was on this bus to the Museum when I saw the sports store that sold Asics! I then had to catch a Taxi to the museum. It was only Y7 and well worth the Asics find.

I caught the train to and from Xian. Sunny, a Chinese teacher, helped me to buy my ticket from Tai'an. The train trip is 13 Hours and 37 minutes.

When I left Tai'an I was told that the trip was 12 hours and 20 minutes. The lights went out at 10 pm. Which I thought - 'what for I have to get off in a little over an hour.' Anyway I fell asleep. When I woke my clock said 12.05 am. I figured that they forgot to wake me, couldn't wake me or the train was delayed. I went back to sleep.

I was then woken up at 1.30 am. The train arrived at 1.45 am. Yuk!

I knew the next day I needed to find the Advance Train Ticket Booking Office to buy my return ticket as sleepers are hard to come by. So I went to get my ticket and successfully got a ticket home. The lady spoke good English!

One thing that I fail to understand is why the same trip costs differ. My ticket to Xian was Y293. My ticket home was Y268. Go figure!

On the return leg the train was delayed for 3 hours. I was up at 5.30 am and didn't get back to Tai'an until midnight. Made for a very long day. And I ran out of books to read and things to do!

There were souvenirs to be had everywhere in Xian. You could really lose your head here.

I was on the bus to the museum and I saw a sports store that sold Asics. I had been looking everywhere for Asics. I got of the bus at the next stop and walked back. Even better they were on special and I only paid Y358.

At the Museum I bought a yurquoise and gold bracelet. I did manage to bargain hard to Y400! It is the first piece of jewelery that I had really liked in China. Between the turquoise pieces there are gold Chinese characters which mean happy, wealthy, longevity, peace, healthy and silence.

At the Small Goose Pagoda I bought some silk scarves and ties from the silk shop as gifts.

I found a western supermarket. I was in awe of the cheese selection. However I had no way to transport it back to Tai'an. I couldn't believe my luck when I stumbled on a bottle of Wirra Wirra Church Block. It was only a 375 ml bottle but hey I didn't care at least it would be a decent drop of wine. Maybe a little expensive at Y180 but everyone needs a luxury every now and then.

I meet up with Tony at his Hotel and had a drink. We then decided we would go to my neck of the woods as I was in the city. Trying to find a bar we could have potentially got ourselves into some trouble.

We came across a bar called the Feeling Bar. I didn't quite like the name of this bar. Tony stuck his head in and possibly agreed because we never entered. We got to this other bar. There were two ladies outside. We asked if we could go in to which they agreed very sheepishly. Tony asked if he could take me in they didn't hesitate. We walked in to be greeted by females. We had entered a Whorehouse!

We quickly turned and went back up the stairs and decided we would be safe in the piano bar at the Hyatt. We shared a few beers, a couple of laughs and had a good night.

Strangely enough Tony pointed out to me that it had been 7 years to the day that he had started at the bank. He recalls me calling him to introduce myself and offer any assistance I could. He said that if either of us said that we will meet in Xian in 7 years time that we would have thought the other was crazy. Maybe even be locked up. Jokingly he thinks perhaps we are both crazy enough that we should be locked up anyway.

When you go on holidays you like to eat the food that the locals eat, however in Tai'an we don't have too much choice. It is either Chinese or Chinese. So when I travel I like to have western food! Crazy, yeah I know, but you try and eat Chinese food every day for 12 months. You too will be craving western food.

My first morning in Xian I chose to eat at the hotel. Traditionally hotels only serve Chinese breakfast, which I cannot stomach. However, I know that at the Ibis they do have a variety of western foods for breakfast. And Breakfast is cheap at Y15.

I grabbed my breakfast sat down to eat it and it was cold. I can't drink cold coffee. I left the hotel very disappointed. As I strolled into the city I found a Starbucks on just about every corner. This was going to be my breakfast place. Typically everyday I would head to Starbucks and have a Latte and a Scone or Muffin for breakfast. I was getting quite accustomed to this, wishing that it was possible even just to buy a coffee in Tai'an!

For dinner I went to Pizza Hut or an Italian Restaurant. The Italian Restaurant was called Colabo. It was difficult to find especially as it was raining and I didn't have an umbrella with me. I pursued the find because I was told that the found was sensational. The service was good but the food was terrible. However the red wine was worth pursuing. Something else we can't find in Tai'an. This red wine was a Shiraz from Chile. Very nice, indeed! And the only reason I would go back. Sad yes I know!