Get Your Xi'an.

Xi'an is the ancient capital of China. It's about 12 hours SouthWest by fast train, and 20 something hours by local train. We had the privledge of taking both trains; the first train we took to Xi'an was standing room only. We decided to travel to Xi'an during the busiest travel week of the year in China. Literally hundreds of millions of people travel this week, so it was no surprise that there were no seats available when we went to purchase our ticket. "Luckily," no seats available does NOT mean that there are no tickets available. Hence, "standing-room" only. We thought for sure that there was another language barrier misunderstanding when we were sold the tickets...surely we could not be standing on a 12 hour train ride. At least we could sit on the floor, with people walking and bumping over us all night long. A special shout out to the food cart, which continued to operate until 4 am, and began again promptly at 6 am. On the half hour. Thanks.

After our long train ride to Xi'an, we arrived at 6am in the rain, eager to meet our contact, Jack Shen. Jack ended up being not as wonderful as we thought, and instead of crashing at his place, we ended up at some far flung seedy excuse for a Chinese hotel for the night.
(After recooping from the train ride, we made it to a wondeful backpackers paradise in the city walls, Shuuyan Hostel, where we stayed for the remainder of the week.)

Xi'an is a wonderful city, however, filled with so many university students, eager to communicate with you and practice their English, a really awesome Muslim Quarter filled with friendly faces and vegetarian-friendly food, and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was our touchstone, we spent some part of almost every day there, or in that area, as our favorite vegetarian restaurant (and honestly, the only one we could really find) was across the street.

More about our experience in Xi'an and surrounding areas below.

Peace
K and M

Muslim Quarter Street Food:


Note: These may look like potatoes, but they are not. They are made of rice gluten, Max insists, however, we have no idea, really.




So many cheesy lights in the Muslim Quarter.

The people making this bread were speaking a dialect that sounded much like Arabic. We think it could have been Arabic, which was really cool to hear in China.

Wild Goose Pagoda Water Show. It's much cooler than it looks in these pictures. The water is coordinated with music, and there are masses that crowd every night for this event. There are actually four shows a day. We've been to a few. The music is different each time. We love you, BWGP. Makes Max think about what the life of a water designer must be like and what those tech rehearsals must be like.



Sometimes people get in the Big Wild Goose Pagoda water show. And squeal when they get wet. What do you think will happen when you stand under a giant jet of water, people? Max did not squeal, obviously. Though he was wet.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda during last day of Xi'an. Still life with plastic bag filled with rice, 2008.


This is Kara's favorite shot so far. Can you spot the human.

Also at the BWGP.


Max in Muslim Quarter. Max has grown a large beard, and is sometimes mistaken for a Muslim man. He's gotten more than one "salaam'alakam" since we have been here by Chinese Muslims. This could be good for our Middle East jaunt.


Terracotta Warriors are AMAZING. Each one is an entirely unique creation and they are still excavating!




Terra cotta warriors are very serious.


Note: This whole in baby gear is intentional. This is so babies can piss and shit wherever they want. In some ways, this could be considered another way of "going green." We do not think so. However, babies butts are always cute. Kara is very good at sighting them, and is collecting a mini portfolio of pictures such as this. Non defecating...yet.

Terra-cotta Max.

Split popcorn.

Back in Xi'an...









We decided to take a trip to see the Buddhist grottoes at Louyang. We ended up spending 12 hours total there and back to visit them for less than 2 hours. Still Kara's favorite place in China so far, and we both think that it was worth the trip. They range from 1200-1500 years old. They are, spectacular, moving, and inspiring and beautifully sculpted. A monument to the technical abilities of ancient people.

Overlooking the river which flows past the grottoes.

Donations.

Our German friend, Teresa, who is currently teaching English in China, and who we met at the cool hostel. We like her a lot. Sorry we walked so fast to get there, we got a little New York on you.

Max climbing to see the largest Buddha.


Another "day trip" from Xi'an. Sixteen hours travel time for four hours visiting time. We were really interested in going to Yan'an, home to the revolutionary headquarters of the CCP during the 30s and 40s. We initially thought and understood that it was merely a 4 hour train ride from Xi'an, therefore a doable day trip, if we woke up early enough. Half way through our train ride, we were so kindly informed that we would arrive around 5, which is about one hour before all the museums and historical sights would close. This was very disappointing to say the least, especially to Max. Knowing that we had to get on a return train to Xi'an by 10 pm, we decided to make the most of it. We got into a cab, showed the driver 4 names which reflected our interest in seeing all things revolutionary and communist. He basically became our tour guide for the next few hours; he took us to the location of the first CCP Central Committee Meeting, but everything was closed. We knew we might have just enough time to make it to the complex of the former revolutionary headquarters of the CCP, which someone on the train had lovingly referred to as "Mao's House." Interestingly enough, this wasn't in any guide book we had seen.

At the CCP HQ. We arrived 15 minutes too late, and the gates were closed. Max is seen here, trying to glean some sort of revolutionary history from this plaque as a concession to our ridiculously long, seemingly failed trip. (at this point)

Max trying to look into the complex. Becoming increasingly downtrodden. Very very sad.

The saddest Max.

But alas, a glimmer of hope, much like a scene out of a propaganda movie, arose in the form of a young female comrade. She opened the gates, and let us in, for what was a free for all inside the compound. We didn't have to pay, go with any guide, nor deal with any crowds. It was just us and our taxi driver, wandering the grounds of a place where the modern Chinese state was born. It was very powerful.

The bros.

Maximilian on Red Star.

Taxi ride to train station after visiting revolutionary HQ.

The ride back to Xi'an.

An exhausting day. We arrived back in Xi'an at 6:30 am, and got on the train to return back to Beijing for Max's wisdom teeth surgery later that day. This was the local train. It took 20 hours to get back. At least we had a sleeper this time.

Beijing, Beijing, Beijing Beijing. Beijing. Beijing. (Sung to the Tune of Ole). Which is the chant we use for everything.

Hello all
Its been a bit of time since our last post, so we are bringing you Beijing part deux, Xian and a special dental surprise from the last three weeks. Our time in China is wrapping up as we are catching a train to Hanoi, Vietnam this week.
More to come from Vietnam.

Tonight we bought tupperware from Wal-Mart, yes, Wal-Mart, for our insta-veggie noodle creation for the train. Wal-Mart in China has the same phrenetic vibe as in the states, with some local color: there were vats of turtles for sale. However, these turtles were not to be sold as pets.

With love,
Max and Kara

p.s. Cheesy cam was sadly stolen on a crowded bus in Xi'an. Thus, less silly pictures, and pictures of Kara. They are basically the same thing, yes. Rest in peace, cheesy cam.

p.p.s. We write these captions together, Max wanted to make that clear. Kara already thinks this is obvious and hates writing in the third person.


New Beijing, Great Olympics, New Subway, Yeah Yeah, Blah Blah. We get it, Beijing. New Beijing, Great Olympics is the slogan the bureaucracy has used since they got the bid. You can find it written on every wall, referenced in theater programs, down every hutong alley, and on the occasional restaurant menu.


CCTV building in Beijing. Designed by Koolhaas. Maximilian's favorite building and not a small part of the reason he wanted to come to China....sadly, it is not finished. There were bunches of construction workers sleeping outside. We wonder what their schedule looks like, or their housing for that matter.


Old school logo painted on the walls of the perimeter of the construction site. They were a bit of an enigma, because those walls must have been put up recently.


Ti'anamen Square turned floral theme park. Neither one of us understood nor appreciated this change of face. It seems tacky and undignified, see following two pics.



So, we were really excited and possibly brainwashed about the Olympics after spending two weeks in Beijing. Naturally we wanted to go see the stadium and the aquacube. There was a new subway line and a brand new Olympic park built specifically for these two buildings. We assumed because of that, and because of everything we had been hearing about the Olympics that the Chinese gov would want to show off these gems of the Olympic games, up close and personal. This was NOT the case. After learning that the subway line was no longer running, merely 1 week after the close of the Paralympic Games, we learned we must take a bus. Ok, no problem. (Side note, there is no bus map in Beijing, a source of much frustration for New Yorkers. ) Once we found the bus, there was no sign on the bus indicating that it would drop us off anywhere near the Olympic park. To make a long story short, we got there, kind of. The closest bus took us about a mile away from the park. We were still really excited to get there. When we got there, the entire, ENTIRE park was fenced off. This park was huge. Max is emphatically stating and waving his hands around as I type, that it was "so big...really really big, so big, like the size of prospect park big!!!!" It was big, folks. And we walked the whole friggin perimeter trying to get as close as possible. And we were not alone. At one point, along with a stampede of Chinese tourists, we thought we found a breach in the fence, however, upon "sneaking in" we realized it was just a closer vantage point, guarded by Chinese police. God damnit.

Behind the bars. This is the absolute closest we could get. This is shot with my zoom.

The aquacube.

We heard a rumor that there might be tours given, but it is still unconfirmed.

There is an increasingly rapid growth of gigantic, unoccupied, yet impressive buildings in the city. This whole complex is completely empty. Its across the street from the stadium, and we went there, thinking we could schmooze our way to the top to get a better view of the Olympic park, however it was just lit up, but completely vacant.


This is not the largest screen tv screen in Beijing, however, its still about the size of Kara's house in Nashville. No exaggeration. Max thinks it is at least three times the size of Kara's house, if not four. Its not. But we will argue about that. Maybe forever.

So many people, all the time. Beijing subway.

So much stuff being carried on bike. Yes, dude on bike, that is why I am taking that picture. Also, not the biggest load we have seen.

Just walking, with huge stuffed animal. We stalked this girl for three blocks so Kara could get the right shot and also we wanted to know where you would possibly be going with such a large stuffed animal at 3 pm.

Tea.

SPACE WALK! on our subway commute! This was actually a very profound and moving experience, like watching a birth. We were so proud to be humans that day. Max tried to congratulate our subway neighbor, but he didn't understand. In the end, the thumbs-up sign had to suffice. Go China. Go. Hey, U.S.A., scared of the space race again!?!?!? YEAH! Mars, bitches, we want Mars!

This is cool. How many times does your cell phone die, and you need to charge it before getting on a 20 hour train ride? This stand has literally every cell phone charger. No, we don't have a sim card yet, sorry Michal. Even though we are currently schlepping three mobiles with us.


This is all TOFU!

We will not eat you, fish. Don't worry. We will never eat you.

Sick Kara eating tofu from a bag.

Penis lamp. Penis lamp next to Hello Kitty lamp?

Vegan Society, Beijing. This was a really cool thing we found about through some ex-pat magazine. A group of anywhere from 5-20 people meet every Thursday night at this restaurant and share food, stories, and tea. They were really nice and I am sorry to have cut off your head with mine, Australian natural health guy. We hope that we meet all of them again for another beautiful vegetarian meal.