August 8th: last Day in Xìan, Wild Goose Pagoda and Starbucks

August 8th: last Day in Xìan, Wild Goose Pagoda and Starbucks


Susanne:

Today was out last day in the city and after seeing some sights already, we were looking forward to a lazy day seeing a few things around the city such as the Muslim Quarters for a bit of shopping and the Wild Goose Pagoda which is also quite famous.

Early in the day, we ran into all kinds of arguments with the hotel. After they called us at 10 pm the night before and insisted we come downstairs (by this time we were in our PJs), finally coming and knocking on the door, they were now also trying to charge us for a dirty pillow case....it was not about the money but we were basically accused of having dyed our hair and having caused a faint stain being from hair color. Anyhow, to make a long story short, we were glad to leave the hotel and spent the day doing a bit of sightseeing and escaping the blazing heat with a couple of visits to Starbucks for some coffee in the morning and later a shake in the afternoon.

The Muslim quarters were very nearby and allowed us to get a few things, but it was mostly fake shirts (lots of Polo and Lacoste), sneakers, watches (Rolex, anyone?) and some local souvenirs. The Goose Pagoda was quite pricy to allow us in the yards, but then you had to pay even more to look inside the building which we did not do.

It was a relatively eventless day and we caught a cab to the airport at around suppertime. Air China was kind to me with an emergency seat for more legroom (too bad it was such a short flight) and also some Star Alliance points. Since we flew Air China from NYC, we will also get the miles from our long flight added to our aero plan miles which is helpful.

Other “points to ponder”:

• Little boys here have pants without the bum parts to have easy access to do a number 2, I assume.

• Lots and lots of smoking at restaurants and in buildings as explained in an earlier blog. Yikes, hard to get used to when eating .

• Not many Toyotas here which surprised me after the total domination in Thailand and Cambodia. The Chinese make a car called BYD which is very common here, likely like a Ford or something at home. All cabs are BYDs. More money here than the town of Yangshuo obviously with all kinds of city money....you can see Audis, Benz, BMWs and other expensive cars everywhere.

• MacDonald’s Big Mac meal deal: $4, tastes exactly the same (Chelsea made us go...)

• We went to an Adidas and Nike store: same prices as at home, fairly expensive if it is the real stuff but you can find fake Adidas and Nike at all the cheap markets.

• Very hazy here, did not see the sky at all while in the city. We assume it is smog but the air does not feel like you have to cough or anything.

• Wow....we are in our last week, hard to believe!!!