Xinjiang Province October 5-6

October 5, 2010

After a good night’s sleep and a refreshing lukewarm shower, we checked out and headed to the airport. Our flight left at 10:15 from the small airport and landed in Xi’an at about 12:30. We drove from the airport while Jerry, our new tour guide, told us about the area. I learned a lot about my city. We stopped at a museum and that showed the glory days of the area when it was the capital city of China. It was almost 4:00 p.m., so I left the group and decided to go home for the night. It was a bad time to get a taxi. No taxis would stop and I wasn’t going to ride in those carts, so I finally took a ride with a driver of a mini-van for ten yuan. It was only a six-yuan ride, but I was desperate. I got the cleaning girl to let me in my apartment, unpacked, and started to relax. I was glad to be home.

October 6, 2010

I slept well last night because I was in my own bed. Just before I left, I flipped on the two bathroom switches and the lights burned out. However, I had to get a taxi, so I left it for tomorrow.

It was early in the morning so I found a taxi quite easily. He took me to the hotel and I waited for the rest of the people to come down. There was an elderly gentleman in the lobby from Australia. He was on another tour and told me a little about his life. He is 86 and traveling without his wife because she passed away a few years ago. Amazing!

We continued our tour of Xi’an and headed east. Our first stop was the factory where they make the Terra-cotta figures and lacquer furniture. Anna, our tour guide was very informative and told us the process of making the figures and the tables. Of course, the main goal is to have us buy something at the end. Because we were such a large group, Anna offered us a discount of 20 percent. I found the jade figure  of the kneeling archer that I wanted and took it over to the sales person to find out how much it would cost. First, she gave me the 15 percent price, but I reminded her that is was 20. The original price was 580 yuan, but she said I could have it for 450. I jumped at the chance.

Next we headed out to the site of the Terra-cotta Army. Although I had been there before, I enjoyed seeing the movie and the three pits again. We also did a ten-minute tour of the museum. Our lunch was delicious, especially the sugary peanuts and the cookies. 

Our next stop was the Muslim Market where the customer and the seller bargain for prices. We only had 30 minutes so I went with Meridene, another teacher, to get some puppets. The famous Dumpling Banquet was our dinner for the evening. I think there was supposed to be about 20 dumplings. I tasted about half of those, and then quit because I was so full. They all had different fillings—mushroom, pork, vegetables, shrimp, and walnut. The last one was duck and the cooks had shaped them like a duck with a head and a red eye. Always too much food.

The next highlight was a dancing show at the other side of the hotel. It was amazing! The costumes were so colorful and the music was beautiful! They also had two instrumental numbers with exotic instruments. What a treat!

I grabbed a taxi with the Laings, another BYU couple in Xi'an and headed home. After the driver dropped off the Laings, he was driving out of the apartment complex and a young man on a bicycle ran into him. The drive home was a different route than I was familiar with. I was a little nervous and started to pray that I would arrive home safely when I spotted the back gate of the campus. I am thankful that the Lord answers prayers--sometimes almost immediately. He didn’t change the meter so I thought I would have to pay the entire amount of 24 yuan. However, he only charged me 14 yuan. I tried to give him a 50 but he wouldn’t take it because it had a torn corner. I had 12 yuan in my purse and some change. I finally ended up giving him 13.70 and he was happy. It was now about 10:15, so I walked home in the dark. I arrived home to find that I had no electricity. I guess the bathroom lights had triggered the circuit breaker. I'll fix it in the mor . . . . . Zzzzz!