Xi'an: Part 2

The next day we woke up to a Western styled breakfast in the hotel resteraunt. The food was arguably Western, but they did have coffee which was okay by me. We got off to a late start because one of our comrades had fallen ill. So we set out with the intention of making our first stop a silk factory. We got a little lesson on the process of weaving the silk together and the different techniques used. Interesting, but everyone had shopping on their minds. Claressa (our program director) and Li Laoshi (my host mom) set out to get some deals on silk. Actually, I think the way the situation played out was Li Laoshi wanted to buy while Claressa tried to talk her out of it. This power struggle went on for quite some time delaying the day for what seemed like a long time. I had already made my purchase of two simple kerchiefs - one to bring home for Ashlee and one for Mandy who I felt bad couldn't make it because she was sick. We looked around at other pricy items such as rugs and qi pao (traditional clothes). After depressing ourselves by examining the price tags and realizing how poor we really were, we decided to grab lunch and head to the Huashan Mountain.

So imagine all of us climbing into the cable car and the first thing out of our tourguide's mouth is "This is the most dangerous cable car in Asia!" I just started laughing, but she didn't understand what was so funny. I think I've decided that she meant the mountain was dangerous...but maybe it was yet another Asian pride thing and the fact that they had the most dangerous cable car truly was a boon to their ego. In any case, we lived. The mountain was fantastic; I can't even fathom more beautiful sights. Huashan Mountain is considered one of the five must see mountains in China. Our tour guide told us a story about how a famous Chinese author wrote some Kung Fu series about the mountain. After going into the details of the stories she explained that the author actually had never been to the mountain until he was seventy or something. Dumbbbbbbb.

There of course, as with all mountains in China it seems, was a strong historical connection to Daoism. It also is a place that naive Emporeors would try to go to for the purpose of obtaining immortality. Anyways, the mountain was pretty dangerous. The main path up the mountain was extremely steep and I'm suprised at how long Claressa and my host mom came with Kurt and I. Eventually they said enough was enough and that they'd wait for us while we went to the top. We went up the path making mental notes of all the random dudes with computers and printers hanging out making a profit off instant photos. Clever turnips. At the top we regarded ourselves as gods sitting high above the world at the Seat of Heaven. I contemplated how long it would take to tumble all the way down to the bottom and slowly backed away from the edge. On the way down Claressa made an observation that this would be the best place for "revenge." I asked her if we were friends and she said "I don't think so."

Anyways, she didn't try to kill me even though I'd constantly howl like a wolf in a sincere gesture of pissing her off. It didn't work for the most part, she thought it was funny. I think my wolf sound is more like a puppy. I did get some random Chinese folks who weren't visible to me to howl back. As we made our way back we made note of a shortcut! Except by shortcut I mean climb down a crazy stone ladder thing that took you down to the lower part of the trail. Fuck it...I'm in. Kurt and I climbed down.

That night we decided to go get food at this place that was supposed to be really prominent in Xi'an. It was reccomended to us by Kurt's China guide book. Bullshit. The service was terrible, the food was subpar. Expensive. And worst of all...they closed at 9. What the hell? We had barely sat down and they were practically kicking us out. Of course they made no mention of this while we were ordering.

Anyways, the night seemed to be going nowhere. Mandy was sick. Kurt wasn't looking to go out. I was sober and it was making me uncomfortable. I decided to hit the street and grab some beers - perhaps take a stroll around the city wall. I found a vendor right away and grabbed a couple of beers from him and spoke what little Chinese we could. Then I started to wander in an arbitrary direction to see what the night would bring to me. From what I could tell, I was in a really bad area...even by Chinese standards. The proof was walking straight at me as I was thinking this. A middle aged woman quietly asked me a question. I didn't understand, so I asked her to repeat. This time I heard what she was selling loud and clear. "xiao mei" - - - little beauties. Immediately I started walking away nervously laughing and stating very firmly I wasn't interested. Of course she followed me for a bit until she decided I was a lost cause or perhaps because I seemed to be walking into an even worse area. Sleeping bags were out everywhere and people were just sleeping in filth. I was caught off guard...I hadn't seen this on the level I was seeing it right at that moment. This was like...whole families just bundled together trying to keep warm. I quickly pounded my beer down and grabbed another. Eventually I found my way to the city gate. It was beautifully lit up and quickly cheered me up from the poverty I had just whitnessed. After admiring it and realizing I'd see it up close the next day I decided it was time to head back and see if I could get a couple more beers from my buddy near the hotel. As I passed the McDonalds about four prostitutes came at me to get my business. Let me repeat that. In front of the McDonalds was a troupe of hookers looking for work. Woah! You can get a Big Mac and a blow job in one conveinent location. The question this time didn't come to me in Chinese however. "Sir...fuck?" I was totally blown away. The question was so crude and yet did not waste time. This was serious business. The blood thirsty vixens were just waiting for the American to whip out some green. I laughed again because clearly I had not prepared myself for dealing with this kind of situation before. As I was saying "Bu yao, bu yao"(don't want) they started to play a fucking game of cherades with me, pantomiming what sex was. Again, I replied with a laugh and "wo zhi dao" (I know). They too tried to follow me for a ways until I told them I wasn't interested in women and that I liked dudes. This disapointed some and perlexed all. This was my exit, and I went down the street with a big grin on my face. Fortunately the beer vendor was just closing up shop but let me grab two more on my way back up to the hotel where I contemplated what had just happened.

The next day was the final day of our trip, and as it was short I decided it didn't merit its own post. That's right - deal with it. After packing our stuff together we headed to a meat shop where they were chopping up some mean mutton. It looked delicious, and then Claressa hands us a slab of it. "Eat this." It wasn't cooked and I was fearful of the worms I would get as a result...but I couldn't resist. Delicious raw meat...mmmmhmmm. It was so good. Anyways, next stop was the city wall. Our tour guide told us some impressive facts; oldest city wall in China, buildings couldn't be taller than the wall, we could ride a bike on it, etc. We took a stroll for a bit and I had to admit it was kind of cool. A nice relaxing end to the trip after climbing mountains and seeing performances. This was a welcome break from the intense past couple of days. There isn't much to say that I can remember so I'll just put some pictures up which will represent the situation a little better.