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Published: April 3rd 2009
Big Wild Goose Pagoda
...Leaning since 2008Sorry about the delay everyone! I know I said I'd have this second half of my trip typed up for you to enjoy a couple of days ago, but I lied. I had to play catch-up this week after missing classes Monday because of food poisoning. But, I'm better now, and it's the weekend here, so on with the show!
After leaving Inner Mongolia Monday night (3/23), we arrived at 2 am in Xi'an Tuesday. We caught a few hours sleep in our nice hotel before restarting our day with sight-seeing. We first went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, built during the Tang dynasty. It's mirrored by the smaller Small Goose Pagoda a few miles away. Back in the day, when buildings weren't so tall, the pagodas could see one another. Also, you may be able to see in the photo of the Big Pagoda, that it's leaning. Unlike the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it's only been like this for a short period of time; since the Si Chuan earthquake last year, to be exact. It's still perfectly safe to climb, though, and climb we did. We got a nice view of the gardens that have been constructed around
the pagoda.
We also visited the Shaanxi Provincial Museum and had a lecture of the Tang Dynasty. There were several problems with the lecture though. First, we were tired. Second, we were provided very comfortable chairs. And third, the lecture lasted two hours. So, basically, no one was truly awake at the end. I feel a little bad for the lecturer, but it wasn't out of disrespect. The museum itself was kind of a quick walk-through. There were both recent artifacts and ancient artifacts, all with Chinese descriptions.
Our last stop for the day was the Great Mosque of the Hui Muslim, which was a nice little sanctuary in a big, busy city. The mosque was ensconced in a maze of night markets, so naturally, I spent the rest of my evening slowly working my way out with a few stops along the way.
Wednesday was the day I'd most been looking forward to. We went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. While being both cliche and tourist-y, I would not consider my trip to China complete without seeing them. We got to see an interesting 360 degree movie about how they came to be before we saw
Happy Is The Tender Grass
When here your feet do not trespass them. As some of you may know, it was a bunch of farmers digging a well who first uncovered the warriors. The farmers later agreed to volunteer at the museum center, so they could be a part of what they discovered. So, I saw one of the farmers, who will give his autograph if you buy a certain, pricey book about the warriors. Out of respect, I didn't take his picture, like the sign said not to, so I can't show you. Sorry!
Oh, also, before we saw the Warriors, we went to a little factory that makes replicas out of the same clay as the real ones. Naturally, you could buy them at a high price. We also rode bikes on top of Xi'an's city wall. We had 1 1/2 hours and rode all the way around, which, I was told, is about 9 miles. My friend Jeff and I tried to ride a tandem bike (last time I tried was in France, but it didn't go well)...We ended up turning around and exchanging for single bikes. Wednesday night was again devoted to meandering through the night markets of Xi'an. Oh how I miss the night markets of Taiwan!
Shanghai doesn't have such a thing.
On Thursday we checked out of our nice hotel and met with the vice-mayor of Liquan County and his buddies in office. We had lunch and got entertained by him. He was a nice guy and he showed us around, like the new shopping street that was being built in town. We were also followed around by a reporter with a news camera, who once again was fixated on myself and my blonde friend, Amanda. But we were all, most assuredly, on the local news in Liquan.
After lunch and whatnot, we visited the elementary school in Bai Village. Bai means white. The visit with the kids was incredible. It was a rare chance for them to break routine and goof off. And goof off they did...We may have helped them out a bit with that. We ran around the dirt courtyard for quite some time. We played tug of war, and posed for pictures. They kids were like a lifesize swarm of bees! When one person grabbed their attention, watch out!! I have a picture of my poor friend Jeff who, pointing to the sticker on his hand, asked if one
kid knew how to say sticker. Suddenly he had 40+ students surrounding him!
After all that craziness, we walked to our host families for the night...It was about a 2 minutes walk. Everything is very close in these countryside communities. I must admit, the host family stay was underwhelming. Our family (I stayed with my friend Amanda and 2 other guys) was somewhat commercialized, in that they get paid to host tourist families. Granted, they don't do it often, as not many tourists find their way out to Liquan County, but it wasn't a true homestay experience. They had 3 grown kids, who we didn't meet, and we got no tour of the house. We got 3 meals (a little spicy for my liking) and we talked for a bit here and there. The father was difficult to understand, with his local accent. But if we thought he was difficult to understand, the mother was worse. We had to rely on the father to translate what the mother was saying! It was a long night! But at least the bed was toasty, with it's giant heating pad!
Oh, and I forgot to mention that Liquan county is known
for it's apple farms. So, whether we were meeting with city officials or with host parents, we had an endless supply of apples. So, while the food was spicy, the apples were fresh!
The next morning (Friday) rained, so we stayed inside with our host families until it was time to leave the village. Our next stop was our teacher's old high school! Again, we met with a big group of students. But things were a big more civilized this time. Us American students were shocked at the size of the students. They were 17 and 18 years old, yet small enough to be 13 or 14. We decided to perform the hokey pokey for the students, which led to an impromtu talent show for the Chinese students. The school's music teacher (obviously passionate about his job) also took the chance to jump into the middle of the impromtu circle and direct a song or two. Oh, and he can sing opera. It was gorgeous, and not something I was expecting to hear in China's countryside. But then, I should be used to that by now!
After leaving the high school, we drove back to Xi'an and checked
into a fantastic hotel that is styled after a Tang Dynasty palace. Very unique. On Saturday morning, before our flight left, I took some time to walk around the massive gardens out behind the hotel.
That just about wraps up my week of traveling. If you have any questions, or want more details on something, let me know!!
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Emma
non-member comment
Oh, I'm so happy you mentioned the France incident... it makes me happy! The warriors look super cool. Glad you're feeling better!