#china2k17

Friday:

Friday at 3pm, my friends and I headed to from campus to Pudong Airport catch our 6:15 flight to Xian. There were a few people in the group I hadn’t talked to a lot in the last few weeks in Shanghai, so I was excited to learn more about them and spend more time with them. 

We got to the airport fairly easily, and getting our tickets for the flight just required (most of) us to input our passport information into the airport automatic check-in stations. However, a few people did have to get their ticket from the counter (which ended up being better for them because they got window and aisle seats while the rest of us got middle seats. 

After we all checked in and went through security, we sat at the gate for an hour before boarding our flight to Xian. 

It took about three hours to get there, and when we landed, we had to decide if we were going to take 2 taxis (when only one person in our group could speak chinese well enough to understand what was going on) or a bus together, then a taxi. As luck would have it, there ended up being a service that would take all of us (on what was essentially a private bus) straight to our dorm for 50 kuai each (which is about 8 dollars). What would have been a 90 minute trip from train to taxi to hotel turned into a 60 minute trip in a car. Needless to say, I was very thankful for the chinese speaker in our group (Shout out to Isabelle if you ever read this). 

When we finally got to the hostel (aptly named the Party Hostel) we met up with our friends who’d showed up that morning, and they told us about all the things they’d done and the places they’d eaten (all of which we would be doing tomorrow while they did homework). There was also someone that could speak chinese in that group, so the two of them essentially saved us the entire weekend. 

After putting our stuff away and picking rooms, we went to a bar downstairs and hung out there for a few hours. 

Saturday:

9:30 am on Saturday morning, our group of 12 headed to see the Terracotta Soldiers. The journey there took about an hour and a half, so we all slept to recover from the night before. 

The Terracotta soldiers were the one thing I wanted to see before I left China, so I was especially excited about today. After we got our tickets, we headed down a flowery path until we reached the actual crypt (or what was above it, since the real crypt hadn’t been dug up due to issues involving a collapsing chamber and Mercury poisoning (apparently the Emperor who ordered the soldiers was crazy af). 

The first room we entered was room 1 (which was a bad idea--if you ever go, do the third chamber last). Pictured above, it was the biggest room, and also the best. The room was the size of a large warehouse, and from wall to wall, the room was filled with horses and people. Honestly it was super cool to see in real life, but after 5 minutes you realize that they’re ultimately just a bunch of clay things. It’s cool that they lasted that long, but you really just need your picture and then you’re good. All of the soldiers are different from little traits here and there, maybe a missing head or two (tbh those were cool) but overall everything looked the exact same. There was, however, a section in the back of the room where they were repairing the soldiers which was cool. 

Satisfied, and relatively happy with the first room, we moved onto the second room, which was largely disappointing. It was much smaller than the first room, like epically, and the soldiers were a lot fewer as well. 

Moving onto the third room, was equally as disappointing. The room was smaller than the first, but much larger than the second, but there were no people. It was empty (save the museum-like area surrounding the pit) and only filled with shards of pots and people here and there. We took a quick round through the museum in the compound then (it covered the history of the soldiers discovery) before heading back to to hostel, where some of us took naps, while the others went on a bike ride around the wall, something the first group had done when they arrived yesterday.

From three until five, seven of us took a bike ride around the wall surrounding Xi’an. After a while, we split into two groups, and while one group (aka me and another person) made it back to the bike station on time, as well as back to the hostel in a timely manner to go to dinner, the other group got lost on the other side of the city. We later learned that one of our friends had gotten a really bad Charley Horse and that after a few encounters with the wall security, as well as a well faked injury, they managed to get a car ride back to the side of the wall where the hostel was and made it home. Once we got home, we all learned that neither group had seen the first Polish kid that had disappeared at MYST the first night we’d gotten to China (See week 2). He’d messaged the group that he was waiting for us at the wall exit, and when neither group had seen him at the exit, we assumed he was with the other (He then proceeded to get lost in Xi’an for the next few hours but we had long moved on by then--according to a close source, its not unusual for him to get lost on trips). 

After the bike ride, and an hour of rest and waiting for the Polish kid to show up, all of us headed to the Muslim Quarter for some street food. 

Up until this point, I had been extremely hesitant to eat anything in China that involved meat. However, as this was the Muslim Quarter, and all the mean was halal, I threw caution to the wind, and ate some dank chicken. Well, really it was mediocre but the fact that it was authentic street food made it cool. It was just chicken stuffed with rice (and maybe veggies, I wasn’t sure) so the food wasn’t too crazy, but it was still a jump. Besides that, I took a bite of the other Polish kid’s squid, at some cotton candy, and had hella watermelon. 

To end the night, we went to a bar that was made from an old train station.

Sunday: 

On Sunday, we woke up to a steady rain at around 10, and immediately learned that that was our checkout time. One of our friends knew that, and had simply declined to tell us. Cool. 

As our flight wasn’t until 6pm, we spent the morning at Big Wild Goose Pagoda hanging out in the rain, looking really tired wishing we could ring the bells in the Pagoda. We also watched the performance of a really long and intense Buddhist prayer. 

We then spent the afternoon eating the famous and delicious Bian Bian Noodles of Xi’an (except at a halal place in another area of the Muslim Quarter, so there was no pork in them--WHOOOO!) before heading to the airport to board our plane to Shanghai. Which we almost missed (we arrived at the gate in the middle of boarding #Hallelujah)

This week I visited the light exhibit that inspired the Hotline Bing music video, discovered my true calling for the third time, and solved a Rubik’s cube in under a minute. 

Saturday

After sleeping most of the morning, a few friends and I took the metro to the Long Museum, where we spend the evening walking through the James Turrell: Immersive Lights exhibit. Now, this was no ordinary exhibit because James Turrell’s exhibit was the inspiration for the lighting of Drake’s Hotline Bling Music Video. 

Naturally, I had to channel my inner Drizzy and recreate portions of the video while here (Above is a Boomerang, not a real video)

Aside from Drake, the exhibit was actually pretty cool. You know, besides the fact that we were literally fascinated by shapes being projected onto walls (Plot twist that cube is actually a light on a wall corner which is what makes it look like a cube). Honestly, if I were you looking at this, I, too, would be a little skeptical of how interesting this exhibit actually was. I mean, how interesting can lights be? I’ll tell you: cool enough to stand in a line for an hour just to see a room that changes colors. Yes, that cool. 

And here we have a white triangle lighting a wall corner and creating the optical illusion of a physical presence. 

Besides, the lights, though, there were a few pieces that were likely more difficult to create, such as this mirror tunnel and some reflective holograms that are only given justice in real life. Hence, no pics. 

Sunday

Sunday was just as cool as Saturday. The dorm payed for us to go to an exhibit in Global Harbor Mall (the largest mall in Shanghai) called Beyond the Cube. It took about an hour to get there from the dorms by Metro (whoa what a surprise *eyeroll*) and when we got inside the mall, we ended up taking a little detour. 

On our way to the exhibit we saw this mirror room with flamingos and quickly entered, eager to investigate some more art work before arriving at the actual exhibit. 

As a born again flamingo enthusiast, this was a very exciting time for me (when I came home, I immediately changed my computer background).

Inside the exhibit there were a plethora of interactive activities to do, and I immediately decided that when I grow up, I am going to do something in interactive media design, or maybe the coding behind it or maybe the person who plans and suggests ideas for exhibits like Beyond the Cube (fun fact, Google was the main sponsor so I know this is a legitimate field). I don’t really know I just know I want to do something that involves people and tech...and will possibly make me famous (I know I’m going to become someone important one day but I haven’t really decided what yet *discovers ego is larger than initially thought*).

The first part of the exhibit included a triangular space with half and a roof of mirrors and the rest of the area consisting of the Rubik’s Cube pattern. Mirrors and small spaces are clearly becoming a thing for art and artists (not that I’m surprised--everyone, including me, is totally into it). Our small group of seven immediately had a photoshoot at the sight of this space while waiting for our tickets to be purchased. 

Once we were actually inside the exhibit, there was a lot to do and look at. When we first walked in, there was a giant Rubik’s cube (pictured above) that could be moved and controlled by a smaller cube about the size of a curled up 6 month old baby. It moved pretty slowly, but the overall concept was pretty cool. I will say, that I was disappointed that the colors weren’t set up in a way where one could solve the cube.

(@Brian if you ever read my blog thanks for your hands. And actually reading it.)

After the section where you built different shapes and essentially clicked buttons to see things spin and move, there was a more interactive section where you could engage with the tech and logic behind the cube. One of the sections included a station where you could take one of the cubes in the exhibit, take a picture of each side, and solve it with the help of the computer. It was a bit annoying because it wouldn’t detect the color a lot of the time, but the program was easy to follow and provided quick results once the initial data was input into the computer. 

There were a few other games as well, such as a kinect-like game where one had to find the three common shapes and move your hands over them, as well as some moving bee game where you program the bee to move when it runs into an obstacle (I’m not 100% on the bee one--I didn’t play it). As for the hand game, I got the highest score to that point (Expert: 18,200 hehehe). The game was very difficult after a certain point, because the hand control was not very responsive and at one point the shapes would start changing if you took too long to find the three shape pattern.  So, by the time you found the right pattern it was impossible to run your hand over all three shapes because the hand recognition was all over the place. Personally, I think the game has potential because of the simplicity, but it would have been nice if the motion sensor (or whatever they use) was better. But I enjoyed it so that’s what counts.  

A post shared by Zayna Quader (@zainy924) on Feb 26, 2017 at 3:37am PST

After looking at the Rubik’s Cube made of amethysts, rubies, etc., and playing a few of the musically inclined games (along with others), the final part of the exhibit I looked at was a machine that solved a Rubik’s cube. For the most part, it took about 19 turns and 57 seconds for it to solve a cube, but I was pretty proud of myself, because the cube I mixed up took it 21 moves and 58 seconds to solve. Yeah, that’s right--I made it take a whole second faster. I’ll accept my award now.