“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” -Confucius
After our time in Tibet I was not feeling very warm towards China as we headed off to Xi’an. But there we were heading to China anyway. Meanwhile, I was consciously trying to hold onto my grudge – which is neither a very attractive nor enlightened response. Of course we immediately met the nicest bunch of Chinese people who helped me get over the chip on my shoulder. (Shame on me.) Ezra stayed up for hours practicing Mandarin with his new friends and people kept forcing food on us. Alright, but the government it still not forgiven.
We were making our way to Mongolia and thought the Trans-Mongolian railway sounded fun. We’ve been romanticizing train travel since we first saw the Orient Express in Istanbul – afterall, who isn’t a fan of Agatha Christie? (Are Ezra and I the only ones who read detective novels and Victorian mysteries?) We decided to make a couple stops through China first. A few days in Xi’an were spent in the old Muslim quarter, stuffing our faces with delicious street food, and seeing the Terracotta warriors. Also of note, we stayed in a fantastic hotel which Ez found for a steal at $20, and living in that luxury made me worried I would quickly forget all my lessons of simplicity and living without. All of a sudden I really wanted a bathtub and a teapot. What’s a girl to do.
Onto Beijing, we wandered around the old Hutong neighborhoods. The rest of our time is best not worth mentioning. Although we thoroughly enjoyed our stay, we were horrible tourists. We had great plans to see the Forbidden City and did wander around Tiananmen square, but I will not bore you with excuses. Instead I thought I’d slip in a few pictures from our last visit, but considering it was 10 years ago, I though you may notice we look different.
the boys with chairman mao
chairman Z & B
When we were just kids…
cultivating joy 