In terms of cheap places to stay, there’s actually a decent hostel right in the middle of town, at the bell tower square, on the north side, above a post office or something. Clean and not too bad . . . .

(We caught a bus from the train station to Hua Mountain: after waiting for passengers, being invited to attend a sales spiel on herbal medicines, and being driven quickly past a bunch of smaller restaurants up to an extremely over-priced dining hall, it was well into the afternoon when we finally arrived at the base of the mountain).

Personally, I’m pretty fond of Xi’an, so I’d still prefer to book accommodation in the city. Presumably staying in the city is a bit cheaper, since there is more competition…but then again, who knows? Finding budget accommodation in Xi’an is already next to impossible.

I guess it depends on who you are with, because I had exactly the opposite experience. The first time I went I hired a Chinese language guide and had a really nice chat with her. Then when my folks came a year later we got an English language guide who turned out to be something like 5 months pregant.

Those tour guides have tough jobs. Not only are they on their feet all day (and that is a huge complex), but they’re about as put-upon as cab drivers when it comes to exploitative government-run licensing systems. It isn’t as if anyone can show up at those places and start running tours. Xian has a licensing system for the guides and the parks jack-up the admission prices to make sure no-one can compete independently.

Back on topic, MI3 was excrutiatingly boring, but the film gets some points for having Tom Cruise yelling in broken mandarin while running along the waterfront. I never did figure out exactly why the Philip Seymour Hoffman character took Cruise’s girlfriend to that rundown dentist’s office though. Surely any villian worth his salt would be able to find a more upscale 公寓. Or be able to store their hostage in a room with a lock on the door….