xi'an

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April 7th 2006

Published: April 7th 2006

Although this is about Xi'an I just wanted to add that in Shanghai we went to the main Buddhist Temple which was crowed with tourists and was a complete goldmine for the Buddhists which I had not imagined to be so money concious. Besides having to pay an entrance fee you also had to pay extra to see the one jade buddah (which i did do and it was extremely lovely but no pictures of that are allowed) which was brought there from Myanmar. All the souvenires on display were horrendously overpriced which i felt was a real rip off and not very much in line with the Buddist doctrines or so i thought. Enough said no one forces you to buy anything!

We caught the train to Xi'an and once again it was a real pleasure. Bottom bunks soft sleeper. We had companions this time but they were very nice and luckily chinese as Terry would have had a fit if they were Farangs. There are lots of families travelling at the moment it must be the Easter break or something in Europe. What lucky kids. Anyway we had booked a hostel and no problem our room was waiting for us. Its on the top floor (and their is a lift!) and as its the corner room it has two huge windows floor to ceiling and the most wonderful view of the Bell Tower. At night its all lit up and like fairyland. I will try and get some pics loaded as Penny has so kindly sent me the intructions but please be patient as the written word is far easier.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the Big Mosque and it was lovely. Very chinese in design with lots of gardens and small buildings in pagoda style dotted about. We were impressed by the number of birds in the place and saw that the eaves of the buildings were practically designed for these little finches which made the place even more charming. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon and there were hardly any other visitors there at that time so we almost had it to ourselves which for anyone having travelled in China knows that not so easy.

We strolled around the markets surrounding the mosque and here there are so many lovely souvenirs to buy. Inthe evening we came back again and ate in the muslim quarter - kebabs, pita bread with cumin on the top and some other local delicacies.

Today we caught a local bus for Y8 (which is about R8.00) and it took us about an hour to get to the Terra Cotta Warriors.The road was a toll road and was in very good nick. We passed many fields on the way but the mountains eluded us behind the smog and pollution. We passed other places of interest but we have to make a choice of what to see and what to leave out.
Wow words and pictures cannot do justice to this place of the Warrriors. It is truely the 8th wonder of the world. I think the Chinese people were very lucky to find this treasure. (8 is china's lucky number so it all fits really) We spent hours wondering around and I we hired ourselves a guide which made the whole thing a lot easier and far more interesting well worth the Y50 for her services. This is the spot where i should be adding all my pictures of today so you could get some idea. The scale of one of the pits is the size of two rugby pitches and they have dug out over 2,000 warriors and horses and its only a third of the space that has been excavated. Unfortuantely what happens when you uncover the warriors and they come into contact with air they loose all the brilliant colour that they are painted in so the Chines are leaving them buried until the technology improves so that they can be taken out and the colours preserved. They can do this with small areas but at the moment its too expensive but I am sure in the not too distant future it will happen. Putting them all together when taken out is also a very time consuming job. You see the pits were made and lined with brick floors and walls but the roof was made out of wood and bamboo and covered in cloth and earth and these have deteriorated and collapsed and so the warriors have been crushed. Its like having to put the jigsaw back together without the picture on the box!!! Each warrior has a different face even the fall of the tunics are individual. Its all so mind boggling. The faces are of real people in fact they are the faces of the people who made them as each one would model the face of the person opposite him. There were thousands of workers on the site and it took 38 years to make them.

So when we were exhausted from our wonderings we caught an even more local bus back to town only Y5. This one did not take the highway and the good toll road but was far more interesting as we went through the towns - in fact its all joined up to Xi'an not fields on this road. Loads of trucks carrying so much stuff. What we have seen a lot of and this will make all you enviromental people happy is a lot of plastic recycling so good on you China! We could also see the mountains on the way home as I suppose a breeze must have come up and cleared it for us. They are lovely and at the Hot Springs we could see a cable car to the top of the mountain with Pagodas at various special places but this is for another day or another time. We were bushed!!!

WE got off the bus a few stops before home and bought ourselves some snacks as we had not eaten all day. Kebabs of all types are the order for Xi'an squid, beef, lamb, chicken anything you can think of.

So thats me up to date and time to sign off for today.

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