Breakfast wasn’t horrible. They had the three staple foods: eggs, bacon, and potatoes. Drinks were still served Chinese-style. Meaning that they were served hot – so a delicious glass of hot apple juice to start off the day yum yum. I guess I might think differently once I get outside, but my thirst is not thanking me right now.
After a quick trip to the St. Sophia Cathedral and a stroll down Zhongyang Dajie (the main street in the downtown area) it was back to the airport I go. It seems that Chinese New Year is beginning to take effect on transportation. All day at every airport I was at the loudspeaker kept going nonstop announcing delayed flights. Luckily it seemed that my flight wasn’t affected this time around.
So to be very blunt, Chinese travel culture has been frustrating and annoying to no end; and I kinda want to punch someone (Chinese) in the face. I’ve talked about Guanxi briefly before about how Chinese people only help out people they know and are in their circle of trust. But lately, through traveling, I’ve felt that it has moved further and that the Chinese are just plain rude to anyone who they don’t know. Traveling in China will definitely throw away any notions you have of Chinese culture being extremely polite. For instance, when I was attempting to get my carry-on from the overhead compartment, no one could wait 10 seconds and kept pushing me aside so they could move forward into a line that wasn’t even moving yet.
On top of that Chinese people don’t seem to listen. Like is it that difficult to turn off your phone, put your seatbelt on – after the flight attendant has told you 5 times already – wait for the plane to come to a completely stop before getting out of your seat and retrieving your carry-on from the overhead compartment, and not put your carry-on in the overhead compartments in the front of the place. All of this information is said multiple times in CHINESE, so there is without any doubt that they understand. To the Chinese, traveling is like a race – who can be the first one on the plane and the first one off – everyone trying to get ahead of the next person, pushing people down to get on top, etc. I shudder to imagine what would happen if there was ever a crisis like the landing in the Hudson River – I feel like everyone would die because no one would be listening and everyone would be fending for themselves.
Anyways, I arrived in Xian safe and sound at least. I’m staying at the Shuyuan International Youth Hostel. It’s literally right next on one of the Southern gates of the city wall. The building is an authentic ancient Chinese housing complex. There’s a courtyard and everything. In the morning I’ll take pictures.
After settling in I decided to do a little exploring. Inside the city wall is like the downtown shopping area. I was hoping to find a cheap small local flavor restaurant but no luck. Everywhere around me there were McDonalds, KFC, Dairy Queen, Western clothing stores, and the list goes on. I felt like I was back in America.
The only thing of interest that happened was that I got to witness my first Chinese fight. I didn’t even realize it at first. There was a minor car incident in the parking lot; they were still touching together and making a really awful noise. I was curious as to why they hadn’t moved their vehicles at least and decided to walk closer. It took me a moment, but then I noticed something strange. Driver A was in Car B punching Driver B in the face…They were starting to garner a small audience, yet no one in the crowd was doing anything about it. I thought it best to continue on my way. Ironically, at the end of the road there was a cop, but he didn’t have a clue in the world what was going on a few minutes away from him.
I returned back to the hostel and am calling it a night. Apparently, the hostel is offering a tour to the Terracotta soldiers. I think for convenience I’m going to do that tomorrow.
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Quick update of the happenings of Dalian. All the new students have arrived. For official BCA students we got 3 new male students, bringing our total to 6 – 5 guys, 1 girl. None of the new students are from my school. It is a much older group this semester. Two of our new members are 27 years of age. One is actually ex-green berets (Special Forces for those who don’t know) who decidedly got married to a Chinese women – making our final total 7. The other is from Colombia but who decided to do his higher learning study in America. The third is my age and goes to Manchester College. Our semester is finally starting – on Monday to be exact. I’m actually quite excited to get this show on the road. I think that’s it for now. I hope you’re enjoying the travelogues.
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