Xi'an,
Shaanxi,
China
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Xi'an is beautiful city in the Shaanxi province. Our flight from Beijing was about an hour and a half and we arrived just in time to pick up our bags and get into bed. Dr Crowe & Dr. Xiao changed our itinerary and gave us a free day the next day which was so good. Christie and I woke up about 10:30, got dressed and went downstairs to get directions to Pizza Hut, Dr. Crowe said it was a fantastic Pizza Hut. The funny thing about Pizza Huts in China, is they are very nice, and VERY VERY expensive. The dining experience is much more like a steakhouse than a pizza place in the states. The concierge sent us a little restaurant named High Flying Pizza down the street instead of Pizza Hut, because I am pretty sure the only word he was able to make out in our sentence was Pizza. But it was a cute little restaurant and the food and service was fantastic. Christie got the pineapple & chicken rice (which was fantastic, and we are going back tonight JUST so I can order that!) and I got a calzone. The Calzone was better than any one I've ever had in the States, and it cost me about $5, while Christie's meal was about $3. We already recruited a few others to join us tonight to eat there again. After our adventure to the pizza place, we came back to the hotel and got ready for an adventure into the city. Xi'an is the only city that still has a city wall. A lot of people woke up to bike around the city wall, but Christie and I woke up and looked out and we were pretty sure it was raining, only, it was just smog. But we left the hotel, crossed under the city gates to enter into the "downtown" part of Xi'an and were immediately drawn to an international department store with a Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Versace, and a bunch of other great stores. We left this department store and walked up the street until we found a Starbucks. Seriously, one of the best moments of the trip! Christie got a regular cup of coffee, and I got a mocha. It was so good! We also bought some Starbucks gifts. I got two mugs for my apartment next year, and another one that celebrated Starbucks' tenth year in China. The service is Starbucks was nothing like it is the states. A salesperson came up to us and talked to us about the mugs, and there was no rush in ordering. It was a nice taste of home. While we were enjoying our drinks, a little girl waved to us, and her and her mother came over to speak to us. The little girl, Catherine, said hello and my name is Catherine in English and her mom asked us about school and America, and our trip to China. It was so great to meet Catherine and her mom! We left Starbucks and went to this 10 story mall. It was so overwhelming so we settled for a trip to the supermarket on the ground floor to get water. You can't drink the tap water in China, so we go through a lot of bottled water. After that, we walked around the rest of the street, back to the hotel. I got a massage once we got back. Being that massages in the States are sometimes a little awkward, the fact that my massage was in my room, and the girl spoke little English made it about 100 times more awkward. But I would highly recommend a Chinese massage, it was fabulous! After the massage, Christie and I got ready to meet our group downstairs for dinner. We walked about 30 minutes till we got to this famous dumpling restaurant. My personal favorite was the walnut dumpling, but all 18 types were delicious. I also had an appetizer of cow's tongue and octopus, not too bad, but probably won't try it at home. We had dumpling soup, which was really a lot of fun! They put 36 baby chicken dumplings in this soup at your table and dish it out into little bowls. The number of dumplings in your bowl meant different things. I had four dumplings, which means I am going to have lots of money one day. After dumpling dinner Christie and I came back to the hotel room and got ready for bed, a lot of our classmates went out tonight, but I am waiting until after Tibet, there is no way I am going to be sick before we leave to go to Tibet. This morning we woke up and went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors outside of the city. It is considered the 8th wonder of the world, and it was unbelievable. We went to pit one first. Each soldier has a different face, which is incredible. After we went to the first pit we went into the museum shop to watch a film on the pits. The pits were discovered by a farmer in 1974, and he was there at the museum and signed my book for me. It was so interesting to meet the man that discovered the 8th wonder of the world. The rest of the time at the museum went by so fast. It took about 38 years and 750,000 workers to complete the all the pits. We also saw the bronze works and the history of the terra cotta warriors museum. We met up at a tea house after about 3 hours of wandering around, and learned all about Chinese Tea. I had a tea that is good for circulation and your skin. I think when I get back to the states, I'm going to start drinking more tea. After tea we left the Terra Cotta warriors and had lunch nearby. The biggest dish of the meal was Xi'an noodles. The biggest crop for Xi'an is winter wheat, and so noodles are much more popular in Xi'an than rice. It was a great meal, but there was no heat, so for the majority of the morning, I was a completely frozen. After leaving this part of Xi'an we visited the Wild Goose Pagoda, a buddhist temple. It was incredible. I climbed to the 7th level of the Pagoda (My fear of heights kicked in, but I made it up and down all by myself without any hesitation!) A lot of my classmates bought incense to burn and make a wish. it was interesting to visit such a unique place, and it was really inspiring to be there. It was very peaceful and sincere and just a good atmosphere, since our trip is so rushed and panicked most of the time. After leaving the Wild Goose Pagoda we were supposed to visit the Muslim quarters, but traffic was really bad and we decided to head back to the hotel and we will get dinner on our own tonight. Xi'an is wonderful, I have really enjoyed my stay here, and if you ever get the chance the Terra Cotta Warriors are absolutely incredible to see in person. Enjoy the pictures! Miss and Love you alll!
Anna
