Xi'an
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2007
1
188
220
Trip End
Jun 17, 2009
Xi'an,
Shaanxi,
China
Sunday, October 26, 2008
After a welcome shower and some breakfast, we set out on a walking tour of the reasonably modern city. It has the distinction of being one of the few cities in China that still has a completely walled central area. As we set off Andy warned us of the high activity of pickpockets here, particularly using babies, who they would 'borrow' for the day, as a distraction.
We visited the 'bell tower' and the 'drum tower', located in the centre and used to tell the time, to signal evening gates closure (bell) and to waken the citizens in a morning (drum). For a fee you could ring a bell or bang an enormous drum, no commercial opportunity being wasted here.
From the towers we walked to the 'muslim quarter', a big market area full of all the souveneirs you ever wanted and the enthusiastic traders ever willing to barter from the initial, (extortionate) price. There is also a grand old mosque here, dating from centuries ago and still regularly used.
After the market we walked down the food street, where all types of meats and sea food were on sale but not a centipede in sight! We were tempted by some meat and onion patties that were made and fried fresh in front of you. Quite tasty.
The afternoon had turned out bright and sunny, low 20degs, as we walked to the south city gate and climbed the steps to the high ramparts. There was a reasonable view over the city and we enjoyed a pleasant walk, some 1.5km, round to the east gate and then back to the hotel.
In the large square that the hotel overlooked, people were gathered in groups, doing a type of formation dancing or tai chi. What was now also obvious was a megawatt sound system, that filled the square with Chinese music, sometimes melodic and then more lively. As our room faced directly over the square we 'enjoyed' the full benefit of this musical facility.
Dinner was a bus journey away at a noodle bar down in the muslim quarter, where walking in the dimly lit streets was a challenge. They use a lot of, very efficient, electric scooters which are normally quiet but at night they don't bother switching their lights on, presumably to maximize the battery range. Avoiding these silent cruise missiles was fun as we returned to the hotel. I tried to buy some Scotch medicine for my developing cold but might just as well have asked for a flask of plutonium! Oh well, how about a peacefull night's sleep.....
.....except that the megawatt system did not switch off until 11pm, causing us a couple of wasted sleepless hours.
The traffic noise here was not as bad as Shanghai but the cars circling the square still blasted their horns at every opportunity. I woke at 2am to go to the bathroom and looking through the bathroom window saw a solitary car, with no other vehicle around, come to the end of a dual carriageway and do a U turn, loudly sounding his horn as he turned. I mean....just what is the point in that??
Monday 27th October.
Megawatt awoke at 0635 and with him the rest of the world, the initial lively martial music evolving into Chinese operatic soprano music. There was nothing for it but to get up, as the Borg put it "Resistance is futile!!!!!"
At our usual tea and toast breakfast, where we were still non dairy because of the malaria tablets but also because of the recent milk scandal, where farmers had found that if they put powdered melamine, yes - the hard plastic they use for kitchen worktop surfaces and doors, into the milk, they could make it thicker and creamier and get a better price for it. Dozens of babies have died and many thousands more children have been hospitalized. Cadbury's have been recalling chocolate made in Chinese factories. So no milk then.
Ah yes, breakfast. We share a table for four with two Chinese businessmen, busily gulping their noodles and dumplings. Suddenly one of them noisily clears his throat and his sinuses and then disgorges it all into an empty bowl on the table, where he leaves it. We'd nearly finished eating anyway!
Boarding the coach at 8.30 we leave the city and drive for an hour and a half out into the hilly farmland to a big visitor centre. A quick talk from Andy and we enter 'Pit No 1', a single storey building, bigger than a football stadium, where we get our first glimpse of the 'The Terracotta Warriors'.
WOW! What a fabulous sight. The warriors are lined up in trenches down below us in their hundreds, with great areas of the pit still to be excavated. They were originally built to provide the emperor's protection in the afterlife. Up to then the practice had been to bury (alive) a contingent of his real army plus wives and servants, etc..
Quite a lot of the army had been damaged by a peasants' uprising soon after the emperor's death around 200 bc and much repair work has been necessary following the site's discovery by a farmer digging a well in 1972. There are three pits found up to now and it's all being archaeologically worked on.
The details in the moulded warriors, from archers, foot soldiers, officers, generals and cavalry men and horses is amazing and they are still seeking ways to try and preserve the spectacular original colours, which fade immediately on exposure to air.
The artistic expertise was staggering and the technical capabilities, such as they found swords that were chromium plated, remember this is 200 bc. This technique was 'discovered' in 1937 by the Americans and Germans. Clever huh?
This was a spectacular visit and fully rewarded our expectations.
Walking back to the coach we had to walk through the tourist shops but tucked amongst them was a stall selling dog skins, like woollen rugs, with Alsatian and St Bernard skins amongst them.
Back in town I skipped lunch and went to a supermarket and returned triumphant with a box of tissues. We walked round a large local park, done in traditional Chinese style, with many interesting characters from Chinese life.
Back to the hotel and I was starting with a real cold. Across the road was a Sofitel, so we found their bar (and my medicine) before returning to our hotel, just as it started to rain, for a peaceful afternoon.
We had had another full day and the lack of sleep plus the severe cold was telling on me, so even though it was only 4pm I went to bed to try to catch up on sleep. Megawatt had other plans. The afternoon dancers were accompanied by pretty Chinese flute music, which played over...and over.....and over.....for the next seven hours until megawatt finally switched off at his designated 11pm! I was thankfully too tired to be bothered by the night traffic.
Tuesday 28th October.
Yippeee - a lie in as megawatt didn't switch on until 0645. Breakfast was carefully eaten sitting on our own and as we (Norah) had already packed, we left the hotel at 0830.
