Mud Caves

 Mud.

Doesn't the word inspire the child within you to jump up and down with glee?

I got to play in the mud. And it was so epic, I'm dedicating a whole post to it.

 During our time in Yangshuo we decided to go to some mud caves. Our guide through the caves was great. I think her name was Tao.

 First we started touring Paradise cave ---

 which was basically a wonderland of colorful stalagmites.

 Yes. I crawled into the tiny cave. It was only... uh... maybe 2 point something meters wide.... I think.

 We descended a mighty staircase.

Told you it was mighty.

And then.... oh... then we came upon the mud. And we changed into out bathing suits... and oh.... oh... what a time we had.

The mud was watery... but definitely still mud. And you could float in it with absolutely no effort at all. Which was awesome. Excuse the lack of fun pictures... if you'd like to see more you'll have to check out facebook. But rest assured, a mud fight is now checked off my 101 list. And we did go down the slides. And basically we acted like we were 6 again. So great. So so so great.

Next to the mud there is a less muddy pool where you go to get as much mud off you as you can manage. And then after that you head over to a little underground waterfall to get more mud off.

And then once you are pronounced sufficiently de-muddy-i-fied.... then you can jump in the hot springs. Which are right next to the waterfall.

Something I want to go back and do again?

Holy crap the answer is YES.

I love mud!

Bicycles & Pomegranates (aka) Xi'an Part 1

I have fallen in love with Xi'an. Which, for those of you who may be wondering, is pronounced something like "she-an." Home of an 8th world wonder: The terracotta army.

Which, coincidentally, very few in China know by that name. Go figure.

But we aren't going to talk about the warriors first. First I am going to tell you about a bike ride. You may be thinking that this will be boring to hear about. You may be wondering why on earth I would talk about a bike ride when that is something you can do in America. 'Who cares about bike rides in China?' you may be saying. And now I answer with a mischievous grin, "I do, especially when they're along the top of one of the oldest walls in China."

This was one of our first activities upon arriving in Xi'an. A very long time ago Xi'an was the capitol of China. And it was also a major stopover on the silk road. Therefore, it was a big deal. It was a military outpost, and somewhat miraculously, the outer wall of inner city Xi'an is in pretty darn good condition. Considering it's age mind you. Megan and Elizabeth and I rented bikes and rode the 13.7 kilometers around the top of the wall. If you ever head to Xi'an yourself I HIGHLY recommend this activity. It was so much fun. So so so much fun.

See?

 These were in order... but obviously are not anymore. You'll just have to deal with it.

And now on to the terracotta warriors!

First off, I think you should know that if you ever really want to give a whole bunch of money to some beggars with little effort, you can give it to me. They WILL find me. I don't know what it is, but sometimes I feel like a magnet. Megan and Elizabeth both thought it was a bit funny as we waited in line, and beggar after beggar would come up and start prodding me. Physically prodding mind you. Elizabeth told me it must be because I have a kind face and angelic hair. I gave her a look that hopefully told her I thought she was full of crap. As we waited in a very long line to board the bus to the warriors this is what I did. Try not to make eye contact with beggars. Highly uncomfortable....

But. We finally made it onto the bus. The correct bus mind you, which is sometimes hard to do. And we found the warriors, and thanks to student ID cards, got a significant discount on our entrance fees. Yay!

We started in pit 3. Now... I didn't know that the terracotta army was like a whole city. I didn't even know that there were multiple pits, and that pit 3 is still being excavated, so I must confess I was a little disappointed when I walked in...

But then we realized there were more pits to be explored. And when we went into pit number 2 I was sufficiently impressed:

Pit 1 however. Oh man... that blows ones mind. And this figures are in fact, life size. If life size means take the largest man you know and make him average.

 

Did you know that these amazing things weren't discovered that long ago? As in, the men who discovered them are still alive. And they stick around the museum to take pictures with tourists. I didn't go get one... but the point is, that this is a new thing. And did you also know that there are a lot of pomegranate trees around? And that all along the sides of the road on the way to the museum there are little Chinese people selling pomegranates and tomatoes. Why those two together don't ask me. But by the time Megan, Elizabeth and I left the warriors we were quite famished. So we bought some fruit... and forever more, the terracotta warriors will be associated with pomegranates in my mind. Which are a delicious fruit. I even learned how to eat them properly from some lovely Chinese friends on a train ride :)

Bargaining 101

It's taken me a while, and a few times of realizing that I probably just got ripped off before I have become decent in the art of bargaining. It's definitely a skill worth having, and it's a fun one to practice. Here are some steps I've found, that when followed, lead to a good bargaining experience.

First. Look around at all the stuff. When you see something you like, let your gaze linger. IF the shop person is being hovery, DO NOT TOUCH. If they are barely noticing you... then it might be ok to run your fingers over a few items.

When you see the thing you want, look at it for a while. Try to make them come to you. Most likely, they'll point to what you're looking at. You'll move your head casually to one side as if to say "Yeah, nice, but I'm not sure it's worth my time." Then they'll try to indicate, probably in broken English, that they will give you a very good price for it. At which point you look at them with one eyebrow raised and say: "How much?" Or if you want to attempt sounding Chinese: "Duo shao qian?"

They'll type a number into their calculator for you to look at. You glance, and shake your head with a frown. Then you'll pretend that you don't care too much about the object anyways and start to move on. They'll start shouting and waving their calculator at you, asking you mostly in Chinese to set your price. You take a step further as if to walk away, at which point they will probably shout "Ok! OK!" and punch a new number into the calculator. You pause, look at the number thoughtfully, and then you'll do some math in your head. Cut the number in half. Then subtract some. (So if the number in the calculator is 100, maybe you'll offer 25 or so.) Type that number into the calculator.

The shop keeper will look at with you with a disbelieving expression. She'll roll her eyes and type in a number slightly smaller than the one she'd typed before. You'll raise your price just a little bit... and then she'll lower again. At this point you'll shake your head and turn to walk away. If she truly was quoting you an outrageous price, and she probably was, she'll start shouting again, and this time when she pulls your attention back, the number in the calculator will be decently smaller. You can at this point, give an inward grin... and if you are feeling really adventuresome, you can try to talk her down just a tad further. But if you've gotten her down almost as far as you'd like, and if you really want the object, and you are actually ok with the price, THEN you can nod your head and hand over your cash.

If you are smart shopper you'll follow these steps. Not always precisely in this order, and with not always the same results, because not all shop keepers are created equal. Some are much easier to bargain with than others.... but these steps can be helpful when working with anyone. When bartering you'll definitely use the walking away one. Multiple times if you're smart. That's the most important one. Perfecting the aura of "I don't care and there's no way I'll pay that much."

Now when you head to China yourself you'll know :)

Train Travel

Ok. So Xi'an is a LONG way from Guzhen. A long way. And I am not exaggerating. However, that does not deter a determined soul like myself. So. On Saturday I, along with the other girls I live with, took a 2 hour car ride to the train station. Once we arrived there our coordinator ditched us in order to catch her train, and we were left on our own. Through the help of some merciful people who looked at our tickets and pointed us in the right direction... we boarded our train. Because it is a National day here in China, train tickets were VERY hard to get. But we were lucky, and we got 5 hard seats and 2 standing tickets.

A standing ticket? What is that you may be asking.... I shall explain.

There is not a lot of space in China. Remember those rumors about the one child policy? Well the one child policy is true, and in full force (we learned that people here are punished through fines and things when they have more than one child) and that is because China. Is. Really. Crowded.
Really.

And the trains in China are no exception. So after they fill up all the seats on a train, they have standing tickets. Which means you crouch in the aisles. Or stand in the aisles, or buy the little plastic seats that they come buy selling to squat on. Or you sit on your luggage, or swap with people in seats when they get up to stretch their legs.

Hopefully the picture will help illuminate:

This is an awful photo to help you understand. Because all the good ones about how crowded it was are on someone else's camera. Plus this was taken towards the end of the ride, when about a bajillion people had already gotten off the train. However. You can see me sitting in the aisle. And you can see Emma standing next to me. And you can see those people behind me chillin out. Now imagine that you are in my shoes. And you stand up. And the whole train is completely packed, and you have to walk over people to get to the bathroom.

I hope I am painting this picture.

Now that you understand a little. I will tell you that the 26 HOUR long train ride actually wasn't that bad. The standing stuff was in it's way, kind of nice, because we got to stretch our legs. Sleeping was nigh unto impossible, but somehow we managed a bit of it. I even curled up on top of a suitcase on the floor at one point... haha. Rachel had fun taking pictures of that one.

I only had to attempt the bathroom twice. The bathroom on the train was a squatter too. Which is a mixed blessing, because while it is more sanitary, it's also a lot harder to do on a moving, bouncing, bumping train.
That's all I'll say about that.

During the course of this train ride I made some friends. One of them was named Nash, and he spoke incredibly good English. Even knew what a simile was. He was surprised that 7 American girls were traveling alone without a male escort. He wanted to know why we didn't have a man with us. We told him that we didn't think it was odd, girls in America travel by themselves all the time. He said that is not so in China, and pointed out that American women are more independent.

I love Chinese people. I love the way that they just say what they think. There isn't anything to apologize about, things are just how they are. Sometimes it makes me look at things in a new way. For example: Nash asked where we all were, since we weren't all sitting together (we couldn't all get seats next to each other, and Megan ended up in a different car, and one of the seats was about 4 rows away from the others.) We told him Megan was in the next car over, and after that he referred to her as 'the pitiful one,' which was quite comical. Then later when I was going to go take my turn in our seat 4 rows away, I noted that a man had climbed into it and fallen asleep. Because it was our seat, I could have kicked the man out. But standing felt good and he looked so peaceful.... I didn't want to wake him up. So I opted to stand for a while longer. Nash was so confused. He informed me that I was 'too tender.' But not in a condescending way. He was just pointing it out. I think it's safe to say that we as American girls perplexed him.

I made another friend during this train ride. She told me her name in Chinese, but I can't remember it. Chinese names are hard to pronounce, and harder to remember. But she was wearing a purple shirt, and she gave me the most productive Chinese lesson I've had yet. She didn't speak a lick of English, and would jabber and jabber in Chinese... at first I wasn't understanding a thing. But gradually I caught on to a few words, and would repeat, then she'd get really excited, and so I'd repeat some more. A man a few seats over spoke a few words of English, and made helpful interjections every once in a while.... it was great. Half the train car was laughing at some of the things I said at one point. BUT I got a compliment. My 1st ever compliment. Mr. helpful interjections man told me that my Chinese pronunciation is very good. Take that! Although, Nash laughed at my dismal attempts at the 4 tones and called them 'ridiculous.'   Oh well. Chinese is HARD.

Back to the train ride. Eventually we did arrive in Xi'an., and we got off that blasted train. And EVENTUALLY and with a few minor mishaps involving some very helpful Chinese people, a few rude rickshaw drivers, and a ride in a cop car, (amongst other things...) we did find our Hostel. And I slept in a bed. A real bed. That is more comfortable than my bed in Guzhen. Go figure.

Xi'an is wonderful.  Totally worth the 26 hour train ride. I can't wait to get started on my next post. But since this particular post is probably feeling long to you, I'll leave off. Because believe me, I KNOW how it feels to be stuck on a ride much longer than you want to be.