End of the Silk Road : Prostitution Street

Getting to Xi'an was a shock - humidity, heat, noise and traffic rivalling that of Beijing. An unslept night, the hard seat on the newer trains having less room than that on the old. I got off and proceeded to walk out when a man came up to me:

"You looking for a hotel?"

"Ahh... yeah."

"Dormitory, 40 yuan, ok?

"Sorry, the most I've ever paid for one's been 25."

"40 ok?"

"No, I'll find a cheap place."

"30 ok?"

"No, 25's the most I pay."

"25 ok?"

"Ok."

Well, it's in a dingy basement, but at least it's cool, and I've had the whole place to myself for 2 days. The shower is hot. The location... uh, central.

The first thing that happened as I walked down towards town was being invivited by about 10 "hairdressers" into their "salons". Since then, I've been approached by male pimps, female pimps, even the old women at the convenience store I bought a beer at were asking if I wanted a girl. Still, I'm getting better at saying "no" politely - I can even manage eye contact and a smile as I refuse.

With 7 million inhabitants, the city is one big mess with no PT aside from busses. What was once the centre is enclosed by an ancient wall. Slum, condominium, shopping mall, pagoda, bell tower - it's all there... as well as the first McDeath I've seen in 4 months. Nothing interesting has happened. Met a nice guy from the UK and some Irish women, but most of my social interaction involves telling prostitutes to go away.

The best thing about this city seems to be the street food in the mornings - 1 yuan pancakes full of vegetables and tofu. Internet has been difficult to find - took 3 days of walking in fact. The first place I asked involved the girl telling me it was 3 yuan (too much), then after some frantic behind the back hand gestures from her pimping arsehole of an empoyer, 10 yuan.

Oh, and I saw the Tarrcotta Warriors. Not worth the effort unless you're an archeology fetishist.

Time to leave.