Educational Excursion - Xi'An

Tim here. I’m new to this whole blogging thing, but Maggie is a bit behind –for good reasons, she is beyond busy, so I thought I would contribute to this electronic journal! I had a week break between modules so a couple of my buddies and I took a trip to Xi’an and Beijing. Maggie couldn’t make it because of work, but we are making up for that in two weeks with an anniversary trip to the Philippines! 

Now, I don’t vacation without Maggie, so I called this week of traveling an ‘educational excursion’ which fits really well. The sites I went to over the week were some of the places I have been learning about in history classes since elementary school. These places included Xi’an’s Muslim Quarters, Bell Tower, Terracotta Warriors and Beijing’s Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven and Olympic Village. 

First stop – Xi’an. Now, Maggie toured Xi’an two times several years ago, once with her mom and once with her sister, Kaitie. She told me Xi’an was amazing and she didn’t exaggerate.

My friend, Charles and I, flew into Xi’an Sunday afternoon and took a taxi to the Han Tang Inn Hostel. It was clean, conveniently located and cheap – at about $20USD for a private room with ensuite and two twin beds it was definitely affordable. 

After checking in we went looking for dinner. We walked down to the Muslim Quarters, a popular tourist location in the Muslim community of Xi’an famous for Muslim food and souvenirs.  We stopped at a noodle restaurant. The noodles were more like lasagna noodles and were extremely spicy. It was pretty hard to eat, but totally worth the effort – they were really good! 

After dinner, we walked around the Muslim Quarters a bit more then walked to the Bell Tower. We headed back to the hostel early because the next day we headed to see the Terracotta Warriors. 

Now this was awesome but there was one major bummer – Michelle Obama decided to visit this site on the same day. Thankfully, our tour was shortened instead of cancelled. I met a couple of guys from the States who didn’t get to see the Forbidden City because of Mrs. Obama’s visit – so I shouldn’t be too disappointed. 

Insert Maggie to my left

We got to see the farmer who found the warriors on his land as well as learn about the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. The purpose of this terracotta army was to protect him in his afterlife.  He had the artists who worked on this army buried alive so no one would know where he hid it. 

After we finished with the Terracotta Warriors we headed back to the hostel to to get cleaned up. We took an overnight train from Xi'an to Beijing that night, so our time in Xi'an was really short. Before we got on the train we decided to get medical massages - I have never been in so much pain and I never knew my body could bend the way it did! But I felt great after it was over! 

I had never taken an overnight train, and I love anything with a motor so I was pretty pumped about seeing some of China's countryside - which wasn't visible till the next morning, so in the meantime I took advantage of the beds - I know they don't look like much but I was able to get a few solid hours of sleep which surprised me! 

We arrived in Beijing around 1:00 pm and met up with four more of our classmates. I was pretty exhausted after being up so late and the excitement of touring around Xi'an, but the adrenaline of finally seeing Beijing kept me going! 

The Adventure Begins

After 16 hours on a plane with a four hour layover thrown in there, we were exhausted. I know – how could sitting on your butt for that long be exhausting? Well, please don’t ask me until I get over this jet-lag or I may just have to punch you in the face!

Our trip to China started off with my awesome brother, Andy, driving us to New York. Our last American meal was NY style pizza. Oh. My. Yum. Cheese is hard to come by and very expensive in China so we indulged a bit before we left.

Around 6:00 PM, Andy dropped us off at the JFK airport.

We were super pumped to get going – and then we stood in line for two hours to check-in, but honestly it felt like five minutes. After check-in we went through security – with no issues, which is funny because when we got to Korea and had to go through security again, they tore apart our carry-on baggage. Apparently, a hair straighten could threaten the lives of those around me. Who knew?

The flight to Korea departed JFK at 12:40 AM and lasted 14 hours. Tim said the next time we fly he hopes to be a millionaire so we can fly first-class. Keep dreaming Goose! :-D

Our layover in Korea was pretty relaxing. Tim watched the planes and I got coffee – life was good.

On the flight from Korea to China, we were served breakfast. Now typically, breakfast is my favorite meal of the day; however, I was surprised at Korean Air’s menu selection. Beef and noodles for breakfast? I have to admit, it was surprisingly delicious! The morning tofu had us laughing. I never knew there was special tofu for the morning!

At 9:42 AM we arrived in Shanghai (insert HUGE smile here)! Going though quarantine, inspection and customs were a breeze.

We grabbed our luggage, found our driver (a taxi was too small for the two of us, six suitcases and two backpacks so we arranged for a minivan to drive us) and were on our way. The drive from the airport to our home was about an hour. We got a pretty good view of Shanghai. One thing that shocked me was the amount of power lines!

We finally arrived and were so excited to take a shower. I won’t share too much about our home, but let’s just say the bed was built for a very skinny five year old. More about that later - I need some coffee!