Xi'an
Trip Start
Apr 25, 2008
1
4
Trip End
May 04, 2008
Xi'an, China
Thursday, May 1, 2008
I haven't had a chance to upload all our regular photos to this blog yet, but there are some MUCH better shots taken with a real camera ready to upload. If you can't wait (and who knows how long it will take), shoot me an e-mail and I'll send you the link to our Picasa site with all the china-photo-goodness.
Day 5: This morning we checked out of our home for the past four days, The New Otani Hotel in Beijing. It was a great hotel and we loved loved loved the American breakfast they offered each morning. The bacon was to die for. Literally. I need to get my cholesterol checked now. There was still some time for touring in Beijing before flying to Xi'an so we boarded the tour bus for the Summer Palace, a little ways north of the city. This was where the emperor would vacation during the summer, complete with a man-made lake. Nice. Today was also the start of the Labor Day holiday in China so the crowds were ever crazier than normal. But I'm tall, so I could always see over everyone and get some good photos.
After the Summer Palace and lunch and shopping at the nearby pearl "museum", we drove to Beijing International for the flight to Xi'an. And of course some more shopping at the obligatory Olympics store in the airport. They definitely have the whole merchandising concept down cold. Every major tour stop we went to had its own branded Olympic gift store, and usually with different official product at each one. The good news is that the quality was pretty good and much better than the crap you could buy on the streets. I bought a coffee mug.
The flight to Xi'an was about 2 hours on good ol' Air China. Once we got to Xi'an we checked into the Sheraton, which again was beautiful and 5 stars. Dinner tonight was at the hotel - Italian night! Seriously, it was one of the best meals we had in China. I don't know how on earth they did it, but that was one hell of a buffet. We needed it though to fuel up for the next day.
Day 6: Today was a full day of touring starting at the Terracotta Warriors, which was about an hour outside of the city. By the way, we kind of thought that Xi'an would be a sleepy little village, existing only to support tourism for the TC Warriors. Uh, no. It's got a population of about 7 million and the traffic to support that. The site where the TC Warriors are located has been transformed by the government into, well, I guess it's kind of like Disneyland. A huge parking lot, trams to take you to the different pits where the warriors are, a circle-vision movie, and even a shopping district for the loooong walk back to the parking lot. But, considering they get about 3 million visitors a year it's certainly necessary and a nice luxury at times. The warriors were incredibly cool, and housed in three different pits, still being excavated. At the gift store you could buy the official book about the museum and they have the farmer who discovered the warriors on display signing copies. Apparently this is now his job. He sits there with a big fan and covers his face anytime somebody tries to take his photo without paying an additional "fee". The funny (sad?) thing is that he didn't know how to sign his name before he became a celebrity, so the government sent somebody out to teach him a verrry florid and cool chines signature to add to the books. That was kind of worth the price of the book alone. Anyways, he sits there all day signing books, fanning himself, and smoking cigars. I hope the government is paying him something at least.
After the warriors and lunch at the obligatory government-run restaurant at the museum we journeyed off to the Buddhist Goose Pagoda inside the city. After wandering around the grounds for awhile, and getting some great photos, we went to the city wall to walk the ramparts and shout at the peasants toiling in the fields (oh wait, that was Scotland!). Xi'an is still encircled by a city wall so there were some great views from that height. But really, it's no Great Wall. Less vendors too, thank god.
And now it was time for, drum roll please, the DUMPLING DINNER!! It was fantastic. We were served probably 12-20 different types of dumplings and every time you thought they were done, out came another variety. And probably only 2-3 minutes between each dumpling so it was hard to keep up. But don't think I didn't. I think that I tried every type with the exception of something with cabbage in it. And that one I refused only because I think cabbage tastes like dirt. But maybe as a dumpling...? Damn. Now I need to go back and try that last dumpling.
After dinner we went to the Tang Dynasty Show, which I was assuming would be awful. It actually wasn't. It was a performance from the time of the Tang Dynasty (with lots of fancy lighting) where the musicians played only authentic instruments from that time period. I found it fascinating, but that might have been because of the alcohol they served before the show. It really was like a Vegas showroom with long tables and booths all facing the stage. Oh, and a SIX STAR bathroom in the lobby of the theatre. I think we all gave it a spin just to see what six stars was like. What was it like? Well, like a bathroom at the Four Seasons I guess. I was hoping for a massage while I peed, but that's only available at the seven star bathrooms. Drat.
I guess now is as good a time as any to talk about bathrooms in China. Every tour book and online guide had warned us that the bathrooms would be horrible and to only use the one in our hotel. Really, it wasn't that bad at all. Every tourist site had a bathroom and it was usually pretty darn clean. The one thing you have to watch out for are the squat toilets vs. western toilets. But every bathroom we went into had a selection of both. And even though we brought our own toilet paper, most of the bathrooms actually had paper available. So, overall the bathrooms exceeded our expectations. Yay?
Anyways, Day 6 was a long day of touring, but 14 hours after starting we finally tumbled into bed dreaming of warriors and dumplings.
-BT
