In the Heart of Xi'an

(This will have to do for now until I can get the pictures uploaded.)

So our trip is really moving along now, not as many lazy days, or weeks spent doing nothing.  We're almost half way through our visas now.  Don't think of it as rushing, but being more efficient.  Consequently, we are already leaving Xi'an though we just got here Monday evening (it's Wednesday).  We're headed out on the train in a few hours here.

Our first night, we walked on over to the Bell Tower, just to get a feel for the city and take a look around.  I think right away Darren and I both noticed that Xi'an had a very different look and feel from the other cities we've been in, especially coming from Beijing (with a short stop in Luoyang).  The people here seem to be much more handsome (women and men alike).  It sounds shallow, but as we've discussed with other travellers, something seems to go terribly wrong with a lot of Chinese men (somewhere around puberty maybe).  They start out as such cute kids, and somehow turn into disgusting old men.  Xi'an however, has some decent looking people.  The men and women are both more attractive in general.  The city also seems much more laid back than the others.  Not sure what it is, and despite that I was more or less shoved into the side of a moving bus, they are otherwise quite easy going.  Darren is especially drawn to the history of the city.  For him, it somehow feels like there is more historical integrity here than in the other cities-- it could possibly be the presence of the city wall.  In other ways, Xi'an is no different-- like everywhere else, there is a pluthera of excellent street food right outside our door.  One of the local dishes, one that Darren really enjoys, is lamb/beef kabobs wedged between two pieces of steamed flat bread (it's not really flat bread, but it's a dense bun of sorts).  And of course, every morning, you can count on delicioius "pancakes" for breakfast.

Our first night here, we also booked a show through our hostel to go see the "Tang Dynasty" performance.  For the first time this whole trip, I forgot my camera, and for that I apologize.  Some of the dances were quite beautiful, others comical.  The womens' dances reminded me a lot of Mulan.  They do this "sleeve dance", where their costumes have long sleeves, made of a very light material.  It's more or less like a glorified ribbon dance, maybe the original ribbon dance.  Some of the warrior dances were a little more comical, with giant masks with glowing, flashing eyes.  There was another performance that was actually called "Ducks Quarrelling" and it sounded like ducks quarrelling.  Ha ha ha.  It was interesting and a nice way to begin our time in Xi'an.

Given the mentality of jumping right in, we of course spent our first day visiting the Terracotta Warriors.  We chose to do it on our own, rather than with a tour group (as tours are approximately 200-300 RMB/person).  We got a bit of a late start, and were worried about being crowded by said tour groups, nevermind everything you have to actually go through to get to the warriors.  The bus dropped us off in the parking lot, and it was a couple hundred meters to the ticket office, no big deal.  We were able to pull the student cards out and get in for 45 RMB/person rather than 90 RMB which was nice.  From there, it was about a kilometer walk, lined with shops and vendors, to the entrance of the "museum".  Once at the entrance, like everything else, we had to go through a security check point (which is a little ridiculous since they scan your bags but don't watch the scans, and don't care if you beep through the detectors).  Finally, we were in, and headed straight to Pit 1.  We walked in, up a few steps, and there it was-- a mass dig site with hundreds of clay warriors lined up in battle formation.  We've heard that the warriors are a little anti-climactic, but we certainly didn't think so.  It's overwhelming how vast Pit 1 is.  Pit 1 alone is said to house 6000 of the 10000 warriors (I think), and not even half of the Pit is unearthed yet.  It is quite incredible.  I only wish I could've bypassed the red tape to get some better shots, though the zoom lens came in handy.  The reconstructed warriors are pretty impressive in their numbers, but what Darren and I really liked were the ones that were in mid-assembly, as well as the ruined pieces that were still half burried.  Pit 2 and 3 are smaller and have a bit of a different feel, but are also excellent.  Pit 2 is where some of the nicer finds are encased behind glass, but displayed for a 360* close up view, which is cool.  Both Pit 2 and 3 are more "in progress" in terms of the build of the actuall warriors, and it's cool to see what looks like ruins of a battle scene strewn about in the dirt.  We absolutely loved it, and Ruth and Harold, I know you said that you guys didn't get to spend much time there, and I would say it's definitely worth a second trip to really get a feel for it!

For later that evening, Darren and I got wind of another free water/light show (quite literally got wind of it actually).  It wasn't like the one in Suzhou, this one was an actual fountain show, and Daren and I picked, not the smartest place to watch from.  There are several pools/fountains that cascade in front of the "Good Pagoda" and we chose to watch from the narrow divides between the fountains.  It was a perfect view, until the wind began to blow; and, especially with some of the higher fountains, the wind blew the water right at us.  We (by that I mean "I" because Darren was hiding behind me) got quite soaked, but not as soaked as all the people running through the fountains.  It was a fun night and our viewing area made the fountain show that much more exciting.  I was only really wet on the backside, but the water totally dripped down my back and into my underwear and from the front I definitely looked like I peed myself.  We had a blast though and it was a great way to end a wonderful day.

I guess we sort of did things backward a bit cuz today we spent all day wandering the city and seeing the local sights.  We started off with the 8 Immortals Temple.  It was nothing exciting really, but it was cheap, and even more important, there was supposed to be a nice little antique market in the alley leading to the temple.  The market was alright, not as good as the dirt market in Beijing, but Darren sure liked it.  For those of you who haven't already figured it out, he did buy a sword (despite the fact that we weren't sure if he'd be able to get it home).  He's pretty excited about it though.  From there, we headed to the History Museum which was pretty cool.  The museum runs through each of the dynasties, showcasing different arts/artifacts from the Shanxi district.  It had everything from stone, to bronze, to porcelain, jade, silk and gold artefacts, plus some different examples of digs (other than the Terracotta Warriors) in the area.  It was quite informative, as well as interesting to see the tools and daily items from civilizations hundreds, even thousands of years old.  From there we headed to a post office so Darren could try and ship his sword out.  There was some sceptisism because it was a sharp sword, and issues with sending something more than 1 meter long  to Canada.  Apparently there's a length restriction shipping to Canada.  We were however, able to ship it to Hong Kong (after much debate and uncertainty)-- thank goodness.  From there, we headed to the Muslim quarter and the Great Mosque.  The Mosque was a bit of fresh air compared to a lot of the temples we've seen.  somehow it seemed more genuine and integral.  Maybe it's just not as popular, but it wasn't as commercialized, and seemed quite peaceful, considering the mass markets right outside its doors.  It was also interesting to see the fusion of the Chinese languge and architecture with Arabic script and culture.  Afte the Mosque, we walked the streets of the Muslim Quarter, trying nibbles of all their local sweets and snacks.  Some were delicious and others were good, but were dry and looked like balls of hair.

So now, we wait until it's time for our train to leave.  About three hours to go.  It's off to Chengdu next to visit some Pandas and one of China's most beautiful natural reserves.  We'll keep ya posted!