Fengdu to Chongqing to Xi'an

I'm back, and now with a rather steady Internet connection. I'm in our hotel in Xi'an. It's a pretty nice room, comparable to our room in Beijing, but we have a much better location and the building from the outside looks like a prison. That aside, I have some updating to do for you all!

Yesterday (Thursday, if the time zones are confusing) our cruise ship ended up in Fengdu, the Chinese "Ghost City". I was expecting something like an Old West ghost town, where everyone suddenly moved out, but it's actually a depiction of the Daoist view of Heaven and Hell. It was interesting to see the Chinese Emperor of Heaven and the Chinese Torture Chambers in the Daoist Hell.

Later that day, since we had some free time on the boat, I tried getting acupuncture, since I figured that I probably wouldn't get an opportunity at a decent price any other time. The ship's doctor put eight needles in my arms and legs. It pinched when they were put in, but other than that they only hurt if I moved my fingers or toes. He also put two electrodes under my belly button. I lied down for 25 minutes, when he took them out without a drop of blood. I felt an effect throughout the day and my interest was definitely piqued by the experience.

Later that night I had a couple of drinks and shared Asia stories with a guy named Andy on the cruise. He teaches in JET at a small city on a southern Japanese island. He had some interesting perspectives. I also offered some Bai Jiu (Chinese hard liquor) to my mom and Andy. Andy seemed to like it and my mom cringed and couldn't stand it. I share my mother's sentiment.

This morning we packed up, ate breakfast, and left the ship in Chongqing. Chongqing is one of the fastest growing cities in China due to its industry. We got off the boat a little earlier than expected, so we got an opportunity to see the main square in Chongqing and the local government hall, which I enjoyed greatly. We then hopped in a bus and headed to the airport, where at 11:00 we took an hour flight to Xi'an.

Initially, I thought there wasn't going to be much to Xi'an; I believed it was just going to be centered around tourism for the Terra Cotta Soldiers and the local sights but other than that not offer much. I was wrong. Xi'an has about nine million people and is the largest city in Northeast China. It's a very bustling city, and thanks to the location of our hotel (a ten minute walk from the center of town), we get to see most of the commotion.

After an hour drive to the city my mom and I got settled into our hotel room at about 2:15 (because they needed extra time to make sure our room was ready). Since we hadn't eaten lunch we were pretty hungry, so we went wandering about in search of food. After some arguing and meandering we wound up in a food court and got some local noodle dishes, which were darn good.

After eating we went to the Bell Tower and Drum Tower. The Bell Tower was used to signal opening the gates in the morning and the Drum Tower was for closing the gates at night. In the Bell Tower we caught a Chinese music performance featuring a large set of bells in the building. I enjoyed it greatly, especially when they ended with "Auld Lang Syne". Also in the towers were small museums filled with old Chinese pottery in the Bell Tower and furniture in the Drum Tower, which we visited.

We headed back to the hotel afterwards to relax. When back I looked online for restaurants, an interesting dish popped up: Yang Rou Pao Mo. I copied down two names of restaurants that served it and found directions online to one of them. It was about a twenty minute walk away. After leaving the hotel, my mom asked a lot of questions about buildings we passed. As a result, I started looking at a lot of the buildings and noticed that one building had the same name as the restaurant I didn't find the directions for. I asked the clerk if they had the dish there and they did, so we went up. Although the service was questionable (we paid for our food before receiving any of it and we waited about fifteen minutes for any food to come out), the food was fantastic and we even made friends with a little seven-year-old at the restaurant.

After the restaurant we wanted to find the Muslim Quarter in town, since according to rumor it had some good sweets and some good shopping. I don't know how my mom did it, but she guided us right to where we needed to go. We visited a lot of shops, bought a few things, I impressed some Chinese teenagers with the fact that I knew Chinese words past "Hello" and "Thank you", and I tried a few of the treats offered there. After our long day we headed back to the hotel.

I don't know if tomorrow's going to be able to measure up to today, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt. We're off to see the Terra-Cotta Soldiers and the Xi'an City Wall, followed up by a Chinese dumpling feast and a Tang Dynasty performance. Afterwards, I may dare to go to a club suggested to me by one of my friends from home. It should be good.