And I thought Hbf could be disgusting..

Before I begin my shining reviews of all the things I've seen and places we've been, I need to take a turn to Negative Town for just a minute. There are some things that have just been bothering me and Hbf tunes me out when I start talking about them. Debby Downer, he calls me. And I say Hey Positive Pete, someone needs to keep us real. My first gripe is with the beds. They are sooooo hard! It's like sleeping on pavement with a sheet laid down on it. There's no way to sleep on your side unless you want hip dysplasia in 2 days. Good thing they have massages for cheap here or else I think I would be stiff and sore until we get to Vietnam. The second problem I have is with the Chinese people and their seemingly never ending need to hock loogies and shoot snot rockets WHEREVER they are. Outside, in a restaurant, on a train! There's no place where you won't hear or see someone spitting, blowing, or coughing whatever the hell they have in their throats up. If I ever get hungry, I only have to wait about 2 minutes and someone will begin hacking up a lung right next to me. Instant appetite suppressant. I guess the government is trying to discourage the behavior, which scares me. What would it be like if they weren't discouraging it? I shudder to think. And throw up in my mouth a little bit. That being said, there is one more thing that disgusts me more than the loogies. I have what some would consider a freakishly good sense of smell. For better or worse, I can smell almost everything, and do, especially before eating it. Walking around China, especially Datong, I have smelled the worst possible smells ever known to mankind. Now, I know my little brother is thinking, no way! We once smelled this toilet in Spain that was really bad. We crawled around on the floor gagging and coughing, trying to spit out any remnants . But to him I say, um yeah.. this is like a Billion times worse. That's a capital B. At first Hbf didn't notice it, which proved my theory that he had no sense of smell. I thought for sure no person on earth could ignore these smells. Each time I got a whiff, I wanted to throw up, then curl up in a little ball and die. But then the next second it would be gone and I would decide that I want to live after all. In Datong though, Hbf started to notice the smells. We went on a walk through the town, only to find out we were on the foulest smelling street in the city. I had my nose in my shirt, breathing through my mouth and I could even taste it. Luckily I just ate or I don't think I could even be writing about this stuff. I'm not sure what the hell those smells are, but it may be a mix of dead animals, poop and rotting food. That's just a guess though. Apparently the Chinese have no sense of smell because no one notices. I didn't see anyone gagging or covering their noses like we were.. These smells must have singed off their nose hairs and destroyed their odor sensors by the time they were toddlers. Alright, enough of my detour. I've got that out of my system and I am back on track. We are in Xi'an now and so far, so good. Tomorrow we see the terracotta warriors and we will also be enjoying some hot springs. I'm hoping there is a no spitting sign in the pools..