An ode to the traveler...

We are in Xian now and yesterday we visited the Oh so famous Terracotta Warriors. The warriors themselves were disappointing as they were fewer and smaller than I had expected. That said, it was impressive to see something 2000 years old. On the bus on the way back there were only 4 foreigners, us and 2 guys who sounded German or Austrian. Before the bus began moving 2 Chinese men lit up cigarettes under a sign that said "No Smoking". This seemed to irritate one of the guys and he told them to put it out. Of course they paid no attention. Then he took it one step further and began taking pictures of them and the sign. This did it and they actually stopped, much to my surprise. After this, the foreign man turned to the back of the bus, where we were all seated, and said "That's the Chinese, they're all filthy pigs and dumber than average". I couldn't believe that anyone would say that in the first place, least of all yell it on a bus filled with Chinese people. When we got back to the city the foreign man exited the bus and promptly lit a cigarette!? This got me wondering why he was in China if he found the people so repulsive, and then why people bother traveling at all.

Throughout my travels, as short as they have been so far, I've really noticed the strangeness of the budget traveler. In the past I never really stopped to ponder the reasons why people travel or the kind of people I think usually go. Now, being stuck in hostels and talking to people all the time I realize that budget travelers are a strange breed... me included of course. I've lumped us all into some categories that I think represent the majority of hostel goers (yes, I have LOTS of time on my hands - China is a big country!).

The first one is the 'Solitary Traveler'. As can be expected these people are bound to get lonely so they talk A LOT and seem to be reliable sources of information about places because they spend their time actually doing things. The second type is the 'Superior Traveler', a term coined by someone Jas and Emily met in Seoul. As this guys said, these people are the people who, no matter what you say, have done it better, longer, cheaper, faster etc. We meet a lot of these people and they seem to be never really doing anything but wandering around the hostel waiting for someone to talk to. The third type ( I lump myself into this one) is the 'Lost soul/hopeless dreamer'. I think we lost souls are traveling because we are trying to see some interesting stuff, broaden our horizons a bit and of course run away from the future... ie becoming a productive member of society.

Now for the raw information... We left Beijing on a night train sometime last week? (the days have begun to run together). Before we left we had a belated Thanksgiving dinner of Peking Duck. The food was awesome but there was SO much of it! The train ride was very cosy but uneventful... Incidentally, they aren't kidding when they talk about HARD sleepers haha.

Xi'an is a very smoggy and boring city. We covered all of the main sites within the city limits on the first day. On the second day we went to the Banpo Neolithic Village, a very poor choice as it was a hole in the ground masquerading as an archaeological dig. For me, the highlight of Xi'an so far has been the tomb of Liu Qi, a guy who apparently ruled not with an iron fist (like the first emperor) but with Confucian values. His tomb is much more subdued with terracotta animals and many smaller human figures instead of vast sections of manly warriors. This was amazing to see because most of the artifacts remained in the dirt as they are still being excavated. The museum showcasing the tomb was underground and had glass-floored walkways over the archaeological pits. This meant we could see far more and I could appreciate it much more than the warriors.

We leave Xi'an tomorrow on the 5:00pm train bound for Chengdu. Chengdu is rumored to be a modern city with some good temples and a giant panda research base. I am looking forward to seeing some pandas and getting the heck out of Xi'an!