Getting lost in China....crying.....eventually....made me smile

When I arrived at my hotel in Xian, I was met shortly after check in by Jillie. Jillie was not unfamiliar to me as the good reviews of her customer service talents coupled with the exceptional price of the room were primary factors for my booking with her employer.

Jillie told me of the variety of tours available through the hotel, speaking in clear, beautiful English. Of course I was very interested in the terra cotta soldiers but also listed was a Tang Dynasty musical with accompanying dumpling dinner. Dumplings with a Chinese musical rooted in history. That would be a win win for me. I decided it best to go to the dinner musical on that night rather than make such a horrifically busy day.

At around 4 pm, I returned to the hotel to clean up and change into the best clothes I brought and the sandal heels reserved just for such occasion. The dumplings started being served at 6:30 so I didn't want to be late.

At 5:45 I excitedly asked the desk clerk to please call for a taxi so I could get to the show on time. That's when the night started going wrong. The girl explained to me they only call for taxis if the hotel guests are headed to the airport and in any other case, the guests were responsible for their own call. I was stunned. Number one, I don't speak Chinese. Number two, I don't have a cell phone that works in China if i could speak Chinese. Number three, I don't have a phone number for a taxi. Number four, the hotel is on a side street with very little traffic. I walked several blocks down to the main thoroughfare and easily flagged down a taxi. But I must have gotten the only taxi in all of Xian, China, who was unfamiliar with this, as Jillie put it, "very famous" show. (I would later find out this was not true)

Before the taxi took off on our search for the venue, someone else got in the back seat and started talking to the driver. As I said, I do not speak Chinese but I'm very good with hand gestures. I pounded my chest a few times exclaiming "ME! I made the "X" sign I learned in Japan which means "NO" and stopped just short of implementing the good old stand by used in the states since that might not fly in a communist country. The driver passed the paper I had given him to the lady in the back seat in an apparent attempt to see if she had knowledge of the whereabouts of this "very famous" show. She did not but tagged along anyway and got out a mile later. After about 20 minutes of touring Xian, the driver stopped and 2 young men got in for a "ride". While I was in the passenger seat and the 2 guys were in the back seat, the taxi driver disappeared and was gone for at least 10 minutes. I spotted him going from person to person and store to store trying to find out the location of the "very famous" show. By this time I'm plotting what i believed would make the best blog post yet. These things just seem to fall in my lap.

At around 6:40 pm, we pulled in front of a garishly lit theater with the appropriate name. The driver would not take the full fare so I felt a little better about his integrity even though he seemed to be in a habit of taking on double passengers.

I bounced into the theater with visions of delicious Chinese dumplings dancing in my head and happy to be seeing a full scale Chinese musical production for the first time. After showing the manager my brochure which stated the agreed price of 260 yuan and arguing with his price of 500 as Jillie said would happen, he then accepted my price and seated me in the dining room to wait for the dumplings. As I had come in, I saw a number of people head into the theater and I asked the manager if I was going to miss anything. He simply said he had no dumplings in the theater After going at it for a few minutes wondering why I was seated alone in the dining area while others were in the theatre, I realized something was terribly wrong. I told him I understood this to be a dinner AND a show and I wanted my money back for which he obliged.

After leaving the theater I set out to flag down a taxi to return to the hotel Tragically, I was told to get out of 2 different taxis (I'm not the only one good with hand gestures) as I did not have the address in Chinese. I was horrified and desperately headed down the street searching for someone bilingual. I found a clothing store for young people and thought surely there must be someone there but this was not Shanghai and my luck was not the best this night. I was able to get a young clerk to understand to call my hotel as it was my intention to ask the desk clerk to tell the boy the address so he could write it in Chinese. The desk clerk was borderline bilingual so I asked for Jillie to call me back and it became resolved. I was back at the hotel, unable to have dinner at the hotel restaurant since the menu was strictly in Chinese, and made do with a dinner of potato chips, cola and strawberry filled Oreos (a travesty!!!) from a convenience store next door. Most importantly I have survived and didn't get swallowed up by the Chinese beast. One day closer to seeing my dogs yet again.

I spent the next day in the company of a wonderful couple from London of Indian descent who really have me thinking of another exotic location for my next adventure. They had been to the same show the night before and raved so much that I decided to give it another chance if our tour director would go in and intercede if there was a problem as there was the night before. I have developed a very healthy respect for language barriers when the alphabet I am so familiar with is not being used.

We pulled in front of a large beautiful building and I assumed it was the hotel for the couple I spent the day with. It was not. It was my show. Different building. The taxi had left me at the wrong theater the night before. The manager of the theater from the night before must have thought I was crazy. If so...good call.

The dumplings were amazing. The show was outstanding. The service was impeccable with our waiter even covering up for my faux pas when I couldn't quite handle the slippery little piece of cantaloupe with my chopsticks and it landed on the floor.

As I was leaving I was clutching the card the tour director for that day had given me to make sure I could get back to the hotel. A man with the theater told me the taxis were very busy and he would have a car in 10 minutes that could get me to my hotel for 30 yuan which is about $5. I was hesitant but willing after looking outside at all the people waiting. A small car backed out of a driveway and I obediently entered the passenger side. After we arrived back at the hotel and I was handing the driver the fare he turned so that I could see his full face. He was wearing theater make up!! He had been one of the performers I had just watched!! I was thrilled and told him how wonderful the show had been!!!! I was pretty sure he wasn't bilingual from his silence on the drive but he smiled and said thank you.

Is my vacation Eat, Pray, Love or something in which Chevy Chase would have been involved? I've felt a bit of both.