Posts Tagged With: Xian

ABC…another big city. Xian to Chengdu

Posted on October 18, 2014 by julieallen36

After our long day out exploring Xian, we then enjoyed our evening in the hotel at the Dumpling Banquet and grand show. Ellen was very attentative and made sure we were happy before we managed to persuade her that it really was ok for her to go home!
We settled down and tucked into lots of different types of dumpling all of which were supposed to be made in the shape of the thing that was within them. My particular favourites were made in the shape of cabbage and walnut (not together) and that’s exactly what they contained. We sat with an Australian couple and their little boy and the chap taught us how to order a Binda Pijou. Otherwise known as a cold beer. Good man.
The show was also very good and we enjoyed different types of dance and acrobatics. The girls did various flouncy things with ribbons and long sleeves and the boys tended to dress as warriors. One slight diversion from this general theme was the solo trumpet player who looked very pleased with himself as he trumpeted away and then did some whistling as well engaging directly with the audience. Who was that bloke in the 70s who used to do that whistling thing ? Well anyway this chap was his biggest fan. The grand finale was very dramatic and as you’d expect everything was perfectly choreographed and in time, even here in our hotel.
The next day we had to be up and ready to go again as we had a visit to the Shaanxi Museum in Xian. This place was very busy and clearly very important in Chinese culture as it has 370,000 relics chronicling the history of the area right back to pre-historic times. Ellen was really keen to share all this with us but to be honest we couldn’t muster up the same enthusiasm. But we politely went round taking it in turns to coo at the old pots and figures. However, once we made it through to the Tang Dynasty where Xian reached its golden peak..it all became a bit more interesting. It was here that the Silk Road made Xian such an important capital of the Chinese empire. This was when Buddhism was introduced and more fancy silks and pottery etc. There were several spots where students were creating their own versions of the masterpieces in clay but I resisted having a go. After a couple of hours it was time to go and make our way to the airport.
Here Ellen took great care of us once again and after another ‘airport incident’ it was time to say goodbye. We all gave Ellen a hug which she clearly found very awkward but even so she stayed to wave us through the security check in. Bless her.
Oh yes..the airport incident this time was Joyce. Unfortunately Joyce had to update her passport in between us booking the trip and us now actually flying. This means that her passport details don’t match the records the airline have. This means they now don’t want her to fly which is a little awkward. Anyway, they seem to fuss about for quite a while and call other superiors and eventually they get bored with it all and just let her go through because too much of a queue is building up. Hurrah.
This flight to Chengdu was just about an hour and we landed in very cloudy weather. I knew nothing about Chengdu and thought that it was probably a rather smaller town. Oh my dog…it’s incredible, this time we were told Chengdu had a population of 14 million. The airport here is super modern and we met our new guide Elena who was again very young and preppy but this time with v good, confident English.
Then we drove into our latest ‘another big city’ (ABC as referred to by an American on our plane). As we drove in we passed every single brand of car retailer you’ve ever heard of. This was no small town place and as we got into the city centre this became even more obvious as the impressive tower blocks just got taller and taller. The traffic also got more and more clogged and once again the cars are nearly all really smart.
I was open mouthed as we again passed major, high end retailers such as Versace, Prada and Tiffany. I am gob smacked by all of this. This is meant to be a Communist country and yet they seem to be so much more advanced even here in Chengdu. Once again my perspective on the world is being challenged and I feel very small. I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Chengdu, China, Xian | 5 Comments

Xian..warriors and City walls

Posted on October 17, 2014 by julieallen36

The next day we were allowed a lie in and met up for breakfast at 8am. The Grand New World hotel is indeed quite grand and it’s clearly used by a lot of tour groups and mostly European and Australian this time. Breakfast was a little calmer than in Beijing..in fact everything here in Xian is a little calmer. Thank goodness.
We met up with Ellen and Mr Wah and we were on our way out for a very busy day. Firstly we had to drive out of the city centre and about an hour south to get to the site of the Terracotta Warriors. It’s actually a vast city and once again really bustling. The traffic here is interesting as Mr Wah and all the other drivers spend their time weaving from one lane to the next just to gain a tiny advantage. But just like India, it all seems to work perfectly well.
The amount of development going on here is really incredible. I know we read about this back home but until you see the vast numbers of tower blocks going up even in Xian, I don’t think you can appreciate it.
The other result of all this development, I think, is that the city is filthy. Once again there is no litter or mess as such, it’s just that everything gets covered in a layer of dirty. Thick dirt and after a day out in the city I think our lungs were too. The sun didn’t manage to breakthrough the smog today and I wondered if it ever did.
Anyway…other things we passed on the way to the Warriors were once again lots of western looking shops and malls and then, in contrast as we escaped the city centre, we passed lots of roadside stalls selling pomegranates. This is apparently the pomegranate capital of the world.
We arrived near the archeological site where a whole town has developed around it. There are four hangar like structures to explore and Ellen led the way. As we entered the first and original hangar the huge expanse of the site became apparent. You immediately get the scale of the place and it was amazing to be stood seeing this ancient army of the Qin Dynasty back in 210BC. Ellen enthusiastically explained the history to us and I do know that it wasn’t until 1974 that the farmer discovered the site. In total there are 8000 warriors, 130 chariots and nearly 700 horses buried here.
This very first view right up the hangar was stunning but very, very crowded so when we saw the opportunity to go up the red carpet and get right in front and have our photo taken, Jane and I said yes. To be honest there was a picture of Tony and Cherie Blair doing the same thing and I thought we should too! We ain’t never coming back Jane, I said. This was really cool as after having our photo taken we were then allowed to wander about and take out own photos and get just a little bit closer. It did feel very privileged just for a few minutes.
Well now we were very excited and virtually skipped about the rest of the site. We saw what the site looks like when they first open it up and how the Warriors are broken into many pieces and then we saw how they painstakingly piece the puzzle together to recreate the original. It takes two years to mend a warrior. We enjoyed looking at all the different types of warrior and of course all their different faces which, as you expect all seem very lifelike with individual expressions.
There were three more halls to explore which showed different states of uncoveredness but the first one was by far the most impressive. Of course we had to make the most of having our photo taken with the replica warriors as well before it was time to leave.
By the time we’d finished we needed a coffee break and Ellen explained that there was no Starbucks here. However, we did find a nice Subway which served up a perfectly respectable takeaway Cappuccino.
Next stop on our day was back to the city and a tour of the city walls. Ellen explained that there were different options here and we could choose to go around the walls either by foot, on bikes or in a golf buggy. We chose the bikes and after some serious health and safety guidance from Ellen, off we went. The walls are 12 metres high and something like 15 kms in a square all the way round the old city and were built in the Ming Dynasty.
The views weren’t much to write a blog about what with the smog and the tower blocks but we enjoyed our free time. We didn’t get quite as far around as we thought we had before it was time to turn back and in fact had just ridden from the North Gate to the West Gate. It was a really enjoyable way to spend the afternoon but we weren’t finished yet..
Next stop the Muslim quarter. This is in fact one main street where the ethnic Muslim minority offer all sorts of different street food. It was a really lively and colourful spot. We watched them make the special toffee, selling fried whole squid on a stick and making tiny fried eggs. Then we came back through the covered alley which was the flea market. Joyce got her bartering head on here and we managed to buy some quality tut before we arrived back at the van.
In the evening the action didn’t stop. We’d booked in tonight to watch a show in the hotel and eat the dumpling banquet. More of which tomorrow…..

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Terracota Warriors, Xian | 5 Comments

Xian…city with a heart

Posted on October 16, 2014 by julieallen36

The next day we had to be up really early ready to transfer to the airport and catch our flight to Xian. Everything went smoothly and our new guide dropped us to the airport and check in was going well until they X-rayed our bags behind the counter. Suddenly the security guard was making a bit of a fuss and shouting at our guide. Enid was summonsed to go and explain the contents of her suitcase. The security guard was convinced that she was a very heavy smoker ..poking his finger at her saying she had two lighters hidden in amongst her pyjamas. They started unpacking her bag in that humiliating way they do and there was a lot of tooing and froing between Enid’s bag and the X-ray screen. Enid was denying everything and Joyce, Jane and I pretended to have nothing to do with Enid. We didn’t really fancy being locked up for 10 years in a Chinese Women’s prison (although Jane has always been a fan of Bad Girls so maybe she wouldn’t mind?). Eventually the offending item was discovered. It wasn’t a lighter after all but two mosquito bite zappers which apparently meant Enid was innocent after all. Once he’d made a phone call to his General the security guard let Enid loose and we were free to go.
After this the flight itself was very mundane and in a couple of hours we were landing in Xian in the smog. Oh yes this is a smoggy city and it just goes to show how lucky we were in Beijing.
We met our new guide ‘Ellen’ who was another young student type and also Mr Wah who was our driver. Immediately we could tell that Ellen was going to be a much better guide, she was really lovely and engaging.
They took us to our hotel The Grand New World in the centre of Xian and then almost immediately we went out to visit the Little Goose Pagoda. This is a 43 storey pagoda which had been split in two twice by an earthquake and then pushed back together. It was a peaceful spot with nice gardens and it made a change to be away from the madding crowd.
We watched some ladies doing a square dance which was very balletic and then enjoyed Ellen teaching us how to count to ten on one hand the Chinese way.
In the evening we went out to eat at a restaurant Ellen recommended. We were a bit worried as she seemed very reluctant to recommend anywhere outside the hotel. However, this place Na Jia Lou was close to the hotel and we merely had to risk our lives crossing the main road with five lanes of traffic all going in different directions and no apparent way to know when it was safe to cross. Somehow we made it and then also found the restaurant by checking the Chinese symbols on our piece of paper against the restaurant sign. The place was packed and the staff came out to pull us in! It was full of locals -who by the way all tend to look Mongolian up here- and clearly a popular choice. There were no other Westerners in here but after a good stare they all settled back down again. The big man who looked like a Mongolian Triad member did seem to think that the way I used my chopsticks was worth a titter.
We ordered beer -a good start- and then studied the English menu with pictures. We had the most excellent feast ordering:
-twice cooked shredded pork with chilli sauce and onions
-sweet n sour spare ribs
-beef and rice with way too many chillies
-bok choy and other green veg
-sweet potato chips with toffee (yes, I know, really)

We didn’t order the spicy donkey, the squirrel fish, the twisted chicken gizzards or the snakehead stew. We also avoided anything using the generic term ‘local meat’. Call me a wimp if you like but I’m sticking with the toffee chips which were absolutely amazing.
It was a great night and I’d already decided I was going to like Xian. It’s a big city with 8 million people living here but it seems to have a nice heart.