Day 50: Half Train/Half Rain

I like rain.

I even like trains, but this day was quite a struggle due to the long finishing hours on the train and then walking through Xi’an in the rain to my hostel. It was good though because I was able to see the city by foot which is always a bit more exciting than via taxi or bus.

So once I got turned around about 15 times I found the hostel in which I was to stay. I could tell this was a hostel because people were speaking English, Spanish, French and a mix of other language that I hadn’t heard in a long time.

I got up to my room where I met by a young Swiss girl who was traveling across the China via backpack and was having a fun time in the process. I layed down for a little bit and then grabbed my computer and headed downstairs to take advantage of some of the very slow Wifi to plan the rest of my trip in Xi’an.

While in conversation with a fellow American the power all of the sudden went out. Now this has happened to me before, but the last time it was on Christmas in Guilin, so I didn’t panic, but just laughed.

I took this as a good reason to pack up my stuff and start walking the city. I wasn’t going to make much progress in a place that had reduced itself to candles to light the place.

I walked outside and traversed the small area near the hostel where the Bell Tower and the Drum tower set. These ancient, but now refurbished places held old artifacts and hourly shows of bells in one tower and drums in the other. I’ll let you figure out which had which.

So I enjoyed myself reveling in the enormous drums and bells as well as avoiding torrential downpours between my sightseeing of the towers.

I finished off the night walking around and then resting at the hostel where I talked to some Swiss, French and some Dutch. I felt like the lone American still, but it was OK. It’s not like that’s anything new. I was planning to rest before tomorrow where I go to the famous Terra Cotta Warriors.

~

Below are pictures of the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower. They basically looked alike, except for what they contained. I’m a bit more partial to the Drum Tower. It was more interesting, and the drummers had more fun with the performance.

The last photo is proof of how “Western” Xi’an was. Super 8 Motels are jumping the pond.

-NL