New Year, New Country

I arrived in Xi'an at 10PM last night. As a result, by the time I'd collected my bag and such, I spent midnight sitting on the airport shuttle to Downtown. But by some fabulous bit of luck, I arrived at the downtown historic Bell Tower at the stroke of midnight. As I got off the bus, Roman candles and firecrackers erupted in the square across the street. So with my backpack still on my shoulders, I headed on over. As I walked, a fleet of giant red and yellow lanterns floated into the sky. I arrived and watched people unfold the delicate lanterns and light them, then wait for them to inflate like hot air balloons and float delicately into the sky. A very peaceful contrast to the cacaphony of firecrackers and other pyrotechnics (realeased by rank amateurs - I definitely caught a Roman candle in the thigh...but I survived unscathed). As I was standing there with eyes agog in total wonderment and happiness, this group of Pakistani guys walked over and introduced themselves. I guess they're students at the aeronautics institute in town, and they are always looking out for foreigners because when they first arrived and realized nobody spoke English, they had a really rough time. So we hung out and had some laughs (including posing for photos for local celebrants who liked the foreign influence to the party), but then it was really, really cold compared to Bangkok, so I decided to split.
Arriving in town without a reservation at that hour, I'd booked a hotel at the airport - Super 8, of all things! Let me tell you, after a month of sleeping in absolute bottom-end dumps, this place was heaven. Two words: down comforter. Best night of sleep ever...
Right now it's just about midnight where you guys are, so I hope everybody is partying hard and having a great New Year's celebration.
All the best in 2009!!! The year of Obamaaaaa!!