All this work I’ve been putting into my Winter break plans and I think it’sstarting to finally pan-out. On Saturday I woke up at 6:30 AM (!) to go purchase a train ticket to Pingyao, Shanxi. I was a little worried about buying the train ticket because you can only buy tickets 10 days in advance and during this time of year (Chinese New Year) the trains are crazy busy. I’ve heard stories of people camping out all night just to buy a train ticket!

Marina advised me  of a lesser-known ticket office semi-near my school so I went there. I was rather nervous because I’ve never bought a ticket before and don’t think I know enough Chinese to complete the transaction. Being the helpful girlfriend that she is, Marina sent me a text message to show the ticket clerk telling him exactly what I wanted. Long story short, I arrived at 7:30, waited til the window opened at 8 AM (3rd in line), showed the clerk my message and had my ticket in about 5 minutes. Pretty smooth actually!

So now that I’ve got my train ticket, and Marina booked us another train ticket as well as airline tickets, I can actually say that I have solid plans for this trip. It looks a little something like this:

(click the city link for info about the location)

• 2/3 – Pingyao, Shanxi
• 2/4 – Taiyuan, Shanxi (Marina’s hometown)
• 2/5 -2/9 – Beijing (Great Wall, Forbidden City)
• 2/10 – 2/12 – Harbin/Yabuli (Ice festival and skiing)
• 2/13 – 2/17 – Xi’an (Chinese New Year with my Chinese family)
• 2/18 – 2/25 – Shenzhen/Guangzhou/Hong Kong

My buddy Tyler from the U.S. is going to be joining me on this trip as well, and I’ll be picking him up from the airport in Beijing. This will be his first experience in China and we’re going to make it well worth it. Marina is also coming with as well for the first half, after Harbin/Yabuli she’ll be heading back to Taiyuan for New Years with her own family. Outside of Beijing and Xi’an, I haven’t been to any of these places either, so it’ll be an exciting trip for me as well.

I’m also really excited for Chinese New Year, as I’ll be spending it with my Chinese family. Just like the wedding in Xunyang I posted about a month ago, I don’t really know what to expect so it’ll be an adventure. I plan to have quite a few blog updates as well as pictures in the coming month.

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