Zixi

So, I made it here around 10pm last night. I got off the train, along with about 10 other people (not exactly a popular train station), and the entire place was completely dark. There was a small, scary looking hotel place, and I was like "oh crap.....I am really in for it here". I found a taxi driver, and asked him if there were any hotels around, and he happily answered yes. Phew. It turns out the train station is located a ways out of town - you can't really walk to it. Zixi seems a bit larger than I was expecting - the taxi driver was a really friendly guy, who told me that I was the first foreigner that had ever met personally, so I knew I was off the beaten track. Anyways, I went to the best hotel in town. It is located just outside of town, and is more of a resort place. The rate is 100 yuan a night, but my hotel room is much nicer than anything I have had before. The hot water heater even uses natural gas, so power outages won't affect whether I have water for a shower or not. Nice. However, it is somewhat frightening because it clicks on whenever you turn on the water (it is located right beside the sink), and you can actually see the burst of flame go on when it turns on. Interesting. Hopefully it doesn't explode or anything like that. The hotel also has a free breakfast every morning (very nice to - lots of vegetables and such......I've been eating WAY too many raw carbohydrates lately, and I think that my body has been craving vegetables). So far, I've had no phone calls from women asking if I want a massage, and the staff are all extremely friendly. It is called Ludao Hotel (Green Island), and is located, appropriately enough, on an island in Zixi's main river. Last night, I slept with the window open, and I couldn't hear any cars at all - just crickets chirping and the gurgle of the river. It felt something akin to camping, only I was in a nice hotel room. I think that I like smaller cities in China. I didn't really enjoy Nanchang very much.

This morning, I woke up to a beuatiful scenery - Zixi is in the mountains (as will be all the places I'm going in the next 6 weeks), and the air is much cleaner - not nearly as much pollution as Nanchang. The sky is even blue, as opposed to the eternal shade of grey that is found in bigger cities in China, even on a "clear" day. So far, I like it here, even though I do attract quite a bit more attention here. I'm glad I left Nanchang early.