Our Easter morning was spent, for the first time in way too long, in church. It was standing room only! Close to 1000 people (in only one of the three services offered) packed the sanctuary and the courtyard. It was a wonderful sight to see so many of Christ’s followers from around the world together. We spent the afternoon wandering around a street that had been redesigned to reflect traditional shops, again with store clerks calling out there wares and urging us to buy from them. We found a restaurant and ate some of the best food we’ve ever eaten!
We made our way to the train station with plenty of time to catch our 13 hour train ride to Xi’an…only to find out thirty minutes before the train left that we were at the wrong train station – we needed to be half-way across the city. We ran outside, found the first taxi we could, and had one of the best rides of our lives. 
Rob’s comment, “I’m glad I brought extra underwear” pretty much sums up the experience... Speeds of up to 140 km/hr, driving on the shoulder (at speeds of about 120 km/hr), two different horns, and incredible maneuvering ability… it was about as exciting as it could get! We arrived at the station with about 10 minutes to spare and set up camp on our “hard sleep” beds, which would be our hotel for the night. Our neighbouring compartment had a toddler in it, who became rather attached to us, and we to him.
He came and sat himself right on my lap and loved watching everything go by. Alas!! He lost a lot of his cuteness factor in one fell swoop. The thing about Chinese children is that the pants they wear have a slit from front to back: it makes relieving oneself much easier and saves on diapers. The problem is that the wee darlings aren’t really taught when and where is appropriate. So, our little friend just squatted, and our carpet became suddenly wetter.
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