I returned back to Beijing this afternoon after a great weekend in Qingdao. What a trip! Let's start with the overnight train that we had to go on. At first, we didn't mind that fact that the lights didn't turn off or the fact that the seats were really uncomfortable and practically leaned forward. We also didn't mind the fact that we were getting in at 7:20 am. But the fact that they sold at least 100+ standing tickets made the trip a little uncomfortble. If you can't quite get a mental picture going let me try and paint one for you. When we got on the train everyone was putting their belongings in the overhead holders so the isles were pretty crowded. Because this is China, people were already sitting in our seats which is fine because they moved when we asked them too. But the problem was, there wasn't anywhere to go. The isles were so packed that we figured out pretty quickly that these people were going to stand for the 8 hours to Qingdao. They were sitting on the ground, laying under our seats, squishing onto people's laps. There were people sitting on the bathroom sinks, underneath the sinks and on the floor inbetween the cars. If I had to go to the bathroom, it would have been like trying to play a game of tip-toe over peoples bodies. The conductor who checked tickets could barely snake through the hoards of people. The beverage cart never came. Sleeping was another story. Since someone was leaning on my seat, I had a great view of their backside and there were too many people to stretch out my legs. I put my head face down on the table and spent most of the night switching between that position and seat-sleeping.
When we got to Qingdao we had to buy our return tickets back. In China, you can't buy roundtrip tickets for trains, you have to buy a ticket from one destination to another. Our returning overnight train was sold out, but I'm sure that we could have gotten standing tickets (yea right). The only available tickets were early morning tickets and we tried to get everyone on the same train but ended up having to split into two trains. The rest of the day we spent napping at the hotel and eating until our friends arrived from Beijing. It was only Jim, Devon and I on the overnight train because everyone else has classes on Fridays. We met up with our Chinese friend Serena and her friends. They took us out to a pagoda on the water and afterwards we went out and had a great dinner. Tons of delicious seafood including clams, mussles, shrimp and even crab. We had a few vegetables and lots of beer. We learned all of the traditional Chinese drinking games and enjoyed challenging our Chinese friends to their own games. Most of the games involve one on one challenges like who can finish a bottle of beer faster.
We met up with our other friends at the hotel. Being in China, the hotel booked one of our reserved hotel rooms so we ended up having two rooms for 15 people. Apparently in China they dont mind how many people sleep per room. The front desk asked if we had 8 people in one room and when we said yes, the clerk wasn't even surprised. That night we all went out to a bar as a group and had a great time. The next morning we ate and headed straight to the beer festival. It was a cool festival, but not what we had expected. It wasn't as cheap as we had planned, but there were so many fun things to do. They had Hofbrauhaus from Germany (I've been to the original), they had Heineken and other imported beers and of course a huge tent for Tsingtao Beer (the beer was first owned by Germans thus the different spelling). They had tons of food and some interesting music but we had a blast. We made our own international feel by playing American drinking games. Of course, the Chinese crowded around us taking pictures, cheering us on and even joining in. The tripods and videocameras were out in full force and a Chinese newspaper took our picture for the front page. In the background of this picture, a guy is holding up his baby to get in the picture. Serena and her friends also met us there and they ended up having a great time. They really enjoyed us Americans. Around 5 o clock we headed toward the beach to continue our fun. We all took a dip in the sea and played soccer with a Chinese guy. The water wasn't the warmest but we had a great time.
We went back to the hotel to change and clean up. We went to dinner and celebrated Jeff's birthday. It was last Monday, but no one had time to celebrate because we had just returned from our Silk Road trip. We had a lot of toasts and some more seafood and finished the night by going out to a local club with our Chinese friends. Leaving Qingdao was a bummer. We all had such a great time and the weekend flew by. We were all loving the Northern California of China. I'll post some pictures when I can.
Here are some of the Jiayuguan Fort and the Hanging Wall.
Here are some pictures of Xi'an and Muslim street.
Here are some pictures of the Terracotta Warriors.
Showing posts with label Jiayuguan Fort. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jiayuguan Fort. Show all posts
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Jiayuguan to Xi'an
Last time I posted, we were on our way to Jiayuguan (I think). I can't remember and internet here is by the hour. We had a five hour bus ride to Jiayuguan. It was a good time. We all got to catch up on some sleep and get to know eachother a little bit more. I haven't talked about any of the people I've met yet, but we're all starting to get to know eachother a lot more now that we're settling in. Me, Jim, and Devon all knew eachother before the trip, and most of our classmates had at least someone else they knew. It was easy for us to meet up with Matt and Brittany. They both were really good friends, having known eachother at Gonzaga. Matt actually knows some people from my highschool. All us of pretty much keep eachother laughing at stories from home and just some of our life experiences. Ryan and Jeff are roommates together too. Ryan is from Las Vegas, but he's lived all over the US including Laguna, St. Louis, Florida, Georgia and Nevada. He goes to St. Louis University and his roommate Jeff goes to Georgetown. Jeff is a laid back guy and has a great sense of humor. I can't place what kind it is but he's a good time.
When we got to Jiayuguan everyone checked in and ate before we left for the Jiayuguan Fort. This fort is the last fort on the Great Wall. Criminals and corrupt officials were banished here and thrown into the Gobi. Most of the people, after leaving through the last gate, simply sat down to die. Walking through the same gate, it was pretty cool to see the mountains and desert ahead of you for miles. Nothing else (Well there were people selling horseback rides for Y5, but when you live in a 99c store you can't buy everything all the time so we didn't do it.) It got pretty windy while we were at the fort and for a while a sandstorm blew through.
After the fort, we ate a group dinner, paid for by TBC and we all went out for a friend's birthday. We woke up early the next day to see some last things before we boarded our 20 hour train to Xi'an. We saw the Weijn tombs, which were awesome. They were underground tombs that had three original rooms. The last of the rooms was the actual coffin room where the owner and his wife were put to rest. They were really small, no more than 6ft high and 8x8 square. There was no cement, and all of the 1700+ yr old paintings on the bricks were original and visible. This is one of 1400 tombs in the Jiayuguan area. The rest remained unopened until China has the technology to prevent the oxidization of colored paintings. That is some pretty good planning and patience by the Chinese. Props.
From the tombs, we went to the Hanging Great Wall. I think it's called the Hanging Great Wall because it is practically vertical. The Wall is the wall, so I took a few pictures and moved on. We left for the train station and spent most of the train talking and sleeping. We played a few games but were able to pass time fairly quickly. We got to Xi'an today and pretty much are taking it easy. We took a bike ride along the oldest completed wall around a city. It was awesome and the weather was fantastic. It's nice to be back in a modern city. We're in a pretty high end part of town and our hotel is really nice. Great service. We're about a block away from a mall with all of the name brand stores. The real stores haha. Tonight we have another group dinner with the other half the TBC groups. Tomorrow is the terracotta warriors.
When we got to Jiayuguan everyone checked in and ate before we left for the Jiayuguan Fort. This fort is the last fort on the Great Wall. Criminals and corrupt officials were banished here and thrown into the Gobi. Most of the people, after leaving through the last gate, simply sat down to die. Walking through the same gate, it was pretty cool to see the mountains and desert ahead of you for miles. Nothing else (Well there were people selling horseback rides for Y5, but when you live in a 99c store you can't buy everything all the time so we didn't do it.) It got pretty windy while we were at the fort and for a while a sandstorm blew through.
After the fort, we ate a group dinner, paid for by TBC and we all went out for a friend's birthday. We woke up early the next day to see some last things before we boarded our 20 hour train to Xi'an. We saw the Weijn tombs, which were awesome. They were underground tombs that had three original rooms. The last of the rooms was the actual coffin room where the owner and his wife were put to rest. They were really small, no more than 6ft high and 8x8 square. There was no cement, and all of the 1700+ yr old paintings on the bricks were original and visible. This is one of 1400 tombs in the Jiayuguan area. The rest remained unopened until China has the technology to prevent the oxidization of colored paintings. That is some pretty good planning and patience by the Chinese. Props.
From the tombs, we went to the Hanging Great Wall. I think it's called the Hanging Great Wall because it is practically vertical. The Wall is the wall, so I took a few pictures and moved on. We left for the train station and spent most of the train talking and sleeping. We played a few games but were able to pass time fairly quickly. We got to Xi'an today and pretty much are taking it easy. We took a bike ride along the oldest completed wall around a city. It was awesome and the weather was fantastic. It's nice to be back in a modern city. We're in a pretty high end part of town and our hotel is really nice. Great service. We're about a block away from a mall with all of the name brand stores. The real stores haha. Tonight we have another group dinner with the other half the TBC groups. Tomorrow is the terracotta warriors.
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