Day 7: Thursday Baoji to Xi'an

Did I mention the hotel I stayed in Baoji is in a very good location? 

I wanted to take a train back to Xi’An this time. In the morning, while I walked to the same restaurant for breakfast, I noticed there’s a train ticket sales booth right next to the restaurant. I got my ticket there right after breakfast.

In the morning before leaving for the train, I went to my old neighborhood to see SH. Her younger brother XG was my best friend here in Baoji. He and his parents now are living in Shanghai and I will be visiting them next week. The old neighborhood was much nicer now. I even bumped into Dr. M while passing by a farmer’s market. She must be over 80 by now but still in good health. 

I took a quick look of the city on my way to the train station. Then I realized that Baoji is really a small city comparing to any other Chinese cities I’ve visited recently. I hope it remains that way. Last night during dinner, it seems ZW really passionate about the city and its growth.

I was lucky that I decided to take this train with a seat reserved. The train was a little crowed and hot. 15 minutes before reaching Xi’An, the conductor even turned off the little AC, which left a 30+ degree cabin. I lashed out at them but know it wouldn’t change a thing but making them feel bad. Well, I don’t care even that didn’t make me feel any better.

The cab ride to the Xi’An Shangri-La hotel was quick. According to the cab driver, between 2:30-4:30 is their shift switching time. So a lot of them won’t take anyone to the opposite direction. I told him that if a tourist city has a lot of cab picking passengers, it won’t expect returned customers in the future.

TheXi’An Shangri-La hotel was very nice. No wonder it’s the No. 1 hotel on TripAdvisor. I had a good sized room. Even with a bottle of complimentary Australia Cabernet Merlot.

The host took us for a tour of the Stone Tablet museum, the old city wall, and the bell tower later in the afternoon.  We all had a good time except JD was a bit tired.