After spending three lazy days in Changde, we traveled to Xi’an. We started our trip with a 2 hour car ride to Changsha, the capitol city of Hunan Province. After arriving at the airport we get all checked in and waited for our flight. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:10pm and I think we left pretty well on time. We arrived in Xi’an at 10:30 and took the one hour bus ride into the city to our Hostel. We headed off to walk to our hostel and after not finding it we called them and they said that had moved! So we caught a taxi and finally arrived at the Han Tang Inn Hostel (by a little after 12:00am) that would be our ‘home’ for the next few days. We checked in and headed up to our room, which was dorm style with three bunk beds. There were two people already asleep so we quietly went to bed. We slept late and had breakfast at about 10:00. We then headed out for our first day in Xi’an. We went to the Muslim Quarter first. It is an old part of Xi’an where the Muslims lived and still live. There is a mosque and plenty of street sellers. I went into the Mosque and looked around while Wade and Leah did some shopping. In some ways it reminded me of another old time place like the park we went to in Shanghai. But yet it was different. There were different areas like the cleansing area that were not allowed entrance into because they are still used by the Muslims. Most of the signs were in Chinese so I’m really not sure what some of the places were for. At the very end was the temple area. I was there at prayer time. I watched for just a few min then I headed out. I did not stay really long, there was not a whole lot to see and it honestly felt a bit odd being there. I did not feel unsafe or threatened but just that I totally did not fit in at all. (If that makes sense.) After I left the Mosque, I met back up with Wade and Leah and we did some shopping. We shopped around and haggled for a few hours which was rather fun. The sellers always started off by saying “cheaper, cheaper” but I wanted to know cheaper then what? When we made a deal for them at our price, they sometimes complained that they were getting no money. We finally decided to be done shopping and headed off to the Hostel and dropped our wares off. We had heard that Xi’an was famous for a noodle dish. We asked the people at the desk and they helped us find the place. So we headed off walking (I’m now probably up to having walked 30 miles…or so it seems) and found it. We ordered what we hoped was the right thing (they spoke no English there) and waited for it to come. We had chosen right and boy was it good! I could eat there almost every day it I lived here! It was a giant noodle in broth with some meat and a few small veggies. It was a tiny bit spicy and so yummy! After dinner we wandered around for a bit and ended up at Starbucks. Wade and Leah got a bit to eat and I snitched off them. We had a good time chatting and resting our feet for a little while as we waited to go the fountain show at the Big Goose Pagoda. We got there at about 8:00 when the show was to begin. But as per usual in China, 20 min late is not a big problem! The area where the show took place was a huge open place similar to a terraced square. There were 5-6 different levels separated by a few wide stairs that one could stand on and watch the show. We found a place about in the middle and waited for the show to begin. It was so cool! The fountains were in time with the music as well as lights at the base of each fountain. It was fun being right smack in the middle of it! The show lasted for about 20-30 min. I could have watched it for a lot longer. We decided to go back the next night and see it from the bottom instead of the middle. We caught a taxi and headed back to the Hostel. It was great to finally get some sleep after a long but fun day!

Thursday we awoke a bit earlier because our tour left for the Terracotta Warriors at 9:30. After a quick breakfast we were on our way. We joined a group of seven others, a couple from France, a man and a woman from England, and three girls from the US, two from Utah and one from Illinois. We had a very nice tour guide and she gave us some history while we drove to the factory where they now make small models of the original warriors. After we spent a while there looking at the process and the gift shop, we boarded our bus and headed to the actual site of the warriors. The first Emperor Qin Shi Huang (cheen-shur-whong) had this massive army of terra cotta (pronounced terra-cotter by the guide) warriors made to precede him into the afterlife. We visited the museum that told the history to the building of the museum sites and had some duplicates of come of the clay art. There are 3 areas of the actual terracotta warriors site. We went to number 3 first. This one was a site that has not been uncovered. The warriors had been broken into at this site and the weapons stolen. Many of them have been destroyed and are in pieces now. Also, there was much color on them and if they are exposed to light the color will fade. So until they figure out a way to display them they will be left alone. It was really neat to see the site. Then we went to number 2. It was a site that was very small and had only a few soldiers and a chariot and horses. (Only the chariot was gone) It was really neat because you could actually see the original warriors that were made 2100 years ago! It’s amazing that they are still in as good a shape as they still are after all this time. We then went to number 1. It was the biggest one and covered the area of 2 football (soccer) fields. Inside were 6000+ clay warriors, horses, chariots and pottery. Each warrior was different and had different facial features. I could have spent a long time there just looking at them and taking it all in. After we were done there, we went to lunch at Subway and then headed home. We asked to be dropped at the South Gate of the old city walls so that we could ride around the wall. But it was too late to rent the bikes so we headed back to the Hostel. We looked up a really good Indian restaurant and got the address. We ordered three dishes, one mutton and two chicken as well as three kinds of bread…including some roti. The food was super good and just the perfect amount of spicy! We did not linger and headed across the street to the Big Goose Pagoda for the fountain show again. We got there just as it was starting and got a good place at the base. It was not as good as the first night but still fun. I liked being in the middle of it instead of in the front. Once again we headed back to our Hostel and went to bed.

Friday our tour for the Pandas left at 7:30 am. We had another quick breakfast and headed off to meet our group. This group was a bit smaller. There were two girls and one man from England, one girl from New York and Wade, Leah and I. We drove about 2 hours out to the Panda reserve. We saw the pandas (pronounced Panders by the guide) as well as several other animals. There are four animals that are being protected here in China. They are the Panda, the Golden Monkey, the Crested Ibis and the Takin. We also saw some goats, pigs, and peacocks. We had a good time and then headed off for lunch at a Chinese place. We had a variety of dishes and it was all very yummy! I really like the food here and I wish you could get ‘real’ Chinese food in the States. After we got back to our Hostel, Leah and I went and rode bikes around the wall. We had a blast! It was so cool to see the city from the wall. When we were done with our ride we headed off to the Muslim Quarter to meet Wade for dinner and a bit more street shopping. We met up with Wade after a bit of a miscommunication as to where to meet, and found a place to eat. We had a Mutton soup of sorts with bread in it. It was ok…not my favorite. I am terribly spoilt to our young lamb. After we finished a bit more shopping we headed back to the Hostel for a dumpling party. They taught us how to make dumplings and it was really fun. It’s not hard at all. We waited around for a little while as they were cooked and then we got to enjoy eating them. I did not stay long for the company got a bit wild…they like their beers. Leah and I decided to head back out for a bit more tromping around. (Like we have not done much lately!) We went back to the Muslim quarter and picked up a few more things and enjoyed walking around. We then went back to the Hostel and chatted with Ben, one of our room mates for a bit before hitting the sack.

Saturday we headed out of the Hostel by 9:30 to catch the bus back to the airport to head home. I was ready to be home but yet a little sad to leave Xi’an. I had a most wonderful time there. Our flight made it in on time but the bus ride was long! We got home and had some dinner, watched a movie and then went to bed.

We are going to be in Changde for a while and then we will head off to Harbin.

I'm in China!

Well here I am in China! I had a good trip over with not many troubles. I left Tulsa on time and headed to Dallas. I had a very short layover, just long enough to grab a sandwich and get to my gate. Then I started in on my long flight. It was about 13 hours if my memory seres me correct. We flew up over the midwest US and up over the lower part of Alaska and down to Japan, landing in Tokyo. Once I was in Japan I had a bit of an adventure! I went through security only to find out that I have to go back out and get my boarding pass! So I head back out and they have trouble getting it but after a bit of a wait I'm back through security on my way to the gate to wait for my next and last flight. Body time was at this time 1:0o am but it was 3:00 pm local time! I sure wanted to curl up and sleep for a while. My next flight was really good. There were not many people on the plane so I was able to stretch out a bit and sleep some. (Me in Tokyo)

I landed in Shanghai at 6:00 pm local time which was 4:00 am body time. (I quit keeping up after this..it was to much for my poor tired brain!) I got through the health inspection fine and then customs. I had not a bit of trouble either place and it was faster than any other customs that I have been through. I the picked up my luggage and headed out to find Wade and Leah. They were not there when I came out, so I found a good place and waited. After a 30 min wait they came running towards me and oh! it was great to see them! We made our way back to the Hostel by way of the MagLiv train, subway, and foot. I was so ready to be still and unwind a bit and get some sleep. It was about 11:00 when we all finally stopped chatting and went to bed.

Right, the first thing I saw when I stepped out of the subway in Shanghai.

The next day, (I woke up really early) we went to the Shanghai Museum. We started the day with breakfast of youhurt and fruit. It was not very filling so we kept an eye out for some street food. We found some along the walk to the museum. It was a bread of some sort with egg and bacon. They cooked the bread flat and then made an egg the same size and stuck them together with bacon in the middle. It was really yummy! We had a good time at the museum. We were there about 5 hours. There was a variety of different things: Jade, Chinese money, furniture, porcelain, painting, and writing to name a few. They all had their own room and everything was dated in time line form so you could see how things changed with each Dynasty.

Above, breakfast, right, a porcelain canteen.

After we were done with that at about 3:00 I was ready for bed! I felt like I had been up all night! We headed off to a Western Mexican place for dinner, Peter's Tex Mex. We traveled by taxi and subway. That was the first of many taxi rides in China. It was not to bad, apparently the lines are not hardly ever even used here! The food was good, and we had a great time just talking and telling funny stories.

We caught a taxi back to the subway and then walked the the Hostel to finally sleep! I slept like a great fat log! I felt so much better the next day!

Thursday we headed out to the Yuynan Garden. It was in an old part of Shanghai. We did some shopping as we walked along. Yuynan Garden was an old garden with some old Chinese buildings. It was beautiful even if it was cold and trying to rain! We spent some time looking at it all but had to make it a short visit so we could get to the train station on time. We ate at KFC (yes, I eat more at KFC when I am not in the US) and walked quickly back to the hostel and picked up our luggage. We then hauled all 128 lbs of my stuff back through the subway to the train station.

I have never traveled by train. In fact the last train I was on was years ago when we went to Silver Dollar City! This was going to (and turned out to be) a grand adventure! I was looking forward to the train ride...but maybe not 18 hours of it! We were on a sleeper train, there were beds stacked three high and 22 rows. The only place to sit was on the bottom bunk. Leah had a bottom bunk and Wade and I had middle, all in different rows. We got settled in and waited for the trip to begin. We started off and watched the sights of Shanghai disappear behind us. We got to know a little boy, Daniel and his mom. His English was pretty good and we talked some about our names and how old we were. We got some dinner of rice and meat and veggies. It was pretty good for train food. I got really tired after that (big surprise I know!) and headed to my bunk to read for a while and then sleep. Reading lasted for about oh, maybe 5 min and then I zonked out for a while. I woke up several times but over all for riding on a train I slept pretty good. The bunks are really narrow and I could never curl up so my legs got to cramping up on me. I finally got tired of lying straight as a board and sat up and read for a while and then stitched on my cross stitching and watched the countryside go by. We got to Changda at about 11:45 or there about, caught a taxi home and proceeded to carry my 128 lbs of stuff up 6 stories! In the last four days I have only walked about 5 miles and climbed oh, maybe 200+ stairs. We are not just doing whatever and trying to not freeze while waiting for the heat to catch up.

We will be here for a few days and then head off to Xi'an for a few days next week. I'll talk to you later! =)

Welcome to my blog!

I'm getting ready to head to China to visit my brother and sister-in-law. I hope you enjoy following my trip (as I hope to keep this updated as I travel).

I will be leaving from Tulsa, OK on the 18th, flying to Dallas, TX and then to Tokyo, Japan, and finally Shanghai, China. Wade and Leah will meet me there and we will spend a day or two looking around Shanghai and hopefully going to a museum. We will then fly to Changde, the city where they live. Leah has been making all the travel plans so from there I don't know where we will be going. The places that we are going are: Xi'an, Haerbin, Beijing, Yangshou, and possibly Changsha, the capitol city of the province in which Wade and Leah live. There will be some additional places that I'm hoping to go, most of which are close to the cities that I have listed and some are separate weekend trips. I will be staying a few days into the new semester to see Wade and Leah in action with their teaching. I'll be returning on the 5th of March.

Please keep me in your prayers as I travel and the three of us as we travel around China. Check back soon for an update on where I've been (or going)!