I'm only happy when it Rains.... NOT!

Hello from Xi'an - pronounced "she-anne", after a 18 hour train ride from Shanghai to Xi'an where I slept with 66 of my closest chinese friends.. we finally arrived in Xi'an. Steve our fearless leader promised sunshine and good times, but when we arrived, we arrived in the most unheard of seasonal rainpour ever in china. Steve has lived here for 5 years and never has seen rain like this. Anyhoo.. I am wet, I am cold. And I want warm skies again.. smog.. I do prefer. This rain is incessant.. it will not stop. On the sidewalk, street vendors are selling umbrellas like mad, and I chose to just bear it, we were all soked to the bone today, and really its not that big of a deal, considering its been +30 for the last week.. I can't complain.

Yesterday, we went to the Terracotta Soldiers. Andy, I was dissappointed. You don't get to get to close and most of it is remodelled, but the shear size of the tomb and the details of the soldiers was impressive. Pit 1 was over 230 m x 60 m in size. Literally rows and rows and rows of soldiers, chariots, horses all lined up. It was spectacular. The office quarters as well in Pit 2 although smaller were impressive. THe soldiers are huge in comparison to the size of an actual chinese person, so it was interesting to see how Emporer Ching represented himself and his people. Because of the rain we were unable to see the Qin ling mountains that surround the site which I was a bit dissapointed of, as from pics they just look amazing. Our tour guide, Amanda was so upbeat and perky, and the rest of us from our 18 hour journey were exhausted and fell asleep on her in the bus.. we all felt so bad, but it was a long long day.

That night, we went out for supper and then to a kareoke bar. You got to rent out your own room, and we all sang lots of Abba, Beatles, Spice Girls (apparently I rock while singing "People of the world.. spice up your life.. every boy and every girl" it was funny. I also did my trade mark "What's going on" which I thought was from the 4 non blondes, but it was in fact a techno version which was absolutely hilarious.. we were all dancing and having a great great time.

When walking to the train 2 days ago, I picked up my backpack in a way I thought was smart but apparently ripped my shoulder. I cried when I woke up this morning as I couldn't bend forward or side to side (I just took pain killers all day yesterday), so I got up early and found a massage parlar. For $25 cdn, I can now look both ways and up and down.. so worth every penny. I am still sore, but when I hit Laos in a few days I am going to go for another massage and hopefully all will be better. I haven't hurt my back like that in years, where's my saviour Jeff the chiro when I need him! thank god for chinese girls who are half the size of me and ten times as strong who were able to relieve some of the tension.

I then walked through the muslim quarter of Xian (who knew) and ended up in a mosque that was built eons ago.. very serene and beautiful. Then I met up with the some of the group and we ventured out of town to see the Han Yanlin tombs. These were incredible. Similar to the terracotta soldiers but you actually walk over the tombs itself. There were thousands of carved goats, pigs, chickens, horses, eunics, men, woman, chariots, pots, dead animals, you name it. The tombs of the emporer and empress of the Han dynasty look like treed pryamids in a field and there are 81 tombs of gifts and treasures for them in the after life. Incredible.

On the way back we couldn't catch a taxi so we ended up walking for for a while, finally catching a taxi and ending up in the WORST traffic jam of history, at one point there were 6 lanes heading south and 1 heading north, then 3 north, 3 south, then 4 south and 2 north, and literally this is all on the same road. CHAOS. I just laughed. And after being in the taxi for 45 minutes, I paid 5 bucks cdn.

So all in all its been a good trip in China. I am exhausted though. I opted out of the group meal tonight, am off to get some noodles and then just want to wrap myself in my duvet and read. Two more days in China and we are then off to SE asia by Tuk tuk.. details to follow later :)

This what I have learned thus far in China:

How to drive 101:

1. Purchase a brand new vehicle. All vehicles in China are 2-3 years old. I am serious. As the middle class grows more people are buying cars and there are NO run down old cars on the road. Picture volkswagons, mazda, hyatts (SUVs as well), all on the road at one time.

2. Disregard the following: all other vehicles, people walking, scooters, tuk tuks, buses.

3. Get in car. Turn on Car. Press horn. Keep horn pressed for the entireity of your trip.

hehehe.

How to cross a street in China - similar to the game "frogger"

1. Disregard traffic lights and police men directing traffic.

2. Look in direction of oncoming cars, if safe, proceed to second lane of traffic. Wait.

3. Move along the 'dashed line' of traffic looking for oncoming cars.. proceed.

Seriously.. if I get hurt in China it is from the above..

Anyhoo.. hope you are well. Happy Mothers' Day Mom!!! Miss you!! Happy Bday too, to Lynn and Talya.. I know that they are fast approaching :)