Xi an Pronounced She an

People come to Xian for one reason, the terracotta warriors. This archeological sight was discovered by a farmer in the 1970’s while trying to dig a hole for a well. He didn’t find water but he found what led to the discovery of at least 4,000 life-size terracotta warriors including horses and chariots. The crazy part is archeologists believe they have only touched the surface and that thousands more of these warriors are buried around the tomb of Qin Shi Huang. We spent half a day walking around the grounds checking out the terracotta army and Jason heeded the signs that say Do Not Touch even though he really wanted to.
Xian is enclosed in a wall. The cool thing about the wall is you can rent bicycles and ride the 17 kilometer perimeter without delving into the crazy city traffic (which we did the next day). Plus you get some good views of the city with minimal spitting.
The following day we decided to tour the city streets and the Muslim quarter the traditional way. The only problem was Jason didn’t rent the traditional Chinese bicycle. Instead, he opted for the loud, bright-colored mountain bikes. These bikes drew even more attention to an already unusual sight. Initially, all of the looks caused us to pause and look around but after about 4 of these episodes we realized we were the photo-op.
A lot of times at dinner we meet some locals who want to practice their English. On our last night in Xian, we met a couple at a Buddhist restaurant. The man turned out to be Xi Li Chen a 12th successor of Chen style Taichi. He invited us to his studio the following day to watch one of his classes. Let’s just say, I will never mess with anyone who does Taichi. It is not just a fun activity for old people to do in the park. When Jason asked about the martial arts aspect Xili proceeded to give a demonstration on one of his pupils. After about 3 minutes I am pretty sure the student was wishing Jason had asked a different question.

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