Ray Charles Had Some Good Advice

A'ight. Tomorrow we begin the third big adventure, one which I might just call "The Legend of China: A Bill to the Past."

I'm heading to Xi'An, the ancient capital of China and one of its first and most frequent. On the docket: terra-cotta warriors! Yes, these millenial-old statues marched into the afterlife alongside Emperor Qin. What else: A vibrant Muslim quarter as Xi'An stands as the gateway to China's west. And lets not forget Hua Shan, the summit of choice for this romp. There will be more of course, but I don't want to give it all away.

It's a plane ride tomorrow, first to Beijing for a nice layover and then onto Xi'An by evening. Coming home its a train ride: only 20+ hours, surprisingly. I'm hoping to catch some of the rigid ShanXi landscape from my bunk. Plus training it home saves a chunk 'o' cash.

The 40G loaded up a handful of new albums to explore during the travel. Here's the line-up:
Wilco: A Ghost is Born
U2: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
Ray!: Soundtrack
The Triplets of Belleville: Soundtrack
The Motorcycle Diaries: Soundtrack
Stan Getz: Big Band Bossa Nova
The Beatles: Let It Be... Naked
Nas: Illmatic

Music selection varies around Harbin, and I gotta wonder where and how some things seem to get popular here, but as CDs are quite cheap, its fun to experiment. And affordable.

So thats that, time to sign off for a week or so... officially. I'll be back with a detailed rundown as soon as I can.

Happy Chinese New Year. XinNian KuaiLe. WanShi(r)RuYi. Gong Xi Fa Qian. ZaiJian!