Adventures in Xi’an
Whew! Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of updates… time has been flying by so fast since we’ve been here.
Well, I’ve been on a number of adventures. We’ve seen a lot more of Beijing and also took a weekend trip to the city of Xi’an to see the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. That was an interesting voyage in and of itself. We took the train there and back, which was a first for me. The trip is only about 12-14 hours, so an overnight train is really convenient because you can just settle in, sleep, and then wake up when you get there. We stayed in a hostel, which was also new to me but the place was really cool. It was like a funhouse of sorts – there were three floors of rooms, all arranged in pretty random patterns with all kinds of courtyards and sitting spaces. The most interesting thing for us was the cafe inside the hostel that sold all kinds of international food, but specialized in American fare – I can’t tell you how much I missed bacon.
Anyway, Xi’an is an interesting city because it’s a mix of very touristy places and very authentic places. Beijing is very Westernized and sanitized for the Olympics, so while it’s more like home in some ways it doesn’t necessarily reflect everyday city life in China. Xi’an is much more “real” until you get to tourist traps like the Big Goose Pagoda, where you have to cross an enormous plaza of KFCs and expensive hotels before you get to the actual temple grounds. In one part of the city we actually found two KFCs right across the street from each other. They’re big on fried chicken in Xi’an, I guess.
Anyway, we did get to see the Terra Cotta Warriors, which was pretty interesting. I can’t imagine living in a place where thousands of years of history is right at your fingertips. The warriors were built to guard the tomb of China’s very first emperor thousands of years ago. It’s really pretty incredible, especially after you get a sense of the scale.
While that’s the main attraction, there is a lot to do in Xi’an that most people don’t know about. I had originally planned to spend a week there, so I had to compress everything into three days. I went to see the Big Goose Pagoda and the Little Goose Pagoda, which are necessary stops for any visitor, as well as a number of smaller and arguably more interesting places like the city wall (where I pretended to shoot arrows through the notches in the wall, as pictured below), the Forest of Stone Tablets, the Temple of the Eight Immortals, and the Great Mosque. Speaking of the mosque, Xi’an has an incredible area known as the Muslim Quarter where there are street vendors galore selling everything you can think of, from meat on a stick and pita-like flatbread to t-shirts and traditional flutes.
Next week is Golden Week in China, which basically means the whole country is going on vacation at the same time. I’m planning on going with a group to spend a few days in Mongolia. Hopefully when I return I’ll have a few photos of myself on riding a yak up a mountain, or something. See you then!
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