Beijing to Xi'an

Trip Start Oct 07, 2008
1
7
15
Trip End Oct 25, 2008


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of China  , Shaanxi,
Tuesday, October 14, 2008

A traumatic thing happened to me today at the airport. They confiscated my hand sanitizer! The screener gestured that it could be blown up or something , so he had to throw it away. this is the first time I've been without hand sanitizer in at least 10 years! It has put me into a state of disequilibrium from which I my never recover! After I went threw the metal detector, I has to get patted down. The young lady who patted me down kept touching my hair, then she pressed my left chestal area! Then she said something to her co-worker. Now maybe there's a security reason for pressing on someone's left chestal area. If you know of one, please let me know! But then why just the left one?
I took an uneventful 11/2 hour plane flight to Xi'an with the lady sitting a row behind me on the opposite aisle seat staring at me for about the first fifteen minutes of the flight. The woman who arranged my car ride from the airport spoke very good English and asked details about how I do my hair, how long it takes, etc. I think that many people are probably just curious like her, but can't communicate with me because of the language barrier.
Got to the hotel this afternoon. I punked out and booked the hotel's tour of the Terra Cotta Warriors, Wild Goose Pagoda, and City Wall for tomorrow. First I went to book my next plane ticket. As I was sitting on a bench on the second floor of the hotel getting my purse organized, one of the hotel employees passed me, then came back to check out my hair. She touched it and asked how I did it. My hair as turned out to be a great conversation starter! I then went for a walk around the hotel. It is in an interesting area, a mix of commercial and residential buildings. There was a large park around the corner from the hotel--like a little oasis in the middle of the hubbub of the city. I walked through the park. People were walking, eating, playing games, and kids were playing on the playground in the park. Came back to the hotel to eat and chilled out.
Slideshow Print this entry Xi'an hotels