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Published: April 14th 2009
Qian Tomb
Tomb of only female Empress, very elaborate. The hill in the distance is where the tomb is, I climbed up there (in my sandals) but didn't find it.A weekend adventure with me goes something like this…
A few hours late arriving into Xi’an (She-en) didn’t take the hop from my step, but it did slow it significantly. I exited the airport expecting to see my hostel van waiting with balloons and streamers welcoming me, but was met with nothing. A quick phone call sorted out that confusion…they thought I was arriving at 11am. All right, plan B, airport shuttle. They take me to the middle of town and unleash me. A quick glance to the guidebook tells me there’s a hostel up the road and around the roundabout (which is huge, it has 5-6 lanes encircling a large pagoda). I set off (which a little help from some nice ladies on the bus), it is about 1:30am and the streets are pretty much empty. I come up to the roundabout and find that there’s no place to cross the road, no worries I think, I’ll just shuffle down the road to the closest intersection and cross there, come back and continue around. However, at each intersection I was met with confusion. There is no way to cross the street? There is a large white metal fence down
Headless statues
These guys represent the 61 leaders of the minorities that attended the funeral. the center of the road that doesn’t have breaks in it. Finally, after six blocks, I come up on some taxi drivers. I point across the street and give a confused look. Right at that moment I see a man running across the street towards the fence, he hops up and over and jogs past me. The taxi driver smiles and motions to me to do the same. I must have given him quite the look because he just started laughing and nudged his friend to watch the white girl give this a shot. Not to be mocked by the damn cabbies, I cinch my backpack straps, hike my purse up on my shoulder, and tighten my toes around my flip-flops and dash my way across the road towards the fence. Not wanting to give the cabbies the satisfaction of hesitation, I steadily place my foot on what looks to be a sturdy piece of metal and launch myself up and ONTO the top of the fence. My lack of planning is now apparent to all that are watching, because I have haphazardly perched myself atop the pokey fence with little option of a graceful dismount. Realizing that this is
Trail
This is what I hiked up. Not fun in sandals. going to be a painful lesson I suck it up, adjust my grip on the fence beneath me, and throw my other leg over, hitting the ground with a dull thud I finish my dash to the opposite sidewalk. I turn to toss the cabbies across the way a look of accomplishment and superiority, but they’re too slapping their knees with laughter to notice. With new determination and an awkward pain in my crotch, I set off in the direction of my hostel.
After the fence debacle, finding the hostel was easy. I get a room with no problems, quietly creep into my room as to not wake the 5 already sleeping travelers, crawl into bed still in jeans and t-shirt, and call it a night.
The next morning I awake with the excitement of a kid on Christmas morning. I skip the shower--my time is too valuable for proper hygiene this morning, and head straight to the front desk to sort out my day’s activities. Learning that I’m going to have to hire a car for the day to accomplish my desired activities, I accept my expensive fate and fork over the $750 Yuan to make it
View from the top
yah...worth the hike. happen, within 20 minutes I’m on the road with David, my non-English speaking driver, to the Qian Tomb and Famen temple, 100+ miles from Xi’an. Qian Tomb was amazing, although I never actually found the temple…its hidden in the mountain somewhere and I refused the donkey service which would have lead me right to it. Ended up hiking to the top of a hill—in my flip-flops, which invited a dangerous element to the hike, as well as stares and laughter from the souvenir peddlers.
Location number two, Famen Temple and Monastery. After the Qian Tomb, I walk to the parking lot, wake my driver and we continue. We weave through small towns along the way, passing trucks coughing black smoke from the undercarriages, and honking wildly at anyone and everything. An hour later, I arrive at the Famen Monastery. I pay my entrance fee to the monks, and walk into the courtyard where I was immediately met with the all too familiar smell of burning incense and stares from the onlookers. Usually I pretend as if I don’t see the people staring, but when I see children do it I usually flash them a smile and wave, they respond
Horse and I
more statues... with a giddy smile and turn around to tell their parent what just happened. I walk around the grounds, take my tour through the various temples and stand in awe in front of statues and shrines.
One temple in particular caught my fancy. The pagoda houses a Behemoth Buddha, 3-stories high. He sits on a shrine, which has 1000 bronzed Buddhas carved into it. Upon entering, I was met by the smiles of the Monk overseeing the temple. For the first few minutes, all I could do was stand there in complete awe of this amazing structure. Soon after, a young Chinese couple also entered and immediately began the elaborate prayer ritual in front of the Buddha (I’ve seen it many times at temples on my journey so far). I walk around the Buddha, attempting to take in his majesty, upon my full circle the Monk is waiting for me, smiling, and presenting me with a prayer book (in Chinese of course). He then leads me over to the prayer cushions, the front of the Buddha. He motions for me to follow his movements—I quickly catch on, he is teaching me how to pray properly. To do so, one
Famen Temple
This Pagoda is one of the most important Buddhist temples in China. They discovered an underground secret chamber which housed old relics and some finger bones of Buddha. to follow a series of arm movements, then kneel, head to cushion, hands open on floor, head up, one hand up to heart, other up, stand up, bow, repeat x 3. Then, as if I wasn’t already giddy enough, the Monk opens up the staircase to the top of the pagoda, to get closer to the Buddha--the staircase is closed off to the public. The Chinese couple takes me up the stairs, they pray, then motion for me to do it. We walk around the second and third floors circumnavigating the Buddha. I was desperately trying to etch into my mind every second of the experience, unique to even the seasoned traveler. Reluctantly, I followed the couple back downstairs, repeatedly glancing back over my shoulder in the attempts to properly remember this experience. I bowed and smiled profusely at the Monk trying to convey my thanks for my one in a lifetime experience. I finish my walk through the monastery and retire to the waiting car to return to Xi’an.
Although the morning and afternoon were overly exhausting, I cannot take the evening to rest. One of my students graciously set me up with her brother as a tour
Another temple
This is home to a large 3-story Buddha who sits atop a shrine with 1000 little Buddhas carved into it. This proved to be the most amazing stop for me. guide, he and I had be texting throughout the day setting up plans for the evening. I return to the hostel with just enough time to lie on my bed for a few minutes and digest the afternoon’s magnificence. With this, I realize how grimy I feel; I jump up and dash off for a quick shower. With minutes to spare, I’m out the front door looking for my tour guide. I was instructed as to what he and his girlfriend would be wearing and I spot them with little effort. We quickly introduce, their English names are Steven and Helen, both juniors at the local university. With little haste we set out on the streets of Xi’an, their pace is quick, but I am fortunate to have inherited long legs and the pace of my mother, I am able to keep up while dodging countless sidewalk hazards. They take me to a few places on one side of town, they tell me the names and I pitifully try to duplicate the sounds, but my untrained English tongue won’t allow it. We then climb aboard a “Boom-Boom,” as Steven affectionately calls it, which is a motorized bike with a cage
Buddha
This is from the second story. I was allowed access to the upper stories, which are closed to the public. on back for people to sit in (called “Boom-Boom” because that is what you do in the back, the ride is not a smooth one). Steven and I are both abnormally large for the region so it took some maneuvering to fit all three of us in the cage, but we managed, and we were off! Our fearless driver sped around cars with a cigar dangling precariously from his lips, passed bikes, and people with an effortless nature. Cars are driving past at a terrifying distance, inches at best. Nevertheless, he gets us to our destination for 3 Yuan, (around .45 cents), which is the Muslim Quarter. From there we head to the Mosque and marvel at the intricate architecture, hit up some street vendors from some authentic Chinese-Muslim cuisine, and head into the Folk House where I take part in a tea tasting (and bought some amazing tea) and see a shadow puppet show, which was more entertaining than I thought it would be.
We then seek out Steven’s car and he drives over to the Big Goose Pagoda for the nightly show. We show up to join the mass of thousands of eager Chinese enjoying the water,
Me and the temple
Myself and 'my temple' where the monk taught me how to pray. light, and sound show. They light up the Pagoda, blast classical music-with a little techno beat, and coordinates it all to fountain spurts—some spurts hundreds of feet in the air. The fountain is the largest in Asia, probably 3/4 of a mile long. It was a great show; kids are laughing and running into the fountains being knocked down by some of the spurts. We tour the grounds, which consist of several parks all with unique art and sculptures. I oblige to several requests for pictures with excited high school students and entertain their stares. Steven, Helen, and I finally setting in for some dinner around 10pm, a quiet noodle restaurant, afterwards they drive me back to my hostel where I finally lay down and collect my thoughts. Exhausted, I think about the day yet to come: Terracotta Warriors in the morning then voyage to Hua Shan to scale the mountain. Before I can begin to be excited, I’m asleep.
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