Xi’an, Terra Cotta, Dumplings, and Much, Much, More (6-3-08)

We arrived in Xi’an and met our host Mr. Hoover (who kinda reminded me of a Chinese Mark Elrod) and took off in our busses.  Xi’an was, for most of China’s history, the capital.  We visited the Xi’an Forbidden City’s wall, which housed a museum on Feng Shui.  It was really interesting.  A little on the weird side, but hey it’s China right?  Then we went and ate and then the hotel.  That night, we also visited the Muslim market.  Suprisingly there are a lot of Muslims that live in China.  I think they said a little over a million Chinese were Muslim.  I bought most of my gifts there, and got to bargin and things, it’s quite enjoyable.  The next day we went to the tomb of the Terra Cotta soldiers.  It was amazing, there were over 8000 soldiers buried, each painted and with a differnt face.  It was really cool.  After that, we went to the University there in Xi’an.  We had “English Corner” time with some of the students there and had dinner.  Then we presented our final concert which went really well.  The Chinese seem to really enjoy the Spirituals, especially the MoHo Spirituals.  We then went back to the hotel and got ready to leave.  We got up the next day to tour the “Big Wild Goose Pagoda” (not related to the Yellow Crane Tower.)  Then we had A DUMPLING FEAST! It was fantastic.  There were 16 different kinds of dumplings.  It was one of the best meals we had in China.  Then we had to go to the airport.  NEVER EVER WILL I AGAIN USE CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES.  This time we couldn’t check our bags straight through to LAX from Xi’an.  Well we made it to Guangzhou then we had to get out, pick up our bags, recheck them, and then go through security all over again.  Let me tell you it was fantastic.  We then waited in the airport for about 2 hours before boarding a 12 hour flight to LAX.  Because China Southern had changed our flight to today instead of tomorrow they put us up at a hotel in LAX and paid for a meal at the hotel.  And what did we have as our first meal in America… That’s right…. Chinese Food.  It was a perfect end.  We all thought it was funny, but wasn’t nearly as good as most American or Chinese Chinese Food.  Well I’ve seen the sun rise and set twice today, so I’m going to bed.  I’m home and will write a summary sometime later.  Talk later.  ‘Night.