XI'AN

Saying it was perfect would be an understatement. Saying it was an adventure would be cliche. And saying it was my favorite trip so far would be true. 

It's weird because Xian is a place most people don't get to visit. It's SO far away and basically the terracotta warriors are their claim to fame. BUT IT WAS SO MUCH MORE! 

The morning after Shanghai we got on a 24 hour train to Xian! Rachel and I rode hard seat style. It's hard to put this experience into words. Basically you sit on a seat that is harder than an airplane but softer than a bus. You face other people and there is a small table in between you. Then you stop along the way and people come and go throughout the 24 hours.

But it's China. So there are more people than seats and some people are standing or squatting. At night there are people piled on the ground trying to sleep and the people in chairs are laying on one another and it's basically like I had a sleepover with approximately 75 Asians of all shapes, sizes, and ages. You don't know Asians until you spend a whole 24 hours with them and have them snore on your shoulder or sit in your leg space. We survived by visiting Nichole and Brinley in their hard sleeper car. Basically the same story except horizontal in your own bed.

We arrived in Xian at 4:50 in the morning homeless, tired, and needing to pee. So we peed in the 24 hr KFC, slept on pushed together chairs in the 24 hr noodle shop, and waited for our hostel to open. China has taught me to love these moments and I was more than happy to be right there in that noodle shop sleeping on three pushed together chairs. 

Approximately at 6:00 we walked through Xian to find our hostel. It was a beautiful morning for walking and we all could tell this was going to be a great trip. Our hostel was right next to the Bell Tower but we learned we couldn't check into our rooms until after 12:00. No worries! We showered, got wifi, and chilled in the cutest little loft. We would've slept in there if we could. 

And at 12:00 we were on our way to the Terracotta Warriors! We had a few hiccups with getting tickets and finding the 306 bus line but that just comes with China. Like most things in China, the terracotta warriors aren't cool unless you know the history. (Note: If you hate history plz skip to next paragraph.)

 The condensed milk version: The first emperor of China wanted to take people to protect him in the afterlife. So he had more than 800 artisans work on this army for over 11 years. They are placed in battle formation in the pits and each warrior has a distinct and unique face unlike the others! They were once painted but the oxidization destroyed the lacquer. Modern Archeologists have tried to reproduce the armor built by these ancient artisans and can't come close to the precision and thinness even with modern tools. AND there are more than 8,000 of these things!

So back to MY history. We were blown away! So blown away that we even forgot to snap a picture of Ellen with the warriors! 

In the line for the bus back we met Flor from Fresno, CA! Central California REP-RE-SENT! She has been teaching in China for about a year and was absolutely the cutest. We decided that we would all go to dinner together on Muslim street. We ate the most delicious noodles I have ever eaten. (Note: I have written this in previous entries for dramatic effect. This is not for dramatic effect.) 

With no other plans, we stopped at a beauty shop after dinner and chatted with the cutest asian girl who showed us all her beauty secrets.

And of course we got ice cream too

Eventually we found the REAL Muslim street. And they welcomed us with a party! Lights, street vendors, street musicians, and street dancing presented by yours truly. It was probably because we were still so stoked about those noodles but we pulled out MJ at least three times that night. Poor Flor probably thought we were crazy but she seemed at least entertained. People stopped at all corners to take pictures with us and two boys even requested a kiss from Brinley and Flor! We laughed and danced through all of it!

Photo evidence of Flor 

By this time it was 11:00 and we stopped at Starbucks to rest our feet. The most awkward Asian sat next to Rachel and said his birthday was July 28th. That was it. Then as we were leaving he stopped to do a cartwheel for us. Believe me you're gonna want to see THAT video when I get home. We decided it was probably time to hit the sack and invited Flor to come biking with us in the morning on the city wall. And that night I slept on an ACTUAL BED. Not a chair or three pushed together chairs.

After a lazy morning, we got tandems and had the cutest Sunday bike ride on Xian's City Wall. Wifi was so bad that we didn't know if Flor was coming but while riding bikes we ran into her! #miracleshappen #princessdiares

ALSO we raced a group of asian girls on tandem bikes and that was a sight to see. Here's photographic proof of our WH33L$ CR3W.

With all the greatness of winning bike races we lost track of time and almost missed our train! However the nicest tuk tuk driver took all four of us + our luggage and got us there in record time. Bless him. Cue 29 hour train ride home! 

Tuk Tuk Ride: Too happy to be stressed

The beauty of Xian was in the spontaneity. With only Terracotta Warriors and tandems planned everything else was a bonus. The food, the funny people, and the new friends. All a wonderful adventure. 

Long live spontaneity and long live Xian!