Xie xie for Xi'an

Xi'an!!!!!

So two weekends ago, I headed to Xi'an with a surprise trip thanks to a thankful parent (flights not included) with Steve, Charles, Dave, Sainan, Q, and Paul.  It was just wanted I needed: a weekend of travel with almost not hassle as everything was planned for us.  I mean, sure our flights were delayed both times, but hey--it's China and flights are usually delayed it seems.

Saturday started off right with Jessica, our tour guide, greeting us warmly and within 10 minutes of our trip calling me out as a lesbian inside a man's body...I guess I need to hide that part of me better; too obvious.  Her sense of humor was stupendous.  She's a counselor at Dipont in Xi'an and has experience as a tour guide.

We went to the famed Xi'an Terracotta warriors -- a truly interesting place.  6,000 plus life-sized warriors found only in the past 40 years (or so) from the first Emperor of China's tomb.  They were all smashed but have been restored, or are in the process I should say.  With Steve's help, I was working on learning the skill of "blur" photography which is my high-tech name for focuses on something in the foreground and blurring out the background.  Apparently a telephoto lens makes a good difference, but my 30x zoom and tiny knowledge of F-stops and shutter speed (thanks to Steve) helped me practice a very different kind of "point-and-shoot".

After a delicious feast which included orange juice marinated wax gourd (delicious), we were free to wander the Muslin quarter of Xi'an where Steve and I spend far too much time taking pictures, attempting to buy some things, and making trouble with the locals.  "If you don't have interest, WHY YOU ASK HOW MUCH?"  She says walking after us....woops.

The following day was one of the highlights of my time here: up early eating Dunkin Donuts!!! That's right, I'd flown to the source of awesomeness--but don't worry that's not really the highlight.  The highlight: cycling on Xi'an's wall.  It surrounds the entire downtown and we were lucky enough to cycle around the whole thing, which took about an hour and a half -- lots of good things to take pictures off.  If the view wasn't exhilarating enough, trying to bike on an old wall was plenty exciting with all the bumps.

It was a wonderful weekend full of laughter and has started a trend of a upward motion I think.