Welcome back, or welcome….
Arrived in X’ian after another trip on a bullet train, this
time 3 hours of streaking across the Chinese countryside at 245km/h. The
countryside seemed to be covered in corn/maize and the sky was a grey haze of
pollution pretty much the whole way – not flash. The bullet train line from Pingyao to Xian is
only new and in fact the Pingyao station was well out of town and some of the
roads, parking, entry stairs and general infrastructure around the station were
still being finished.
Our hostel in Xian was just inside the Great City Wall and
was recommended to us by a fellow teacher here and it was a great place to stay
with pretty good facilities and handy to the main sights within the city wall. So Xian….a must visit city on a trip of China
along with the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors.
We decided to hire bicycles and ride around the top of the
city wall. There is basically a city
within a city and the tall high-rise buildings are on the outside of the wall
in an attempt to retain some of the original feeling. The ride was 2 hours at a steady pace
stopping for photographs along the way, - it was a fantastic way to take it all
in. It’s 14 kms around the wall, 12
metres high, 12-14 metres wide at the top and has 98 watchtowers. The top is so wide they even have electric
karts (think 12 seater golf karts) which they take people around in and it must
be like a busy road in peak season.
Luckily for us there were few people-for Chinese standards- on the wall
and it made for a great experience, highly recommend this activity. –photos
On the wall there was of all things a display to the
bicycles of the Revolution era. A couple
of the bikes had write-ups that just have to be shared. From a 1950 model..…this vehicle was
labelled as strong, light and beautiful so workers called it the ‘Flying
Pigeon’. A 1962 model……with its frame of
heavy-load vehicle, farmers called the Forever PA-13 ‘the little donkey not
feeding grass” Gotta love the
propaganda.
The day we visited the Terracotta Warriors we left the
hostel at 7am, caught the local bus to the train station and then another bus
to the Terracotta Warrior site. We were
there before the ticket booths opened and this enabled us to get into the main
viewing pit as it opened and had the place to ourselves with about 40 others
for a while – believe me this is rare!
We hired a guide, which we have come to recognise is at times important
to ensure you get the most from places like this and to help overcome the
language barrier. What can one say about
the Warriors?....superlatives don’t really do this place justice and you will
just have to go there yourselves! It’s
been on our list of ‘must see’ places for so long it was almost spine tingling
to be standing there viewing it in all its wonder. -photos
Xian is more than the City Wall and the Terracotta Warriors
and there are plenty of other things to see and do. We visited the Wild Goose Pagoda, a Buddhist temple
built in the early 700’s standing 65mtrs tall.
Did the climb to the top for the city views as well as watched the water
fountain display in the grounds of the Pagoda- quite impressive.
The Muslim Quarter inside the Xian Wall is a definite place
to visit and just wander around – and you need to go at least a couple of times
as the markets and in particular the main food street area is a heaving mass of
people wandering the street and watching the sights as locals cook and prepare
meals on the street, many in front of their restaurants. –photos. It is just too much to try and take in at one
pass, or even one evening of wandering – it seems to really come alive in the
evening when locals mix with the tourists, both local and foreigners. In fact there was quite a number of us
foreign travellers in Xian on reflection.
We visited the Great Mosque in Xian, which is a feature of
the Muslim Quarter and started in 742.
Was interesting to see that there was several references to Buddhist and
Indian influence in some of the statues – and thinking about it this was also
referenced in the statues of Buddha at the Yungang Grottoes, so cross cultural
influences way back then. It was quite
noticeable here, particularly in the Muslim Quarter, that the Chinese features
were not so dominant and at times some of the people could almost pass as being
of Maori descent – or is that the other way around?
One of the joys of traveling for us is eating “locally” from
street vendors. Sure it does come with
some risks but we do try and minimise it by watching where the locals go and
look for food that is being cooked in front of you as opposed to already
cooked. One evening in Xian we stopped
at a number of small local stalls- mostly small homemade bicycle wheel trolley
type arrangements. From one vendor we each got a plate of fried noodles with
herbs and spices, from another a container of baby potatoes deep fried then
tossed in a wok with a mix of seasonings and then a couple of bottles of local
beer, all of which we then sat down on small stools about 6 inches high and ate
at a low table on the sidewalk. It was absolutely lovely, filling, entertaining
– and all for 28RMB or NZ$5.80!! -photos
Xian – plenty to see and do, great food, easy to get around,
in fact quite foreigner friendly, most enjoyable!
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| Xian city wall and changing of the guard at the wall. Terracotta Warriors. |
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| Food being cooked in the Muslim quarter, there was such a variety. |
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| Dining on the street in the Muslim quarter. In the grounds of the Great Mosque. |
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