Brickyard Retreat, Mutianyu Village, Wednesday morning

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Good morning, Fandom! Rise and shine (or rise and grumble) but we need to be on the bullet train to Xi'an very shortly! It's time to explore a different part of China today!

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HOTEL

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Rooms [Wednesday morning]

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Students will find themselves in the Premium Twin (or Premium Queen if it's funnier) rooms, with views of the Great Wall from the window, and wifi so you can Instagram that shit. Teachers and their guests are sleeping in the Deluxe Queen rooms, slightly larger than what the students get, and with better, unobstructed views of the Wall.

[OOC: Room assignments are here. NSFW posts go into private journals, please!]

Room 22

[firstofitskind]

Liam and Verity's sleeping arrangements may have been settled on Monday morning with a minimum of fuss, but there had been one teeny-tiny matter that hadn't been discussed.

Namely, the fact that apparently, Liam was the kind of person who occasionally talked in his sleep. Which would have been unremarkable had said utterances been in English, or really, any other human language.

You see, the Kimera language, although it did include some sound-based elements, consisted primarily of patterns of energy and light. Which meant that Liam had lit up like a human-shaped light bulb thanks to whatever he'd been dreaming about.

... Sorry, Verity.

Re: Room 22

[arboreal_priestess]

Light!

Verity had been awakened from a sound slumber by a sudden burst of light next to her and reacted as one would expect a highly-trained, paranoid cryptozoologist to:

Still three-quarters asleep, she rolled out of bed and onto the floor, gun in hand, blearily searching for some sign of danger.

"Liam?!"

...Sorry, Liam.

Breakfast [Wednesday morning]

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The Brickyard offers both Western and Chinese options for breakfast this morning. Yes, it's stupidly early. Yes, you don't want to be awake. But breakfast here is going to be better than the choices at the train station, let's be honest.

Re: Breakfast [Wednesday morning]

[somethingwithturquoise]

Grumbling. Summer was definitely in the grumbling variety that morning, at least internally, because actually grumbling outloud took too much energy. She...might have gone a little too hard on the bar-hopping last night, but whatever, it was worth it, and there was nice strong coffee, so she was good.

TRAIN TO XI'AN

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The bullet train travels 300 kilometers an hour, but the ride is so smooth it's hard to notice until you see the scenery whizzing by. If you didn't grab breakfast at the hotel or the train station, the train itself has lots of Chinese options in the dining car, or you can wait until the cart comes around. Just don't get too full--you want room for noodles in Xi'an when we arrive.

Re: TRAIN TO XI'AN

[thatwaslucky]

Rey had gotten a spot by the window, where she was sitting and staring at the scenery. Maybe at some point seeing new things might get old?

Re: TRAIN TO XI'AN

[somethingwithturquoise]

Cool. A train that went really fast...big whoop.

Summer was totally okay with just sleeping right now, thanks. Or at the very least trying to.

Re: TRAIN TO XI'AN

[revengenotebook]

Paris practiced her Mandarin on the food cart lady and got almost what she'd asked for.

It was good, whatever it was.

Re: TRAIN TO XI'AN

[in_sidon_we_trust]

Sidon pretty much had his face pressed right up to the window, trying to see as much of the blurring scenery as he could, marveling in astonishment that they could truly be going so fast and barely even be feeling it!

He had to sit back every once in a while, finding himself getting a bit dizzy after too long, but he definitely kept coming back for more.

Re: TRAIN TO XI'AN

[special_rabbit]

A big old train that could go very, very fast. Yeaaaaah, Amaya was going to try to chat someone up about this beautiful piece of machinery before the set off for Xi'an, and then she was going to be blown away once the thing actually got started, muttering to herself and jotting down notes and diagrams and drawings. It had to be magic somehow, there was just no possible way...and if it wasn't magic, she needed to know more about it. Which is why, once they arrive, most of her time would be spent trying to communicate and convince someone to let her get a peek under the hood, so to speak.

Re: TRAIN TO XI'AN

[onefootoutthedoor]

Peebee wouldn't have been impressed by a train going 300 mph except that she was curious about how humans pulled it off with their current level of technology.

So while she was sitting in the dining car, in a jacket with the hood pulled snugly up over her head, sampling a few different dishes and looking mildly miffed, it was because she'd had to cut off her attempts to sneak into the engine car when her pilfered tactical cloak shorted out.

XI'AN

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Once the first stop on the famed Silk Road, Xi'an is a city of huge cultural and historical significance as one of the oldest cities in China, dating back to the 11th Century BC. It was home to the Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties' ruling houses. Despite its immense age, Xi'an is also a modern, fun place to spend some time. The school will take care of the logistics of settling into a new hotel as you explore during the afternoon!

(Or follow the mysterious school minions back to the hotel and hit a new, different spa. It's vacation! You do you.)

Food-ing

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Laoliujia Biangbiangmian Restaurant

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The school takes care of your bags and checking into the Grand Park Xi'an hotel while everyone is driven over to the Muslim Quarter for Biangbiang noodles. Here on the Guanzhong Plain, wheat is the main crop in the region instead of rice. Of the most popular noodles, Biangbiang noodles are famous mostly because of their unique name. Biang is the most complex Chinese character, with 58 strokes, and the word is onomatopoetic, mimicking the sound of flour dough hitting the counter when being stretched. The noodles are thick and wide as a (skinny) belt, and very long -- one noodle can easily fill up a whole bowl. The noodle is very savory and chewy -- thanks to the eggs and oil added in the flour dough. The most common Biangbiang noodles are often served with vinegar and topped with lots of red-hot peppers, diced garlic and boiled baby bok choy. Heated oil will be added before serving. Our restaurant serves them with braised meats and lots of veggies.

Re: Laoliujia Biangbiangmian Restaurant

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"These are way better than the ones I made," Steve said around a mouthful of noodles.

Any other food place

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If you're tired of noodles.

Exploring Xi'an

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Terracotta Warrior Army

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The main reason that tourists travel to Xi'an, the Terracotta Warriors are well worth the six-hour train trip to see. Commissioned by Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China in 290 BC, who had never heard the phrase, "You can't take it with you," there are thousands of soldiers, chariots, horses, musicians, and laborers, all individually created in terracotta by what historians estimate to be 700,000 workers. The army stretches for football fields in underground mausoleums discovered in 1974.

Re: Terracotta Warrior Army

[era_two_triangle]

Peridot found herself staring thoughtfully at the warriors. Was she paying attention to any tour guides or supplemental information regarding the warriors? No. She found it much more interesting to try to figure out the purpose of a useless inanimate army for herself.

... Maybe they knew of Gems here, and were trying to create the perfect inorganic army to fight their battles? In which case, terracotta was a terrible choice. They should have gone with some manner of Quartz.

Walking Tour of Xi'an

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Do you still have pent-up energy from being on a train for so long? (How? How do you?) Why not try the walking tour, which starts conveniently close to the hotel? You'll pass the City Wall, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower and back down into the Muslim Quarter before looping around to the Xi'an Museum (maybe explore that more tomorrow), the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, and the Shaanxi History Museum.

Mod Your Own Fun

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Use the Google! Find something fun! Tell us about it in your header!

The Hotel: Grand Park Xian

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Our stop tonight in the Grand Park Xian, with amazing views of the City Wall, in case you are already missing looking at historic walls. Unlike the last place, this hotel has televisions and room service, so feel free to kick your feet up in your room and veg out for our only night in Xi'an, if that's your choice. Or split the difference and come back here and use the sauna and prepare for a fun night out a little later!

[OOC: Roommates are the same as the last hotel, and the room numbers are MAGICALLY ALSO THE SAME. Room assignments are still here and NSFW still goes in personal journals!]

OOC

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Tomorrow we spend the day in Xi'an again with an option to go out to see the paaaaaaaaaandas.

Pandas. Hooray!