Zai Jian (goodbye) Beijing - Nihao (hello) Xian!

after 5 days in Beijing, and just as we started to feel we're getting the hang of it, we took a train to the next station (no. 2 on our interactive map) - Xian. the city of the famous Terracota Warriors. it was quite a long trip, 15 hours by train. we took a night train and slept with a couple of chinese business men (we would like to think that's what they were...) in a small cabbine. shaul the paranoid slept hugging his backpack, frightened that the fat suspicious looking chinese fellow will grab his it the moment he'll close his eyes, but he was surprised to find out in the morning that everything was fine. everything but the fact that the stupid ticket office didn't have the right tickets for our next ride (in china you have to buy tickets in advanced because they have too many people!!!). finally we managet to buy something, and somehow hooked with a group of Polish guys (they are blond, very tall and say KURVA all time long). we went to the hostel where we are staying at the moment, and KIMBANU great price, like good israelies. so after all something good came out of the Polish people, and because the Jewish people suffered enough...

Xian is great. much better than Beijing. they don't have sky here either, and the air is gray ans smoggy, and it's humid as hell here too. but! the city is much "lighter", more dynamic and fun. the night scene is very peppy - lot's of neon lights, pubs and discos, shopping malls and millions of people on the streets.
I must admit that it's a weird feeling, not a good feeling, to travel while you read about such horrible things back home. be strong, and take care of yourselves. hope we see you all in one piece on October.