It all started on Thursday when I used Tushar's Laundry Service to.. you've guessed it - do laundry. The last minute vacation caught us off guard and fresh clothes were needed before leaving. Tushar, a colleague of mine, generously offered his apartment's semi-automatic washing machine to help us out. After a long soapy evening, everything was finally cleaned and hanged to dry. It was time to go back to the hotel, and pack.

On Friday, I left the hotel with my backpack and my camera. I managed to snap a few shots at work - perhaps they can help you in understanding the commissioning environment I work in? After work, Phyllandra and I headed back to Tushar's place to get our crispy laundry back and, since our flight to Xian was delayed, we took the time to dinne at a Chinese restaurant nearby. Communication between the establishment and us was at its worst as nobody could understand the other party and we ended up ordering a random picture on the menu. What we got in return had to be a total surprise. Chopsticks in hand, I started to look for good pieces of chicken in what we had ordered and the first piece I took looked like the roots of a vegetable. But soon, I realized my mistake: it was the chicken's fingers! The whole chicken had been cooked, and chopped into small pieces.. although quite entertaining, it had to be the most disgusting chicken I've ever eaten. An unforgettable experience.

Once arrived in Xian, I knew something was wrong as I could not stop shivering. A certain cold, that had slowly made its way to my whole body, was getting the best of me while on vacation. Fortunately, fever momentarily stopped on our way to our hotel. Some medicine and a good night's sleep on a comfy Hyatt bed did some good to prepare me for an exciting day around Xian.

On Saturday, we headed out to Xian's major attraction, the 2000 year-old Army of the Terracotta Warriors. Discovered by farmers digging a well in 1974, this nicely preserved site is very interesting and is definitely worth a visit.

The next day, the first of the Chinese New Year, my fever reached its peak and it took all morning for my feet to leave bed. As the clock's arrows were heading for their zenith, I started feeling better and managed to join my colleagues for the day's adventure. We headed out for Mount Hua Shan, a mountain in the vicinity of Xian. After squeezing ourselves again in a small taxi, we finally arrived on site where fog and tall rock mountains waited for visitors physically and mentally prepared, or not. Reason is, Mt. Hua Shan is far from being the normal mountain you can think of. The terrain is very abrupt, and the granite peaks go up to 2160m, making the ascension quite an experience. Lack of time, and perhaps energy too, lead us to use the Austrian built cable-car. Shortly after getting off the cable-car, our lead engineer became the focus point of what seemed to be a media crew waiting for foreigners to arrive on top of Mt. Hua Shan. With Jorge treated as a superstar, we managed to get good dumplings and Phyllandra married, for free. From the higher platform, we continued climbing on what sometimes appeared to be improvised steps. Rail guards were not always helpful, as some of them were only high enough to reach my knees. Lost of balance could had easily left my faith in the hands of gravity.

After a few good days in Xian, it was time to leave. And somehow, we managed to get plane tickets for Beijing, a one and a half hour flight from Xian, for about 30$US per person including taxes. Once in the capital of the world's most populous nation, we strolled around downtown to catch a glimpse of the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Front Gate and other known landmarks. The unexpected cold that covered Beijing that night made the walk less pleasant, and the lack of atmosphere made the city look quite boring.

Tuesday arrived and we headed out for the Great Wall. Going to the Great Wall takes about one hour from Beijing, but that depends to which site/entrance you go to. Several tourist entrances are set up, and one of the most popular option seems to be the Badaling entrance. Unfortunately, the Great Wall at Badaling is very disappointing with its ellipsoidal shape. Moreover, a dead end awaits you after sweating and reaching the top-most portion of the wall. No never ending wall, like I and most people would have imagined. In order to fulfill everyone's expectations of the Great Wall, we headed for another entrance, Bataling, which proved to be much better. We ended the day by quickly walking through the Summer Palace and by assisting to a circus. Based on the brochure, the circus looked quite promising. Instead, it seems that we, and many other Chinese tourists, got riped-off by buying tickets not for a unique Beijing circus experience, but for amateur kids who did their best to entertain us for one hour. I felt bad. I had the impression that I gave money to a fat Chinese man who underpaid kids who performed. Back at the hotel, I looked for place tickets that would take me out of China for the rest of the week.

Having not been able to book plane tickets online Tuesday night, mainly since China is not up to the era of e-tickets and still heavily relies on paper tickets, I took all Wednesday morning to find travel agencies that could book a cheap flight for me. Unfortunately, all travel agencies were closed and those that weren't did not speak English. When I finally found 3 of China's major airline offices, I explained my plans to leave for Bangkok or perhaps Seoul or any other place outside China. With the disappointing experiences in Beijing and Chinese's bad manors, I desperately wanted to leave the country for somewhere else and was almost laying money in front of their eyes, asking them to take me away. The only answer I got was: Yes, you can leave but you won't be able to come back before March. Spring Festival is most probably the worst time to be traveling around China, especially if you're not flexible on dates and that your return date ends up being at the end of the festival. I concluded that I had no choice than to rely on a last minute ticket at the airport, hoping that someone would eventually cancel a round-trip. Once at the airport, I understood that I would go nowhere since the thick outside fog had delayed flights from the morning well into the evening. All ticket agents were busy answering lines and lines of angry passengers. Flights delayed, canceled and delayed even more lead me to eventually come back, disappointed but somewhat excited, to Taiyuan.

The Spring Festival certainly forced me to come back early, but in the end, it gave me time to do my taxes, grocery shopping, laundry, catch-up with my family and some work-related items. But most importantly, given my health condition, it gave me the opportunity to take some well deserved time to simply rest and relax.