Advertisement
Published: August 4th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Rain, Rain go Away
In the Forbidden City in Beijing Sorry to disapoint our loyal readers with such a long time between blogs, but we have been super busy with no real access to the internet. So this blog will be a quick recap (with lots of pictures) of the last four days...
Beijing Day 2 After a strenuous day at the Great Wall, we were all set to see the sits in Beijing. However, the rain gods were so upset that Robbie had lost in cribbage, that they cried ALL morning. We spent the morning huddling under umbrellas at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. We were able to get out of the rain for a bit and dry off at an internet cafe (and ate McDonalds) before making a quick trip to the Silk Market (where they sell lots more than just silk - "special price for you my friend", "me give you good price"). That afternoon we caught an overnight train to Xi'an departing at 5pm and arriving at 6am (China is on one time zone - a bit strange).
Xi'an Day 1 Tired and stiff from the overnight train ride (the Chinese may have invented the wheel, but they havent yet mastered the concept of
Gourmet Meal
Our fancy dinner of instant ramen on the overnight train. a mattress), we made our way to the hotel...which turned out to be quite an exciting adventure -- the caravan of the 12 of us with our backpacks manuvering our way through the crowds, seeing what we think was a man laying dead in the street (true story), and then having to take a detour because a garbage truck had been overturned in the street (yeah, smelled really REALLY bad!). We finally arrived, had breakfast, showered and then headed straight out for a day of sightseeing on our own. We started at the Culture Street doing some shopping -- Robbie bought WAY more than Sarah, believe it or not -- and then hit the Stele Museum where we saw thousands of ancient texts carved on massive stone tablets -- amazing! After the Stele Museum we visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (much different from the pagodas in Japan) we had some ice cream, climed to the top, took some photos, and moved on to the next sight -- a Taoist Temple. In front of the Taoist Temple was what we both think is one of the coolest things we have seen thus far in China -- an apartment building/market/neighborhood/cant really
think of the word to describe it -- but it was cool. People hanging out, playing games, reading, kids riding bikes. This is also where we found our favorite shop full of authentic old Mao souvenirs. We bought some original Little Red Books, a Mao pin, and some original Mao propaganda comic books. We finally made it through this area to the temple, which was beautiful and serene. Unfortunately, neither of us know much about Taoism, but as soon as we read up on it a bit we can tell you more about the temple. We ended the day with a great group dinner, an awesome karaoke session (Sarah was able to put her karaoke experience in Japan to good use as most of the people in the group were karaoke virgins), and 9 liters of Budweiser (disclaimer: Robbie played no part in the decision to purchase or consume Bud).
Xi'an Day 2 BIG DAY -- Terracotta Warriors! As one of the major historical relics of China, this was high on our list to see. The first emperor of China in 220 B.C. began building his tomb (which was protected by what are now known as the Terracotta Warriors)
when he assumed the throne and it took 700,000 workers 40 years to complete. In 1974, a farmer digging in his field uncovered the previously unknown warriors. They are life size and there are thousands of them -- in full uniform, with terracotta horses, armour, bronze weapons all with different facial features. Quite amazing. The afternoon was spent wandering through the Muslim market in the center of Xi'an (where Robbie bought A LOT more stuff, and Sarah didn't!!!). In the evening, we boarded another overnight train, this one bound for Suzhou. Both train rides were unique and worthwhile experiences (though we reeeeeeaaaaalllllllllly don't need to ride another for a while). Chinese kids would just pop into your bunk area to practice english, and we got to spend quite awhile with the other members of our 12 person group - a very interesting collection of folks from Canada, Austrailia and Holland.
Suzhou After arriving yesterday around 11am we wandered the streets of Suzhou -- famous for its gardens, silk and beautiful women. We took a canal ride through the the city, visited another Taoist temple and saw a traditional Chinese music/play performance in one the gardens that evening. This
Terracotta Warriors
These figures were buried by China's first emperor in 220 B.C. (That's a long ass time ago) morning we depart for Shanghai (should arrive by noon!) where we will spend the last 4 days of our trip!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.178s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 50; dbt: 0.084s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Mom
non-member comment
warriors
What, no cribbage game with the warriors??? Maybe sitting on one of the horses?? I am anxious to see your pictures of Xi'an. What a great trip.