rain

The theme of our trip? Rain. Rain in Qingdao for more than a day, rain in Xi'an ever since we got here. I usually love rain. I love the cozy feeling it creates...it makes me want to curl up with a blanket, a warm drink, and a book. We've spent a good part of our trip hanging out at the hostel with books, sometimes candles (when the electricity was out here) and a few cups of rose tea or instant coffee. However, this trip is testing my patience with being wet.

My travel buddy. I told her that I'll remember this trip fondly (even though many of our plans have been foiled due to rain) because I can't think of any bad memories I have associated with rain. I can only think of good ones. I don't know if it's because I'm from Texas, where rain is usually treasured (although this summer there seems to have been too much there) or because I'm just a rain-lovin type of person.

Fishermen on the beach at Qingdao early Tuesday morning.

The folk house museum we visited today in the Muslim quarter because we thought it would be an okay rain activity.

The center of Xi'an as seen from the bell tower.

Tomorrow, we are hoping (after a look at the forecast) for a relatively clear day and are planning on waking up early to go to Hua Shan, a mountain a few hours away. We would have gone today, but it involves some climbing that wouldn't be nice in the rain.