Out of the two cities we visited in China, Xi’an was our favorite. Xi’an is 1067 kilometers west of Beijing; we found our way there via an overnight train that took 11 hours to arrive. It was an experience in and of itself. We went the cheap route (yay for budget travel!) and slept in a 6 bed birth, on the very top. We were fortunate to be next to each other, have a rack for our luggage and be next to the air conditioner unit. We were unfortunate in that the beds were hard and the air conditioner warm and recirculating the 2nd hand smoke from the smoking section of the train. You could say we’re hoping to avoid any other budget sleeper trains, but we know that this is one of those great stories we will carry with us for years to come!
We took a bus to our hostel and were greeted by Jerry (can’t remember his Chinese name, nor could we pronounce it), a college student who works at the hostel, and Kacper, a fellow backpacker from Poland. Our view of Poland is forever tainted…just kidding Kacper…but not really. ;) Jerry offered to run out and grab breakfast for everyone. We had “Chinese burgers,” which is seasoned, shredded pork on a pita-type bread. Not exactly what Americans would consider breakfast food, but still tasty. As we shared breakfast with our new friends, we began to talk like we’d known each other for years. We began planning out our next couple days, sharing our interests with the others. Through this, we were able to convince both Kacper and Jerry to hike a mountain with us, the infamous Mt. Huashan (more on that later). Somewhere in the conversation Jeff, the owner of the hostel, wandered in, along with Jen, another college student that worked at BC. Jeff offered to take Kacper, Nicholas and I to see the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, so we hopped on a scooter and off we went. Thankfully, Nicholas had gotten some practice driving scooters in Thailand and Laos, so away we went in the Chinese traffic. For dinner, we all decided to go to the Muslim Quarter, which is full of delicious street food and fun showmanship. Jeff introduced us to some delicious Chinese BBQ. We ordered around 80 small meat kabobs and 2 noodle salads for our group of 7 people. It was SO good and we ate all of it. They had entire cows hanging from hooks and would cut the meat off in front of you and throw it on a stick. We also tried fruit leather, some kind of berry, lamb kabobs, raw water chestnuts, stinky tofu and a fried banana dessert. By the end of the night we had tried many different foods and only spent 10 yuan a person, which equates to approximately 3 dollars! The only thing we didn’t care for were the raw chestnuts and stinky tofu. The chestnuts were okay, but the stinky tofu was NOT good. The tofu is placed in a brine made from fermented milk, vegetables, and meat for several months and then cooked. It tastes the way it smells, which is not particularly pleasant. You only live once though, so we tried it!
The next day Jerry, Kacper, Nicholas and I got up at 5:45 am and headed to the train station. We took a high speed train to Huayin City, which is 120 kilometers from Xi’an. It only took 45 minutes! We made it to the park entrance and began our hike. Before I continue, lets just take a moment to recognize that I am not the most athletic person. I had to be convinced by Nicholas to go on this hike…I googled other’s blogs about their experience. I would not suggest hiking Mt. Huashan unless you are in good shape, but Nicholas would disagree as we saw people of all shapes and sizes ascending. I struggled near the end, but still hiked a solid 6 hours; I have to say I proved myself wrong and went much further than what I expected. Nicholas and the guys went for 9 hours, summiting another 2 peaks. I can honestly say it was the most difficult physical activity I have ever done. It was beautiful and rewarding though…definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Back to the hike! We started at the base of the mountain and hiked to the North and South peak. I ended my hike at 15km but the three men continued on to do the plank walk, which added another 3km. The mountain actually used to be much more dangerous than it is today; they have added many stairs, chains, resting points and even safety harnesses along the mountain. If you google Mr. Haushan, articles will pop up with “Deadliest Mountain in the World” and “Is the Death Toll Real?” We can unequivocally state that it is NOT the deadliest mountain in the world, and the death toll is false, but instead a very enjoyable, albeit difficult, hike. The scenery was stunning and going on the hike was much more gratifying than going to a museum or another temple. (If we’ve peaked your interest, here is a link describing the area: https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/mt_huashan.htm.)
The next day we slept in. We finally managed to meander out in the afternoon and rent bikes, along with Kacper, and spend an hour riding along the top of the old city walls. That was a lot of fun! Both Nicholas and Kacper enjoy taking GoPro videos, so they spent a good amount of time filming while on our bike ride. For dinner we decided to go back to the Muslim Quarter with Jen and Fiona. Kacper was desperate for lamb kabobs and we wanted some more fruit leather! It was a good way to end our time in Xi’an!
We took the high speed train back to Beijing, relaxed a little that evening, and decided to go to the Summer Palace our last day in China before heading to Israel. The Summer Palace was truly stunning. The name is somewhat misleading if you’ve never visited before; the area is more like a large, recreational park full of lakes, walking paths, gardens, palaces and temples. It’s an extremely beautiful part of Beijing, and we highly suggest putting it at the top of your “to-see in Beijing” list. :)
One of the reasons we really loved Xi’an was the number of local people with which we were able to build relationships. Kacper, Jerry, Jen, Jeff, a girl named Fiona who was a L&D nurse learning english and John, an older American studying Asian culture and learning Chinese, all made our 5 days there some of the most fun days we’ve had while backpacking. Spending time with people who actually lived in Xi’an gave us an “in;” they helped us buy food—definitely a positive because then we didn’t eat any questionable meats—ensured we didn’t get ripped off, translated for us, shared transportation costs like Uber, explained how the bus/subway system worked, helped us buy train tickets, ultimately helped us experience the country the way the local people do, etc. We spent every day with our new friends and loved it! We were extremely grateful to stay in such a wonderful hostel. BC was focused sharing cultural experiences and made our time in Xi’an 100 times better than anything we could have expected. We played games, stayed up late hanging out, had wonderful conversations and made the most of all of our time there. If we are ever able to return to China we definitely want to return to BC. If you can’t already tell, we were very grateful for this wonderful place. Interacting with locals is truly the right way to travel as you see the place in a very unique way. Ultimately, our time in China was different than we expected, but a really rewarding experience and we hope to go back someday (especially since we paid for a 10 year visa). Nicholas and I agree that China has taught us the most (so far) about how pre-conceived ideas and world views are shaped based on information, instead of an actual experience. We now encourage everyone to travel and experience it for yourselves. Hopefully this blog excites you as much as it excites us. To end with a quote we saw in our travels thus far, “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”
Love you all,
K & N
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