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Feeling sick most of the day today. For lunch I tried eating healthy, including lots of vegetables and green tea. Then I went to the supermarket and bought 1 liter of orange juice and two bags of oranges.

In the afternoon I made it to Xi’an Museum. This included a new museum building that opened this year plus the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, which I was able to climb up. I got to learn about how the city had grown and shrunk through the centuries.

I started to feel better in the afternoon, but still ended up sleeping at 8PM.

Today I got out early and got on a tour bus for a couple stops outside the city. The first place was Qianling Tomb. It was impressive to see this 40ft wide road up in the hills lined with statues and stone platforms reaching into the air on other hills. However, for all that buildup the actual tomb was no where to be found. That part must have burnt down a long time ago. After all, this was a tomb for the empress of China who died about 1300 years ago. There was also a small mountain behind all of this which I walked up, but since it was so foggy I couldn’t see anything after I walked up!

Next stop was Famen Temple. In 1987 they found a secret underground chamber here. Stone hinged doors, unknown writing painted on the outermost door and all! Inside was imperial treasure and Buddha’s finger bone. It was all hidden there for over 1000 years. I got to see all the treasure and it was pretty neat. I  bought some souvenirs and gifts outside. I thought I was getting an ok deal, but I should have bargained harder. Later that day I think I heard someone trying to sell a Chinese person the same thing for 1/10th the price I paid.

By the time I got home I was feeling sick again. By 8PM, I was in bed and I stayed in bed until 9AM the next day.

I think I have a fever. I spent most of the day at the hostel. I even tried to take a nap in the afternoon. I did leave to visit the nearby Forest of Steles.

For Google Earth users, here are my coordinates: 34°15’14.36″N, 108°56’23.16″E.

A little after 7:00 in the morning the train arrived in Xi’an. Outside the station someone was holding up a paper with my name on it. The first time that’s ever happened! I emailed a hostel for a reservation and asked for a free pickup from the station, and it worked out well. I wanted to reserve with hostelworld.com, but I need a credit card to make pay the 10% deposit. So now I have to contact the people directly.

My first opinion of the ancient capital of China was “Where is the sun?” There was so much fog or smog or something made it really dark. The interesting part about this city is a grand wall surrounding a large part of the city, just like in old times. It is possible to walk around the entire wall, taking 4 hours.

The Xiangzimen Youth Hostel is quite the place. It is located in a traditional style Chinese building. In fact there are many old buildings around and all over the city. For just over $5/night I am staying here in a four person dorm room.

Today I visited the world famous Terracotta Army. There are three pits there and unfortunately one was closed. I also visited the place the army was guarding, the tomb of the 1st Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. The tomb is one of the most important archeological sites in the world and because of that they are not excavating it now. Instead you can walk up on top of the huge burial mound.

After some sad goodbyes I went off to Beijing West Train Station alone. I took train number T41 to Xi’an, which is 12 hours long. I got the cheapest ticket ($35) since I’m kind of limited on money. This gives me a little space to lie down and sleep on the top bed of the car. Lights out at 10PM exactly and lights on at 6AM exactly. I climbed into the bed once and stayed there the entire time.

Monday was my last day of Chinese Language class. My teacher gave a special treat by playing a  Chinese instrument called an Erhu. I got to try it out too. It is similar to a violin.

I starting saying “goodbye” to everyone I met in Beijing the next day. On Wednesday I got a gift for the family. A box with five of the Beijing 2008 Olympic mascot stuffed animals.

On Tuesday a second maid started working in the house. She comes in the afternoon to do cleaning and laundry for a few hours.

Today I was able to visit Mao’s Mausoleum. This place is infamous for having the longest line in the country, I think. When I arrived it looked like it was closed, but I noticed a few people walking towards the entrance. I arrived just in time for the opening! It was about 10 minutes to get in and out, I think. Inside I got to see the mummified body of Mao Zedong. No cameras are allowed inside, so going there is the only way to see.

Today I bought a train ticket for my next destination, Xi’an. I will leave tomorrow night. I also bought a long novel to read on some of these long trips.

My last weekend here in Beijing, so I wanted to see a few more things listed in the guidebook before I left. On Saturday I visited Miaoying Temple and White Dagoba. And then White Cloud Temple.

After that I visited Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park. I read on the web last year that it was a clone of Disneyland I wanted to go and see for myself. Apparently before there was a Snow White and the Seven Dwarves theme, but when I visited it was all gone and replaced by another theme. I guess that was due to the international controversy. However, I did see a sphere that looked like Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center and a train roller coaster that was similar to Big Thunder Mountain. Half the park was under construction. You’re walking by people welding and areas with no concrete sidewalks. I guess all of China is like that though.

Later on Saturday I had Beijing Roast Duck, which is the world famous food from this city. I was surprised that you eat it by putting a piece of duck meat, a vegetable, and some sauce in a sort of tortilla wrap and eat it like Mexican food. It tasted really good though.

On Sunday I look a longer trip outside of the city to Tanzhe Temple, which is said to date back to the 3rd century.

This week I went to IKEA for the first time. I went with some other people and apparently it is the cheapest place to go for coffee and soft drinks because it is the only place in China with free refills! There is a huge cafeteria there, live music, and really crowded with people. I’m not sure if every IKEA store is like that?

I got a photo of the new CCTV Headquarters building under construction. The building is really strange. Looking at it rising up makes me feel like I’m looking at the Death Star or something else unique being built.

There was a surprise later this week when a new piano was rolled into the apartment. They say it is for the 5 year old girl, who took lessons last year. I tried to stay out of the house the first day because it was new. After one day it was covered up under one or two layers of cloth and blankets (for dust?) and haven’t heard it much. I got to try it a little bit, but not very inviting when it is covered up so much.

I tried getting a Vietnam visa here in Beijing. The embassies are in walking distance from my home here, so I thought it would be convenient. I went there and filled out the form and they said I’m too early. You should do it within 30 days of your arrival and you must have exact entry and exit dates that cannot change. You also can’t easily get a visa on the border. Sort of disappointing how difficult they make it to get into the country. Not sure I’ll visit there after all. However, I might try the embassy in Thailand or Cambodia.

My Etymotic ER6i earphones are broken and I’m trying to figure out a way to fix them. I have a backup pair of average Sony earphones, but after all this time with sound isolation, I can’t bare to use them! Either the cable near the stereo connector is bad, or maybe the connector itself is flaky.  It is kind of difficult to find a shop or something that will fix it by soldering a new connector or something, so I might have to do it myself. It is under warranty, so I suppose that’s an option, but no idea how to do a warranty service way out here. The company is in Illinois.

On Sunday I went to the Summer Palace. It is one of the popular tourist places in Beijing. But not too crowded since it was the off season.

I found out my Visa Check Card from (now out of business) Netbank is being turned off tomorrow. This is the only way I can get to my money, so I need to get a new ATM card. In the middle of the night I opened up an account at ING Direct. I had to make a call to the USA to confirm some details before they would open my account at 2AM. I’m hoping someone can mail me the card from the new bank account. In the mean time I’m trying to guess how much money I’ll need in the next few weeks here and I’m taking it out before the card gets stopped.

My web host increased the limits quite a bit. From 10GB of space to 250GB. Also the data transfer limit was also upped to 250GB per month. Also a limit of a few databases to now unlimited databases. I don’t have to worry about running out of space now when I backup all my photos.

In class one day, my Chinese teacher was talking about how she appeared on two TV game shows. One was a quiz show and the other was The Price is Right. She won a lot of things like trips out of the country, phones, TV, couches. There’s also a video online of her (she starts appearing after 20 minutes).