My cell-phone rings at 7 o’clock in the morning, thirty minutes earlier than I had actually planned to get up. As I answer, a loud voice is shouting at me from the other side of the line “Xiao Wei (Little Wei), I arrived earlier. Please come down so we can leave.” SHOOT! I jump out of my bed, rush to the bathroom where I take a five minute shower, brush my teeth, put on my clothes and rush down to the lobby where my driver is already waiting. Whenever a day starts like this, it is usually already over for me. Anyway, I decided to be happy today. Five minutes on the car and we already made our first stop – Chinese breakfast: rice soup, deep-fried dough sticks (Youtiao) and a glass of soy milk. I gulped down the food and went back on the car.

Today I was going to visit the imperial tombs of the Western Xia Dynasty, approximately thirty minutes out of Yinchuan. On the way I listened to the daily honking concert and I observed the scenery we were crossing. Like most of the Chinese drivers, this one as well wanted to know many things about me and Germany. Moreover, he was interested in the German point of view on the latest political happenings in and out of China.

As we were talking, the tombs in the shape of pyramids were coming closer from the distance. As we reached the park, we entered from the back. I was introduced to some people, shook several hands and finally was released. I had two hours time to explore the area…