Last day in Xian

I guess it's been 4 days since I last posted anything. So let's go back in time 4 days.

I went to go see the Terra Cotta soldiers on whatever day that was. I think today is Monday so that would make that Friday, October 21st. I went on a tour and had to follow a lady with a green flag around. We went to a few places but aside from the warriors, none of them were all that interesting.

One place was the site of the Xian incident. They were some hot springs and bathhouses used by the emperor and his concubines in the Ming dynasty I think. Fascinating, I know. So the Xian incident happened on December 12th, 1936 and involved Chiang Kaishek of the Kuomintang and some gun shots. The English section on this was very vague so if you want to know more you'll have to look it up. It involves Kaishek's priority of trying to stamp out the communist threat while Japan was invading. So there was that. Nice garden I guess, not that I would want to pay to go to a garden.

The Terra Cotta soldiers were interesting. I heard from this girl that I'm kind of traveling with now (until tomorrow at least) that her neighbour had said the soldiers really evoked the spirit of the heavenly father. Being that no one in China had even heard of Christianity when these soldiers were made, it makes very little sense. I wasn't overwhelmed with emotion about them. I kind of expected to be in awe of them but I had very little emotional response to them. I always feel like I don't appreciate what I am seeing. I can't be blown away by everything but I wish it happened more often. The Great Wall was pretty spectacular though. I was more impressed with the mountains themselves and with myself for walking along it for such a long way than with the actual wall but anyways.

So after the soldiers we went to the mausoleum of the guy to whom the soldiers were built to help protect. He's the same emperor who begin construction of the Great Wall. Xian is China's former capital. Oh yeah, I think this emperor had something like 3000 wives. That's what the guide said at least but anyone who's been in Asia has run into people who confuse numbers so maybe it was only 300. I remember being in a restaurant and a waitress told my father the bill was 50 million won or something. It's really only funny because she said it with such a straight face because she didn't realize she'd made a mistake. It was basically just a giant hill that covered the emperors tomb and had the bones of slaves, animals, and whoever else he decided to have buried alive with him.

The street vendors in Xian were quite funny. They weren't really aggressive or anything but they would just come up to you and say 'Hello....hello' in these high-pitched little voices. They sounded just like parrots. It must have been the only word they knew. They hadn't learnt the phrase 'Buy my crap.' We'd be sitting on the bus waiting for it to leave and all these women would come up to our windows and say hello and show us things. Fake jade, fruit, little warriors, whatever. I really don't think I could handle a job like that. Being rejected so often. I would take it personally and then go home and cry or something because no one bought any of the crap I was hawking. Those little hello's will haunt me for awhile. I suppose you would have had to be there probably. Hello....hello.

I also met the girls I was going to the train station with. I don't know if I mentioned them. Anyways, I ran into them at the warriors and they invited me to go out that night. I got quite tipsy but found my way back to my hostel.

The only troublesome thing about that was that I woke up at like 5am and the lights were on. I don't remember turning them on or off but I've presumed myself guilty. Luckily I didn't talk to any of the people in my room because I never saw any of them outside of their beds. I turned it off though when I realized it was on. I wonder if that absolves me.