5/9/2017: Temple of Heaven and high-speed train to Xi'an

I think I forgot to mention the amuse-Bouche for last night's supper -- a plate with three towering scoops of cold mashed potatoes topped with blueberries.  Truly peculiar.

Anyway, I skipped the Peking Opera last night -- I could barely make it back to my room.  Most of the people who went wished they hadn't.

We were instructed to have our suitcases outside our doors by 7:30, for the bellboys to collect --they were to be taken to the train station.

This morning, we set off for the Temple of Heaven -- more a park than a working Temple.  Lots of spry old people using exercise equipment in one part.  

A long pavilion where people sat on low walls, playing cards and talking.  

A courtyard where matchmakers sat, with sheets of paper in front of them describing prospects.   

And green grass and cypresses and hostas all around -- very restful and pleasant.  Lots of adorable little tots here and there -- parents didn't object when I came up with my camera & said hello & took pictures of the kidlets. 

We had a leisurely, early lunch, then set off for the train station.  It was a long way down to the platform -- stairs, with ramps for suitcases, and our suitcases were strapped onto carts--maybe 7 to a cart.   Each porter had to use his body to slow the descent of a cartload of suitcases.

I was, of course, relieved to see that my suitcase had made the transit.  It was definitely one of the larger suitcases -- I felt a little ashamed about that.  I don't think I'm packing excessively, until I realize others are carting far less around.

The train trip was fine -- dusty plains and then mountains.  I was reading Factory Girls by Leslie Chang -- about migrant girls in their teens mostly, working in factories in the Pearl River Delta.

Xi'an has about 9 million people, so much larger than I'd imagined.  Our train arrived 6 PM, it was after 7 PM by the time we got to the hotel -- we ate at a restaurant around the corner.  Unfortunately, men at the next table were smoking and playing drinking games, otherwise it would have been a nice dinner -- the food was good. The hotel has real non-smoking floors (the hotel in Beijing in principle had non-smoking sections, but people were smoking in them all the same). 

Please skip this paragraph if you are easily offended, or don't want to listen to a rant.  Chinese toilets are mostly of the squat variety, which is hard on my elderly knees, seldom have toilet paper; the sinks seldom have soap or paper towels or electric hand driers that work.  So I came armed with hand sanitizer, etc.  Whichever woman goes in first reports to the others on the state of the facilities.  Our group leader said things used to be worse;  there used not to be partitions.  The whole thing breeds anxiety.

Tomorrow, the terra cotta warriors.