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Published: September 5th 2006
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After seeing the doc again, who was pleased that things were improving, we managed to get tickets on to Xian, which is best known as the home of the Terracotta Warriors. In the past, Xian was the Eastern terminal for the camel caravans laiden with trade goods travelling along the Silk Road, (which linked China to Turkey and Rome) and was also China’s capital during the Tang dynasty so was a very important city. We didn’t really know what to expect of this city today but found it was one of our favourite places so far. We arrived and relaxed a bit before heading off to explore. Wandering towards the centre was lovely, we weren’t attacked by touts at all and we enjoyed watching city life around us, we even went into a local market and strolled around (strolling is not something that has been possible so far as once the grabbing and ‘lookie lady’ starts we generally leg it!). The food market was an eye opener and in certain parts a real stomach churner too.....with blood all over the floor and walls as the stall keepers sliced up some not so appetising chunks of unidentifiable meats....they had cows uterus, intestines,
bladder, snake, frogs, turtles and many more we didn’t even want to think about. The worst part was not so much the food but the fact that a lot of the animals were still alive and kept in pretty cruel conditions for their last few hours alive.
Not feeling so hungry we carried on into the centre and into the Muslim quarter of town. Xian has a large Muslim community and has one of the biggest mosques in China. We really enjoyed this part of town - it seemed like a step back in time as well as a complete culture jump - suddenly all the women were wearing headscarves and the men skullcaps, everything was written in Arabic as well as Chinese, people were cooking up Arabic food instead of noodles, the backstreets and lanes were packed with markets selling meat crammed into pita breads, dates, extra sweet deserts, Halva, Falafel and so on and tiny mosques were hidden behind houses. We found the great Mosque hidden down some alleyways and went to have a look. It was set in lovely tranquil gardens which were a nice break from the hustle and bustle outside. It wasn’t like the
Arabic food market
Jen looking totally gormless mosques we had seen before as the building style was definitely Chinese. When we were done we wandered back to the Chinese part of town in search of the City Walls. Xian’s old walls are almost intact and form a rectangle around the centre of town with watchtowers at the corners.
The next day we went on a full-day tour to see the Terracotta Warriors, the Big Goose Pagoda, a 6000 year old ruin of an ancient settlement and a hot spring retreat for the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Our guide told us about how they were discovered - In 1974 a farmer digging a well on his arid land found some remains of old statues. Believing that they were of the Sun God he quickly buried them again, hoping the god would not punish him, and started digging far from the original site. To his terror he found more pieces of statues and he gave up the well project. Some time later his son and daughter came home for a visit and he told them about his find. They quickly realised the importance of this and called in experts from the government.
Today, they have found
more than 8000 full-size Terracotta Warrior statues in three large pits, the largest 210m x 60m. It is probably the biggest archaeological find of the 20th century. The Chinese government constructed several huge hangers over the sites and opened the site up to tourists.
Each warrior is different. They have different facial features, expressions and even different hairstyles, uniforms and ranks. They represent several full regiments of armies including horses, chariots, archers, foot soldiers, cavalry and generals.
The farmer who found the site is now 84 years old and has become a bit of a celebrity. On certain days he sits signing books at the main museum building and we caught a glimpse of him when we were there. 30 years ago he could not read or write and he had to be trained for years just to be able to sign his own name (Bill Clinton and the Queen on visiting the site and the man who discovered it both requested his signature hence the Chinese government sending someone to teach him to write his name). He looked content, though, as if he happily accepted his fate and place in history, still somewhat puzzled over the millions
of people coming to see him and his find every year.
The Big Goose Pagoda is part of one of the largest Buddhist temples in China. Buddhism is one of China’s largest religions with over 8 million devote practitioners and many more followers. The pagoda is 7 storeys high and has recently started leaning to one side due to water in the ground beneath. The government has tried several ways of putting it straight, but so far without luck. There is a smaller pagoda in the centre of Xian called the Small Goose Pagoda.
We enjoyed the trip and had just 30 mins to relax before heading out for a dumpling banquet and Tang dynasty show...not usually the sort of thing we enjoy but it was really great! The food was amazing - millions of different sorts of filled dumplings - filled with duck, pork, fish, scallop, lotus flower, bean curd, walnut and many more. The show was also fantastic with traditional Tang Dynasty music, instruments, dancing, singing and was surprisingly funny in parts.....
Next its off to Zhengshou to see the home of Kung Fu - the Shaolin temples.
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Chris
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Those fish dumplings freaked me out! V jealous about the shaolin temples though!