I would like to apologize profusely to anyone who has been anxiously awaiting an update... Or maybe I delude myself and all of y'all have been as busy as I have, and haven't even noticed a lack of updates.
My parents and little sister flew in on December 31st and rang in the New Year here in Beijing, albeit asleep. Not a single one of them made it to 2013 awake, but excuses must be made for them. That flight is pretty brutal.
Since then we have taken in the sights that Super Husband and I had neglected and put off until their arrival, like the Temple of Heaven and the Pearl Market (conveniently located just a block from the temple, making it easy to take in some culture and then shop, shop, shop) were among our first stops. Super Husband and I both thought that the Pearl Market was worth returning to, as was Ya Show market, (near the Workers' Stadium, and offering cheap foot massages and pedicures on the fourth floor).
Have I mentioned the absolutely lovely Christmas gift I received from one of my students? I don't think I have. It is a beautiful red agate bracelet. One of those that you have to grease your hand up and have your little sister apply some force to get on, and then you have it on until... well, forever. I love it.
Thank you, Ena and family!
I was planning to buy myself a jade one, but they not only saved me the trouble, but they got one that Super Husband likes better. Apparently he thinks the green jade wouldn't look as nice against my pale, pale skin. So, at the pearl market he bought me earrings to match my new bracelet, and at Ya Show my mom bought me a matching necklace.
We also took the night train to Xi'an, which was an experience. The train itself is just fine. We opted for the "soft sleeper" because it has four beds in one room. The hard sleeper has six, I believe, and we would have had to share our space with *gasp* strangers. Originally I was pushing to purchase the hard sleeper, because, well, I'm a cheapskate. But also because I thought it was only three beds in that room, just more cramped, and we could send my dad to go mingle with strange Chinese men. But my less tightfisted parents nixed that idea and we had a lovely, albeit overheated, sleep all together in one cabin. The train station here in Beijing though, was an interesting experience. Once you've shown your tickets and ID and put your luggage and bags through the X-ray you begin weaving through crowds of people carrying or sitting on large bags, rolls of bedding, and other things. It seemed a little like a hoard, and was rather daunting. The only food available inside the station is fast food, and as we hadn't eaten dinner we were forced to retreat to the relatively comfortable confines of the McDonald's upstairs lounge. After an adequate meal we returned to the fray, and found that we had timed everything perfectly. We got in a fast moving line, had our tickets punched, and got right on the train. Perfect.
We arrived in Xi'an at about 8am, and after a quick stop to leave our bags at the hotel, and another stop to procure morning caffeine (tea for mom and dad, coffee for me) we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. Warren, the driver that we ended up using for the entire day, suggested that we go to this factory where they make traditional replicas of the soldiers first, to learn a little about the process, so we did that. It's a pretty interesting little factory, but because of the cold weather we didn't get to see anyone actually carving away at any statues. Inside the factory was freezing. We all agreed that it was warmer outside than in. We ended up buying a couple things there. Mom and dad bought a smallish replica of a kneeling archer for themselves, and a Pixiu for me. Pixiu is one of Dragon's babies, and is said to bring wealth and luck to those who display him in their home or office. Plus, he's painted really pretty.
The Terra Cotta Warrior Museum is pretty interesting. It's a complex of buildings and museums, and in some of the areas you can see that they are actively excavating new areas, uncovering even more soldiers, horses, and carts.
What isn't specified though is why they're all there. Apparently there is no historical record of these "tombs" at all, so knowing what their purpose was is pure conjecture. There is speculation that it was either an army for the afterlife, a la Egyptian pyramids, or an army for when the emperor returns to our mortal plane and sets out to conquer the world. Either way, it's pretty amazing to look at rows upon rows of completely different faces and know that they were carved a couple thousand years ago.
After leaving the museum we decided to take the advice of a friend who had been to Xi'an before, and rent tandem bicycles on the city wall and bike the 13km around. That was fun, but I sat on the back seat and promptly discovered that I don't like not being able to control the brakes, or direction. It is something I'd definitely recommend doing if you're in Xi'an, though.
We took a bullet train back from Xi'an to Beijing on Tuesday. Two things were rather striking: From a train it's hard to tell the difference between 120km/hr and 300km/hr and the countryside between Xi'an and Beijing is ridiculously polluted. There were points where you couldn't even see half a mile. We took that train back, instead of opting for a second night train, because we thought we might see some countryside, some pastoral scenery. That was a no go. A thick blanket of brownish smoggy fog covered everything.
Yesterday, Wednesday, was my parents' and sister's last full day in Beijing, and they spent it going from market to market. They picked up some Chinese New Year decorations at the market I go to for my day to day stuff, a tea set at the Silk Market, and some doodads at the Pianjiyuan Antiques Market.
But the best find of all was the little market inside the subway, line 1 at Yong'an Li station exit A1. There are just a few stalls, but everything is already so reasonably priced that you didn't feel like you had to haggle. Everyone picked out the last of the things they needed to take back to the US, and I picked up some things that I'd wanted (pretty hair pins, and a compact mirror) but never found a good price on. I may well be going back, too.
But now it's Thursday and because my bike was stollen yesterday (major bummer that makes me really mad) I'm back to walking the 30 minutes to work. And since I took way too long to type all this I'm going to be late. Yay.
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