Pizza and Islam

After a week of Kung Pao chicken, rice and mystery foods, I broke down and ate at Pizza Hut today. Not only did we eat at Pizza Hut, but we waited in the 30-minute line to get in. And, I have to admit, pizza never tasted so good. I feel like I have committed a grievous traveller sin, but I swear I would have eaten at McDeath if I thought someone there would speak enough English to know not to put mustard on the burger. Although I poo poo about American fast food, I couldn't take another meal of noodles, chicken and rice.

We arrived in Xian (pronounced Shee-An)this morning after a 14-hour overnight train ride. Before leaving Beijing, we visited Tienanmen Square, which really isn't very interesting. It's just a square where some chickenshit journalist hiding in an office or hotel room 5 floors up took an interesting photo. Next to it, however, is the Forbidden City, which until the early 1900's, was off-limits to everyone except the emperors, their workers, concubines and eunuchs. They were definitely living large. Now there's a Starbucks in one of the smaller quarters of the city.

Thursday was spent hiking a section of the Great Wall. And, I mean hiking. It was 5-6 hours of wonder and exhaustion, which was well worth it. We stayed at a guest house below the Great Wall Thursday night that still has us wondering if we have fleas. :-)

So here we are in Xian in a gamer internet club. There must be 200 computers in here serving the teenagers playing video games, with Kelly Clarkson playing in the background. Xian is a walled city with a big Muslim population. They are probably the only people in China that don't eat everything that moves and I am looking forward to a great kabob dinner and it won't be mystery meat. Monday we are off to check out the Terracotta Warriors.

I've learned how to say hello, thank you and count from 1-10 in Chinese. Most people don't speak English, so we rely on hand gestures, Trey and our tour guide to make our way through the day. So far so good. The train ride last night was comical. The dining car was a bunch of drunk Chinese locals and French tourists trying to communicate and toasting to each other. Trey and Eric, our tour guide, jumped right in with their limited French and Chinese and tore it up until the train staff kicked them out and made them go to bed.