So apparently it’s Tomb Sweeping Day which means I get three days off! Since it was going to rain in Yangzhou I decided at the last minute to go somewhere else. I settled on Xi’an, home of the Terracotta Warriors, Mt. Hua and a lot of other stuff (such as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, City Wall and Muslim Quarter, and Bell tower). I wanted to see some other things like the Drum tower and a couple of temples but due to a scheduling error on my part I didn’t get into Xi’an until 4 and I had planned on 11.

But let’s back up first. It’s Monday night and I check the bus schedules to Nanjing. One leaves at 6:47am and gets to Nanjing at 7:45. Then Nanjing to Xi’an is just a two hour train ride that leaves at 9:05. For some reason my bank card wasn’t working to reserve tickets online so I would have to buy them in person. Thinking ahead I write down in Chinese where I want to go and at what time. I also book a night at hostel in Xi’an so I don’t have to worry about where I’m going to sleep that night. I head to bed because I want to get up at 4 to get tickets early. I heard that sometimes the line can be long. Also I have no idea how long the taxi ride is to the train station.

First mistake: My phone is in military time now and I set the wrong alarm.

I wake up at 5:50 and scramble to get ready and pack. I leave at 6:10. I hail a taxi and tell her I want to go to the train station. I get to the train station at 6:32. I go up to a sign that says security but they shake their heads and point to another entrance. I gather that I have to have a ticket first to enter. I go the the ticket taker and there’s no one in line. Easy as pie. My translation paper works and I get a ticket. It’s 6:40. I go through security which is just a metal detector. Nothing serious. I put a confused look on my face and point at my ticket. I have no idea where to go. The security guard points in a direction which I run off too. I can see the train outside. I spot some English signs and make it to the train. I find my seat just as the train leaves. Not the start I was hoping for but all’s good.

Roughly 45 minutes later I’m in Nanjing. Time to buy a ticket to Xi’an. I look around for the ticket taker signs but there’s just self service machines. I go over to them but watching the people in front of me I realize I can’t use them because you have to have a Chinese ID card and I have a passport which I can’t scan.

I ask the security guard. He points to a machine. Someone overhears me and asks if they can help. Dang my Mandrian is getting pretty good! I say yes. I’m trying to buy a ticket to Xi’an. He says one minute. Goes over to the machine, does something and comes back with a token and points to another entrance that says security. I head that way. After going through it I find myself outside. I see signs for purchase tickets so I follow them. After waiting in a huge line I get to the front and using my paper I try and buy a ticket to Xi’an at 9:05. The lady shakes her head. I think they must be sold out. She points to her computer screen. The next train leaves at 10:48. Its 8:50 right now. Okay fine. I will get to Xi’an a lot later than I thought but it’s better than not at all. I buy the ticket. The ticket lady yells something. She points to a huge map behind her. She tells me to go to Nanjing South station. The sign behind me saids Nanjing North station. I’m in the wrong station. No problem I think. I have two hours before my train leaves. I can figure out how to get to the south station. I walk to a bunch of airport-like chairs and take out my phone. The North station is a 45 minute car ride away. Too far for a taxi. Someone sits down next to me and says Hello! I look over and it’s a bunch of teenage looking girls. They point at me and says meiguo which means American. I say yes and they giggle. I point at my ticket that says south and kinda shrug my shoulders as if to say ‘where is this’. They point at a sign that says metro. I say thanks and get up to leave but she grabs my arm and points to her friends shirt. I’m confused until she points to her shirt which is green and shakes her head. I got it. Take the red line metro to the north station. I head to the metro go through security again. Maybe I was too confident in my language skills since the girls only mimed stuff to me. There’s no ticket tellers so I go up to a machine in the metro. There’s a button that says ‘english’. Jackpot. I find the symbol for the north station and pay 3¥. The machine spits out a token. Now where to go? I go to the corner of the station and look around. On the ground there’s huge arrows in different colors. I follow the red one. It leads me down two flights of stairs. I’m now in a metro terminal. However on the map I can’t my stop. I stop a guard and point to my train ticket. She says ‘san’ which means 3. The sign on the wall says 4. I go back to the arrows. I now see that some of them have numbers on them. I follow the ones that say 3. I’m now in the right terminal and I can see my stop on the map. Riding the metro was nothing special. I’m glad I have my D.C. metro riding experience so I vaguely knew what to do. There’s announces in both Chinese and English so it’s easy to know when to get off.

I make it off the metro and follow the signs for the train station. Go through security again. I’m now in the biggest terminal I’ve ever seen. It makes union station in DC seem small. I’ve about 35 minutes to kill and free wifi so I called my mom to say hello. After that I go to terminal 8 and get on my train. 5 hours later it’s 16:48 and I’m finally in Xi’an. I was planning on going to see the Terrcotta warriors but it’s too late at this point. I decide to check in to my room which is supposedly downtown from the City Wall. It’s cheaper to take the metro than a taxi so I do that to get to the center city. It’s now 17:20. I pull up the Chinese address of the hostel and put it into google maps. A 10 minute walk it says. 40 minutes later google maps is taking me in circles. I get a taxi and show him the address. He takes me to a street and points down a well lit alley with lots of shops and street vendors. I head that way. After walking down the street for a bit I end up back on the main road. Maybe I missed the sign? TripAdvisor has outside pictures of the place so I walk back up the alley. It’s definitely not there.

Mistake 2: I hail another taxi. He shakes his head and looks confused. He pulls out his phone and translates ‘doesn’t exist’. I say thanks and he moves on. I hail another taxi who basically does the same thing.

It’s now 19:30. I give up trying to find this place and google another hostel. It says it’s a 30 minute walk. Okay sure. The walk takes me along the city wall and past the Bell Tower so it’s pretty enjoyable. Google maps once again starts taking me in circles. I stop a passing traffic cop and point to the address. He points at the wall. It’s on the other side I guess. Once on the other side it starts getting dark as all the shops and vendors start closing. Thankfully I find the place after asking 2 more people. I get a room for ¥20 and a ¥100 deposit. There wifi and hot showers. My room has about 8 beds but I’m the only one there. The day didn’t go as planned but this is my first time traveling by myself in a different country so I tell myself there’s bound to be hiccups. Plus I saw the Bell Tower and the City Wall: two of the things I wanted to see. My plan for tomorrow is to take a bus to Mount Hua and hike to the top. I’m planning on staying at the summit to watch the sunrise then take the cable car back down and head back to Xi’an.

(Written on 4/5/2017. It’s 16:08 and I’m sitting in a bus station)

I wake up at 6 planning to check out early and give myself plenty of time to get to Hanyin (where mount Hua is). Unfortunately I cannot check out until 8 according to the front desk sign. I consider just leaving but I had to put a 100¥ deposit down and I want it back. I go back to bed. I check out at 8 and walk back to the main road. According to TripAdvisor and other websites I can go to various long distance bus stations and they will take me to Hanyin. I find the closest one to me and tell a taxi that’s where I want to go. Traffic is heavy and I don’t get there until 9:10ish.

Mistake 3: Hanyin city is not the same as Mount Hua, Hanyin.

I get bus tickets to Hanyin that leave at 10:30. Online it says the bus ride should be 1.5-2 hours. It’s later than I want but better than nothing. I get some street food for breakfast and finally board the bus. Once on the bus I fall asleep due to my car-colepsy. I wake up and it’s now 12:40. This is where my positive mood starts to waver.

An hour later the bus is still not there. I pull up maps on my phone to see if maybe I bought the wrong ticket. Nope, I can see on the map the bus is headed the right way. I have no choice but to wait until we get there. I make it to Hanyin at 13:50. Much later than I want. I decide to skip hiking up and think I’ll just take the cable car up. I’ll still be able to see the sunrise in the morning.

I get out of the bus station to find myself on a run down street. The directions online say that green buses outside the station go from Hanyin to mount Hua, a 15 minute ride of the city. There’s none to be found. I go back in the bus station and ask the clerk how to get to Mount Hua from here. She shakes her head.

This is where I start to become really annoyed with myself.

I sit in the bus station and do some googling. With a huge realization of dread I come to terms that I’m at the wrong stop. I was suppose to get a bus to Hanyin railway station and not Hanyin bus station. I ask a couple taxis if they will take me to the railway station. All of them say no, it’s too far.

I have a choice. Either say in Hanyin for the night or go back to Xi’an. I go back to the ticket teller to see what my options are. The only bus that goes back to Xi’an leaves at 17:30 everyday. So I buy a ticket to go back without going to Mount Hua.

This is my first time traveling by myself so I’m trying not to feel really stupid right now. I basically spent all day on a bus or in sitting in a bus station. It became really easy to become depressed very quickly so I’m trying to look on the bright side of things. I still have tomorrow. And many more weekends to figure out the transport system. And the tickets were really cheap so I didn’t waste a ton of money. Hopefully I can figure out how to get to the Terracotta soldiers tomorrow: the reason for this trip in the first place.

I’ll upload pictures of the bell tower and city wall when I get back to Xi’an.