Xi'an

We got up early this morning, checked out of the hotel, grabbed some McDonald’s coffee and headed to the train station on our way to Xi’an!

Instead of taking an overnight train to Xi’an we took a train during the day. This was not an express train, meaning one of the fast trains I have become accustomed to taking when traveling around China. This was a slower train, a double decker that took six hours to bring us from Luoyang to Xi’an.

Our tickets were for the lower level of the train. On this kind of train, the seats are four seats facing each other. Luckily, I got to sit with Aaron, Molly, and Brittany. I napped for the first part of the trip, listened to my Ipod, and read some of my book. Before I knew it, we had arrived in Xi’an.

When we left the train station, we had to walk really far to find our bus. It was so hot and humid outside that I was covered in sweat by the time we finally got on board and headed for the hotel.

Xi’an reminds me a lot of Nanjing. It’s definitely a southern city with a very laid back feeling. It definitely looks like there is a lot more going on here than there was in Luoyang and there is a lot more history in this area. Xi’an is generally known as the China of 2,000 years ago.

On the way to the hotel, we drove along the Xi’an city wall, one of the oldest city walls still standing in the world. The Qing emperors built this wall almost 2,000 years ago to guard their territory.

Our hotel in Xi’an was located in a great area, right in between the old drum tower and bell tower and not too far from the city wall. The hotels rooms here were smaller than the rooms and Luoyang, but still relatively nice. There was also no air-conditioning still, which we probably could have used even more so in Xi’an than in Luoyang.

After checking into our rooms, we went to the conference room to hear a professor from a local university in Xi’an lecture on the Qing Dynasty. The lecture was given in Chinese and I was surprised how much of it I could actually understand. Hong Li translated about after every sentence.

The lecture was very interesting and I definitely felt more prepared for our visit to the Terra Cotta Warriors the next day after learning a bit about the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty gained their power and worked their way up in social status from local farmers. The Qings restored the dynastic system to China after an era of great decentralization. The most perplexing thing about the Qing Dynasty is that their rule only spanned 15 years over two emperors. The demise of their rule is likely to be linked to Chinese culture at the time.

The Terra Cotta Warriors are a part of the elaborate burial of the first Qing emperor, whose mausoleum is located near the terra cotta pits but has yet to be unearthed. Of the nearly 8,000 Terra Cotta soldiers, only approximately 1,000 of them are available for viewing by the public. The warriors, horses, and chariots where meant to protect the emperor after death. Buried with the emperor are allegedly also several scholars, poets, and artists. The emperor has yet to be unearthed because there is a large amount of mercury surrounding his tomb, making his unveiling unsafe at this time.

After the lecture, we went to dinner near the hotel. Xi’an is very famous for its dumplings, which we definitely enjoyed at dinner. Dinner consisted of an 18-course meal, each course consisting of a sampling of a different kind of dumpling. I tried them all, however my favorite dumplings by far were the pork and mushroom ones.

After dinner, we walked a few blocks to the Xi’an city wall, which was all lit up at night. On and along the wall, there were performances going on, including music and dancing. On the wall we were able to rent bicycles and ride up and down the wall in all directions. Molly and I rented a bicycle built for two, which was difficult to ride at first, but really fun once we got the hang of it. Being on the Xi’an city wall felt very symbolic for the rest of China. There we were riding on a wall that was so old in the middle of a city so modern filled with the latest technology and music. This paradox is the essence of China.

After exploring the Xi’an city wall, we went back to the hotel and changed to get ready to go out. Joyce Li was actually coming out with us and knew of a really good dance club called One Plus One. A whole bunch of us went and it ended up being a lot of fun. They played a lot of techno music and had bubble machines and fog machines installed in the ceiling. We danced with a lot of people are age from Xi’an, which was a lot of fun.

After breakfast the next morning, we headed to the Terra Cotta Warriors. It was very hot again. The first building we went into was a museum, where we were able to see some of the horses and chariots that were best preserved up close. We then moved on to the third pit of terra cottas, which was the most destroyed. We saw the remains of what used to be Terra Cotta soldiers, and then moved on to pit two.

Pit two was a lot smaller, but better preserved. We saw some horses and some soldiers, however, they were all headless and their weapons had been removed.

The most impressive pit was obviously pit number one, which most people have seen on the discovery channel. Some of the Terra Cotta warriors are actually on display right not at the National Geographic Museum in DC. It was a site that I have seen on the discovery channel, but never thought that I would see in person. Now I can say I have seen all of the remaining manmade wonders of the ancient wall.

After seeing the Terra Cotta warriors, we went to see the Great Mosque of Xi’an. China actually has a relatively large Muslim population and our hotel was located very close to Muslim street. It was interesting to see a mosque in China compared to some of the more traditional mosques I saw when I was in Egypt last year. The mosque looked a lot like a temple, including a minaret that looked more like a pagoda. The farthest point in the mosque, where Muslims could actually worship, looked a lot more like a traditional mosque than the grounds surrounding it.

On the way back to the hotel, we walked through Muslim street, where there was a lot of shopping and street food. I bought a rope bracelet with jade stones. It’s a really great souvenir.

We had a group dinner at the hotel and them some of us went to Starbucks to use the Internet for a bit. After dinner and our Internet break, we decided to go out to one of the famous streets in the area with a bunch of outdoor bars and cafes within walking distance of the hotel. We met up with some other friends from our program and hung out for a bit and then went to a place to dance closer to the hotel. The dance floor was like a trampoline. It was so much fun!

We didn’t get back to the hotel too late, so we packed, and went to sleep!

Off to Chengdu in the morning!