May Day Holiday in Xian

After visiting the Terracotta Warriors yesterday on the busiest day of the entire year, today (Sunday) we wandered around Xian on the biggest holiday weekend of the year. A second failed attempt to see the history museum (we keep showing up between 11 and 1, when it is supposed to be open but isn't), we picked a random park nearby, expecting 3 acres of scrubby grass and maybe a bench. Instead, Xingqinggong Park is gigantic, and stuffed with bot entertainments and a couple of hundred thousand Xian families enjoying them. Aidan and Declan insisted on trying a "bungee machine" that was totally unsafe and nearly broke both their necks; luckily they felt so sick on it that they lasted about one minute each. After that we just wandered and gaped, and, not for the first time, were amused to be gaped AT by the Chinese.

It's curious to us: Xian is a major tourist destination and yet we keep finding ourselves in places where we are the only non-Chinese in sight. I think it has to do with the fact that we avoid tours like the plague and are fanatical about walking everywhere. After the park we kept walking, and actually got somewhat lost, which necessitated going up to random people and pointing hopefully at a map. Ordinary Chinese, especially in untouristed side-streets, tend to look at us as if we were space aliens - but a smile and a wave brings waves of smiles and mugging in return.

Just hanging out now before an 8.40 night train (our first in China) to Beijing. Will the sleeper cars be any more comfortable than the ones in Vietnam? Could they be even worse? We will soon know.