The next day, as you should all know, was ANZAC day. Last year I was in a place called Raglan in New Zealand, where they held a moving remembrance ceremony. This year was a little different, we had planned on holding up Aussie flags and eating ANZAC biscuits with RV but the morning was a little rushed and so we missed out on these important ceremonial proceedings. Instead, we spent the entire day and the early hours of the next (21 hours in total) squished into the approximate 50cm gap between the top bunk of a 3-tier sleeper berth and the ceiling. There wasn't even enough room to store our gear and so these bags were also crammed onto our beds. One word. Luxury. It actually wasn't all that bad, fun even, and I managed to curl up on the small bit of bed I had left to read, eat and sleep for much of it, mainly to avoid the stares of our carriagemates and passersby. Instant noodles was the meal of choice (as was chicken feet with some of the locals). They even decided, after not having had any form of entertainment for the entire day, to start blaring music out of the speakers at about 11pm, right when we were trying to get to sleep.. Why?
5:30am. We arrive at the ancient walled city of Xi'an in the Shaanxi province, one of only 3 of the original Chinese cities we had planned on visiting before embarking on this trip. It's cold, the sun has not yet risen. We're tired, hungry and about to meet our next lot of couchsurfers in a strange new place. A familiar big 'M' shines brightly and becons us into its warm, welcoming cocoon; we couldn't resist. After the inevitable and expected feeling of grossness wore off, we caught the double-decker 603 bus to the Xi'an International Studies University to meet the lovely Chris (a fellow Adelaidean - possibly the only reason why they let us stay) and her equally lovely, but slightly less Australian husband John. They took us up to their place and we freshened up.
Late morning we enjoyed some delicious local street food served up by a very smiley deaf lady and her husband before taking a stroll atop the city's walls. After some more local street cuisine for lunch we had a wander through the city's muslim quarter - the only place in the city that muslims are allowed to wear their traditional head-dress - until we got lost in a maze of forever narrowing alleyways. John's advice for this situation: keep walking in one direction until you bump into one of the walls! After we found ourselves by putting this advice to use, we also found a Tibetan temple and a little later, a Chinese-style mosque - one of the largest in China as is accentuated by its name, the Great Mosque.
Our first evening was spent back at Chris and John's house on the Uni campus, chatting over some Chinese takeaway (yes, they've even got Chinese takeaway in China!). We already had a feeling for this city that people seemed a little more friendly and laid back than in Shanghai. The fact that there are more than 50 universities here seems to be a factor here as the population is much younger and also much more inclined to try help as a way to practise their English. The staring factor was also down, probably again because of this younger, more worldly crowd.
The following day was a fairly lazy one. A late start meant that lunch at a local restaurant was basically our first outing for the day with Chris, John and a group of fellow international teachers. John persuaded me to eat a raw clove of garlic before the meal. Not recommended. After this, we made our way to the 7th century Big Goose pagoda which disappointingly does not resemble a large bird in any way.. It is the birthplace, however, of modern Buddhism in China after the authentic "undiluted" Buddhist sutras were brought back here from India and translated by the monk Xuan Zang in order to renew original Buddhist values in the country. It is these scriptures that were used also by the Japanese in the introduction of Zen Buddhism to Japan.
We visited the muslim quarter again for dinner as we had heard it is definitely worth seeing at night. It was. The colours, the foods, the overall feeling of the place - it was very lively with an almost street fair-esque feel to it. Great!
Photos:
our accommodation on the train
the facilities
on the wall
I never figured out what this game was, I believe it's some form of Chinese chess..
you see this sight everywhere.. a little kid with split pants. actually they are made that way so it's easier to go to the toilet on the street - yes, on the street..
that's a lot of arms.. Buddha statue in the Tibetan temple
next religion please.. in the Great Mosque
burning candles as a Buddhist offering
wierd as street food.. rice, sugar, some sort of soy sauce paste - pretty good though!
1 comment:
Ah the big M.. such a love/hate relationship...
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