Errors and omissions

I would first like to make some quick clarifications about my last post. I have met a signifigant number of kind and generous Chinese people. There is an ethos here that lends itself to price gouging and the like, but for the most part people have been nothing but helpful and trustworthy. The reason I have been confronted with these problems more often than not is because I'm a foriegner, which makes me easily spotted even in huge crowds of people. Everywhere I go follows a repuation for having money, and not being China savy. For this reason， mainly， I have run into a fair share of con artists, theives, and opportunists just anxious for money. When I say I'm tired of being on gaurd， I mean that I'm tired of having to make a judgment call about people everytime someone is nice to me. Despite this, I beleive that a great majority of Chinese people are good and not interested in stealing from me or ripping me off， I just tend to attract that behavior.

Today I made a grave mistake when left my hostel。 I had been walking down the street for a while， lost in thought， when I suddenly heard a rush of footstep behind me。 Its common to hear people run in China， but I suddenly snapped out of my daydreams when I noticed that the footsteps were so very close。 I spun around but before I could a hand grabbed my arm very tightly and immediatly began pulling。 This increased the spead of pivot almost throwing off balance。 As I turned， I saw at the end of my arm a woman who immediatly said ”hello“ （in English） followed by the word “message” in Chinese。 In shock， I looked back up the street to see a young woman sitting in every doorway watching my current situation。Thats when I finally understood that I had inadvertantly wandered into the redlight district of Xian。 Looking back at the girl who was still tugging on my arm and now almost yelling “message“， I made a huge mistake。 Instead of just yanking my arm away and walking off， I lightly twisted my arm out of her hand and said ”No thank you“ in Chinese。 I realize that this was taken， by the large number of prostitutes up and down the street watching this event unfold， that I was looking for a prostitute， I just wasn’t interested in that specific girl。 As I started walking down the street again， I was accosted by prostitute after prostitute yelling ”Hello“ from the doorway of their brothel， or literaly chasing me down the street with absolutely no comprehension of the word no （in Chinese）。 Having no idea how long I had been walking through the redlight district before I was approached， I decided I should just move foward because the area covered by such a high density of brothels could’t be more than a block or two。 This was probably my second big mistake seeing that I passed brothel after brothel for the next four long blocks。

When I had finally escaped from that part of Xian， I found myself in the Muslim qaurter of Xian。 This area is inhabited by the Uyger （pronounced weeger）people from the Xinjaing province。My experiences with these people has genereally been very good。 Also， Uyger food has been nothing short of fantastic， easily my favorite food since I got to China。

Tonight I head to Taiyuan in the Shanxi province and then to Pingyoa， which is a completely intact Ming Dynasty city。 A couple of days after that， its off to Bejing and then to Mongolia。 Yay for adventures。