I'm famous!...time to leave

Well after nearly five months of living in Xi'an, the local media has finally recognized me as the star I am. By local media, I mean the free monthly expat magazine. And by recognized, I mean a rather unflattering photo of me eating pizza at an expat Halloween party.

So without further adieu, I present my fifteen minutes of fame in China:

Xianease Expat Magazine, December 2011 Issue

Expat Halloween collage. Look closely, I'm top right of the left page.

The December issue of the Xianease makes that Halloween slice of pizza seem like it was eaten just yesterday.

In other news, I have submitted all of my grades for the fall semester. This means I can now embark on a two month whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia. Here is an outline of my itinerary:

I leave today for Kunming, the capital of China's exotic Yunnan province. I'm going by train (33 hours, wish me luck). From Kunming I will head 10 hours northwest to Lijiang to see the Tiger Leaping Gorge. I head south to the ancient town and backpacker paradise of Dali to celebrate the New Year before returning to Kunming.

From Kunming I go to Singapore (BY PLANE!), with a 20 hour layover in Hainan Province--China's Hawaii. From Singapore I will leisurely spend two months making my way back to China. I have no set itinerary or timetable for the journey, but it will go something like this:

SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA

Kuala Lumpur

Georgetown/Indian Ocean Beaches

THAILAND

Phuket/More Beaches

Bangkok

Chiang Mai

CAMBODIA

Siem Reap

Phenom Phen

Sinhanoukville/Pacific Beaches

VIETNAM

Ho Chi Mihn City

Nha Trang/Beaches

Hanoi

From Hanoi I head to China by train. I will stop in Guilin, a chinese city world famous for its stunning scenic beauty, before returning to Xi'an.

I won't be traveling with my computer, so I dont know how often I'll be able to update this blog over the next two months. I will make sure to take many photos along the way, and I will post them as often as I can. 

XMAS

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Over the past few weeks its been beginning to look a lot like Christmas...sort of. Very few Chinese are christians, but that has not stopped Christmas from becoming a holiday that is celebrated. Mostly the holiday has caught on through retailers who want to capitalize on the holiday's commercial success in the States. The following are some of the holiday decoration I've seen downtown.

CHRISTMAS IN XI'AN

A christmas tree complete with presents in the hostel I like to stay in

Stockings at the front desk of the hostel

Santa is on the doors of nearly every store in Xi'an

A modernist christmas sculpture

This apparently is Santa's favorite hotpot restaurant

Santa holding up an LED billboard

This christmas present is bigger than my apartment

What better to get the one you love for christmas than a couple bottles of tea?

Peppermint pillars

Christmas sales at the Time Traveler With Love store

More Santa on storefronts

A fairly large Christmas tree. Looks like they ran out of ornaments for the bottom right side.

Santa's Chinese name translates to "Christmas Old Man" 

Why not spend Christmas at one of Xi'an's hot springs?

SIYUAN CHRISTMAS CEREMONY

To celebrate Christmas, the International School at Siyuan University put on a special ceremony. Of course the foreign teachers were special guests, so we got front row seats for the two hour event. After watching the show, I fully understand why Christmas is and will always be less popular than in America.

Waiting for me at my front row seat were complementary seeds, fruit, and tea to be enjoyed during the performance.

Student musicians--playing the Sax, Trumpet, Flute, Piano, and two Chinese instruments I dont know.

Here are some videos of the performances:

MY CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

Here is my Christmas decoration, a paper snow globe that my family sent me. Thanks Mom, Dad, and Virginia; I love you.

Xi'an Nights

Night time really is the best time to see Xi'an. Everything is lit in colored lights, the smells from woks and hot pots fill the air, and the streets seem less crowded. Here are just a few of the highlights from the past several weekend nights in the city.

BIG WILD GOOSE PAGODA LIGHT & FOUNTAIN SHOW

Probably the most romantic spot in Xi'an is Da Yan Ta (the Big Wild Goose Pagoda). It's grounds have a fountain show three times a day. The fountains are choreographed to traditional chinese music that plays from loudspeakers all over the park. The after dark show is lit up with many colored lights.

Colored trees line the fountains. You can see the pagoda lit in the background.

XI'AN CATHOLIC CHURCH

By far the oldest structure of European influence in the city, Xi'an's catholic church looks like it belongs in in medieval Portugal rather than China. The church has a dedicated following of chinese catholics, however the community is a small one. It also attracts an interesting mix of expats. When I visited the church I encountered mainly Scandinavians. The church is very beautiful, unfortunately my pictures are not. 

JUPITER?

This definitely makes my top five strangest experiences in China. After a nice dinner of Korean BBQ I stumbled upon a small crowd on the sidewalk. In the middle of the crowd was what looked like anti-aircraft cannon shining a green laser into the sky. It turned out it was a giant telescope mounted on the back of a tricycle. The tricycle owner was charging 10RMB for a look through his telescope.

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable.

I had recently taken Solar System Astronomy in college so I figured I'd see what his telescope could do. It turned out the guy's telescope was very good. He used the laser to calibrate the telescope lens at Jupiter. Despite the light and air pollution of Xi'an, I was able to see four of Jupiter's moons and make out the stripes on Jupiter's surface. $1.50 can't get me a close up of Jupiter on any sidewalk I've ever been on in America.

Xi'an City Wall International Marathon

Last weekend I participated in the Xi'an Marathon. No, I didn't run a full marathon. I entered into the men's 13.7K race. A fellow english teacher signed me up, and we both trained for a few weeks leading up to the race. I wanted to run in the 5K, but somehow I was entered into the 13.7K instead...oh well.

The race took place on top of Xi'an's City Wall, which made the event pretty awesome. Race day was cold and rainy, just how I like it. My race kicked off at 9:30, which was far to early to for any weekend activity, especially running. The 13.7K is one lap around the City Wall.

Me and my student Leaf before the race

Cant have a sporting event without a mascot. I guess marathons are not the exception.

Here I am with a bunch of Chinese people I dont know. This happens to me a lot.

Women's 13.7K as they head to the starting line.

At the starting line...wish me luck

The 13.7K is a little over 8.5 miles. It is the longest run I have ever done competitively. I placed 52nd in the race, finishing in just over an hour.

The Terracotta Warriors

Last weekend I finally went to see the Terracotta Warriors. It is the biggest tourist attraction in Xi'an, and is considered the Eighth Wonder of the World. The Warriors were unearthed in the late 1970's by a farmer who was digging a well. What he discovered was the Mausoleum of the First Emperor of China. This emperor, Qin Shi Huang, employed 700,000 peasant workers to construct a massive underground tomb complete with a terracotta replica of his glorious military forces. Each soldier in the terracotta army has unique facial features. They also vary in height, hairstyle, and uniform according to their military rank. The clay warriors posses real weapons, the same used by Qin's army. The weapons demonstrate the sophistication of Chinese military technology at the time (200 BC). They were plated with Chromium to prevent rust and dulling, a process that did not emerge in Europe until 1850.

The Terracotta Warriors are spread across three pits. The pits very in size and character of what they contain. Many of the clay warriors are destroyed from tomb raiding in past centuries.

Entrance to Pit 2

I think Eighth World Wonder qualifies as a World Heritage Site

Pit 2 Preface

Viewing area inside Pit 2

The excavation grounds

Floor plan of Pit 2

Broken Warriors

More broken Warriors

Can you spot the face?

A bit about weapons

Chrome-Plating

Kneeling Archer

Human bones. Most likely the remains of someone who built the tomb.

Pit 3. Much smaller than Pit 2 but with the Warriors very much intact.

They look ready to jump on those horses.

Many of the emperors men were headless.

Pit 1. The largest and most famous pit of the Mausoleum.

Thousands of Warriors

Side view

Archaeologists are still actively studying the site nearly 40 years after its discovery

Proof that I actually went to the Terracotta Warriors

No trip to the Terracotta Warriors is complete without a visit to Snack City

I went to see the Terracotta Warriors and all I got was this lousy dead fox.