Xincheng

Made it here late last night ... and boy did I think I was going to be taken away and murdered ... lol, just kidding.

First, last nights train was super cool. It had the smoothest ride and the fastest we went was 308 km/hr ... in-frighten-sane. It was awesome. I managed to sleep for about two hours since it was a five hour train ride, and I needed that.
When we arrived at the train station it became a hurd mentality, which I’ve noticed a lot here. Lots of pushing, shoving, and yelling, and of course I can’t understand a bloody word said. I guess ignorance can be bliss.

The taxi ride took forever to get into town. I did think at one point I was being kidnapped, but alas I was not. Cause let’s face it who the hell would want me as a hostage lol.

The hostel staff was super nice, and English was easily spoken. ❤️
I decided to splurge and upgrade my room to a private room since they had availability. And I am glad I did. The bed and pillows were hard but who cares, the only thing that bothered me was they smelled faintly like cigarette smoke. It’s nice having your own space especially since everything is so crowded here, especially a bathroom with a REAL toilet lol.

Today I’ve just been wandering around Xi’an ... and totally got lost. When I did get my bearings, it’s become easier, and I found a Starbucks. Judge all you want but this has been very stressful for me here and I needed a comfort from home, except a completely different menu lol. I’m having a Mango Passionfruit Frapp and damn it’s good. I also had to get my You Are Here Mug too!!!

I’m currently near the beautiful Bell Tower and am going to head out to do more sightseeing... tomorrow is a busy one since I booked a tour to the Terra-cotta Warriors. So I’m doing all my shopping etc. today.

Update:

I wandered around a bit more just taking in the sights until I found the Muslim Quarter ... this was interesting but cool. I don’t know how to explain it, but walking down the initial street was like a mini Vegas. Lots of neon, people yelling, weird ass smells ... the only thing different was the crazy ass food and street meat people were hawking. It was tres cool.

I did the entire “strip” so to speak and then wandered down into one of the side alleys, which was a huge maze. I found a couple small items I picked up but mainly what I got was lost. When I finally got out of these small alleys I ended up in a more residential area where there were locals, and of course I couldn’t find where it was on the map. So I did what I normally do ... pick a direction and act like I know where I am going. So far this method has not failed me yet, and I am proud to say it didn’t again.
I ended up being way hella down from where I wanted to be, but when I checked my iPad for maps I knew I was going in the right direction.

I was making my way back to the hostel since my feet were killing me, but I stopped off at Walmart for a small amount of groceries and food for the next day or so.

I opted to chill out and eat noodles for a little bit to give my feet a break.

Obviously I grew bored and decided to head back out. I bought a ticket to the Xi’an city wall and decided to do a nice walk. It was a nice walk and great for pictures. I only did a quarter of it since I didn’t bring enough cash for a bike, but it was still worth it. I learned a bit, got some amazing views and took part in a cool activity.
And of course as tradition would follow, I got lost exiting, lol. I ended up being outside the city walls, when I wanted to be inside, but soon I again figured it out and made it back. Found the Chinese version of a 7-11 for a coke and chips (all Chinese of course, so it was a stab to see if I got what I wanted lol) and then went back to the hostel.

I passed out before 8:30 I was so exhausted but I needed the sleep for the long ass day tomorrow will be.Läs mer