Confuse Xi'an

If it weren't for the bedlam in the stations, Chinese train travel could be great. The trains are punctual and for the price, the soft sleepers are cheap, clean and comfortable compared to elsewhere in the world. To be transported across almost a thousand kilometres during the night on a soft bed, pillow and comforter for less than $50 is amazingly good value, cheaper than a crappy stationary motel back home. Each car on the train has a boiling water dispenser, and everyone brings their tea mugs and packaged bowls of instant noodles, so it is convenient to make your own instant meals. These noodles come in an amazing array of flavours, I even had one with a vaccuum packed whole hard boiled egg.

We arrived Xi'an in the early morning and I was disappointed to see that the air was just as bad or even a bit worse than Beijing. Xi'an is the ancient capital of China, the terminus of the fabled Silk Route. It is deep into the interior of the country and has a bit of the dusty central Asian atmosphere to it. There is a distinct Muslim Quarter, its great mosque a stone's throw from Buddhist  and Confucian temples and pagodas that indicate this place used to be a converging point of cultures and religions. Today, it is still one of the gateways to northwestern China and Tibet

I've been booking my hotels online, a tip I got from the guidebook, as the prices are already deeply discounted without having to haggle. A "3 star" hotel (which varies wildly in quality)can be had for about $30 to $40, and after a day of dealing with traffic chaos and crowds, it is nice to retire to a decent room. For Xi'an I chose a hotel via Expedia based on its supposed location near the station to save me the trouble of lugging my baggage. Well, I walked up and down the chaotic street along the station several times and could not find it, and finally gave up and went looking for a taxi. The first one refused me when I showed him the address and one finally took me for $8 (an exhorbitant amount in China where taxis go by distance no mater how long it takes) The traffic was terrible and it turned out that the hotel was more than 3 kilometres away. At first the driver took me to another hotel -- I think he was looking for a commission from the owner who tried to convince me on the driver's cell phone to stay there, but I tried my best to explain to the driver (who spoke no English) that my reservation in the other hotel was paid for. I just shook my head and gave him my most exasperated expression and I think he eventiually understood that and proceded to take me to the right place. Several hours after arriving in the city I finally get to the hotel. It is a typical Chinese businessman's venue, with kitchy touches like a completely glass walled bathroom and quirky modern decor. The maintenance was a bit lacking, and although the place was clean, it was a bit ragged at the edges. After all the effort of getting there, it had to do.

The bus system in Xi'an is almost impossible for a foreigner to figure out and parts of the city are being dug up for its new metro system, adding to the traffic chaos. I spent the day walking for miles and miles instead of trying to figure it out the bus routes, trekking into the centre of town and back by the evening. There is massive construction in the city, much like in every major Chinese city. The government seems to be using its massive trade surplus fuelled wealth to transform the old warren-like hutongs into modern urban centres with wide avenues and ample sidewalks. Much of it is in the same scale as the way Hausmann transformed Paris centuries before.

It does not take long after stepping into China to realize it is communist in name only. The amount of shopping here and the selection of goods is astounding. Capitalism and consumerism seems rampant and unchecked. I stumbled into three entire blocks of "malls" selling electonic goods, and each of them was 3 to six floors each, often with one floor dedicated to just cell phones. Everyone has a cell phone here -- I saw a ragged porter straining to pull a heavily laden cart against traffic with dirty tattered shoes but busily talking on a cellphone pressed between his ear and shoulders.

One thing that defines Xi'an is its rebuilt city walls that encloses a neat rectangle about 4 by 3 kilometres. Along its central axis stand  grand pagodas built at different periods. The seemingly ordered layout on a map, however, is a merely an aesthetic diagram, as it is hard to distinguish between the chaos radiating from every direction.