Xi An Sino Pearl Hotel Xi'an

... built in very narrow alleyways that twist and turn. Cars can't get down many of the alleyways---too narrow for them to pass. Most of the people walk or ride bicycles. We rode to the hutong we were visiting by rickshaw! It was amazing. Because the hutongs are so old, most of them do not have private bathrooms. The people who live there have to walk down the alleyway to a public bathroom. Imagine doing that in this freezing weather. The hutong we visited was ...

... to the thing that interests me the most about Xian. The walls. My obsession with fortifications is no secret. I love nice old walls. Ramparts. Forts. I can wander about them, gaze at them in admiration, and under the right conditions even drool over them ...etc, for ages. Although I admit that I have been quite picky since I went to Jerusalem because, quite frankly, not too many walls can compare to the ones around the old city which are not just cool in size and shape ...

... 221 BC). There were snuff bottles, vases and bowls; many of them had floral designs. In the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) there were pendants, beads, vases, bowls and oil lanterns. <br><br>The next rooms had religious artefacts from the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907). There were many shrines of Buddha and Bodhisattva, an elephant, an iron Buddha, a crouching lion in marble, steles and stupas. Some dated back to the Sui (581 - 608), Northern (386 - 581) and Northern Wei (386 - 534) Dynasties ...

... der også lever nogle. Der stod en dør åben, og jeg fik set et beton-rum fyldt med primitive køjer. Man kan let glemme, hvor meget anderledes Kina er end Danmark, da vi udlændinge jo bevæger os rundt i de internationale enklaver, men sådan nogle oplevelser minder en om den anden virkelighed i Beijing. Et-barnspolitikken i byerne fungerer i øvrigt på samme måde. Hvis man får mere end et barn, kan det ikke få identitetspapirer og vil dermed ikke være i stand til at få uddannelse ...

... interesting part. The other two pits had fewer soldiers and looked overall less impressive. In Pit 2 there was a museum, though, where you could look at the warriors up close behind glass. It was amazing how intricate everything is! Each fingernail, wrinkle, and hair is defined, and supposedly there are no two warriors that look the same. It is pretty amazing and I can understand why it is called the "Eighth ...

... en musiuque, un ballet de jets d eau.. nous avons ete manges au quartier musulman le soir tres tres animes.. il y a du monde partout. par bcp de cote ce pays me fait penser a l affrique, mais c est tt de meme different. une classe moyenne assez importante qui, avec les riches decide de tt, et bcp de laisses pour ccompte ...

... mound facing eath, the direction of the realm of the dead. When his successor was overthrown by what was to become the next dynasty, the underground army was destroyed, set ablaze, and soon forgotton. Only in 1974, when villagers found some terracotta fragments while digging a well, was the large complex rediscovered. The vast majority of the warriors was since unearthed. Due to the ancient devastation and the collapse of the chambers' wooden roof only one archer ...

... I'd like to know exactly what the emporer was thinking when he commissioned a Terracotta army to be made! We spent a good few hours looking around - it was an amazing sight! Then we got the bus back. I bought a pita bread filled with veg from the outside of the train station because I was absolutely starving! Then we got the bus back to our hostel, used the net and played a few games of table football before we went to bed.

... with a French accent to make any native of l'Hexagone wince, but after the clear tones of our Beijing guide references to the "Vanphow Neowific Wiwage" struck a jarring note. It has already taken us some time to work out that "look on your red and sigh" actually meant "look on your right hand side" and that a "bazacle" was not some obscure Chinese artefact, but a bicycle. Strolling the streets of Xi'an at night, we carefully ...