Xian

We arrived back in Beijing today. We spent three days away. We left on Sunday evening and took a 12 hour train ride to Xian. On Monday we got settled in to our hotel then we headed out for breakfast at McDonalds or lunch-we just happened to go at an odd time where we could have either one. So, my new thing that's been happening on this trip has been McDonald Big Macs.Yep. I had two on Monday. On for brunch and one for dinner. It's a bad habit. I never ate at McDonalds at home. Now, all the sudden on PacRim we eat there ALL THE TIME. It's not good. We can't do this. But it's cheap and affordable so we do. When we get home i'll have to break the habit. But i'll be so excited for Chipotle it wont even matter. MMMMM I miss Chipotle.

So, we are back in Beijing with 20 days left to go. Tomorrow is our last Chinese class and our final. So, that's exciting. Chinese has been fun to learn and yet sometimes I think that my brain can only handle a certain amount of new information in a certain amount of time...and that time and amount is passed. I can no longer remember words and characters. It's just too much. sigh......

So, in Xian I bought myself a bag with wheels. I went to about 7 different shops that had the bag I wanted. The prices they asked for ranged from 180 kuai to 650 kuai. I only wanted to pay 50 kuai. So, I tried to bargain down but 50 must have for real been their cut off point where they would lose money. Because the people wouldn't go down passed 80 kuai. But then finally I found a man with the bags I wanted and I bargained down to 60 kuai. I figured that was the cheapest I was going to get. BUT sad part is he didn't have the bag in the colors and design I wanted. So I had to settle for a brown one with pretty hearts on it. But I still like it....I think.

Xian was so much cleaner and nicer than Beijing. I liked it there. We went to a few museums and went to see Terracotta Warriors. That was pretty cool. But after seeing one large exhibit of them you've basically seen it all. And we saw like four. But it was still awesome. I enjoyed being able to see how the process of finding them went on. We could see where archeologists and scientists were digging and how it all was happening. But like I said...it got boring after awhile but it was still interesting.

AND THE MOST AMAZING OF XIAN....

I had the chance to go tandem bike riding around the wall of Xian with Emily Johnston. It is about 8.5 or 9 miles around. At first I was soooo scared to go tandem instead of single but I am so glad I did because we had so much fun together. And I think it was easier. I'm not sure. And at every corner there would be a small hill to go up then we got to go back down around the corner and at one point Emily and I almost went down the steps instead of the ramp...that would have been a disaster. But we laughed so hard about it. It was so much fun and a great experience. I hope I have the chance to go tandem bike riding again.