Blogs from Shaanxi, China, Asia - page 13

We oversleep a little but get down to enjoy another sumptuous spread at the breakfast buffet. Lilly finds us there, and we take a 45 minute drive to the terracotta warrior crafting shop: Xian Da Qin Pottery Company. There we learn of the process to recreate the full size hand-crafted warriors: shape in clay, dry for 3 months and then bake at 900 degrees for a week. You can even have your own bust made. In the attached shop is a huge array of creations, in jade, marble, terracotta, brass, ceramics and the like. A very few items are similar to the Jade shop in Beijing, but most are very different. We select a 32cm high Archer for ¥320 (A$58) and I finally find a pair of lions like at the Forbidden City (and in front ... read more

Overview: Weather: Humid Generally hot One rainy day so far (we did not have an umbrella yet…) Blue skies! What we’ve eaten: Lots of noodles Baozi – steamed bread filled with meat and other things Dumplings Duck Eggplant The most important lesson learned this week: Never take the small things for granted. What a week! Xi’an is an incredible city. The seams are bursting with culture (and people, of course)! We are so blessed to live in such a great city. Our campus is neighbors with the city wall which houses beautiful parks, restaurants, shopping centers and Walmart! (Or “Warmar” as we’ve heard it called.) Every night we walk to the wall parks and watch people. Families gather to dance, play sports, exercise on outdoor contraptions – no need for a 24 Hour Fitness here. Our ... read more

We were awoken by a train attendant at 8am checking tickets but still had an hour left till we would actually be in Xian, one of the oldest cities in China. Once we had arrived we were greeted by a girl from the hostel we were staying at, Hantang House. The hostel was really nice and the room was even better. It didn't feel like a hostel at all more like a hotel, we even had a rain shower in the bathroom! Once we had checked into our room we went back down to reception to get some breakfast. On the menu we saw the option of having an English breakfast which we knew wouldn't be the same as home but decided to treat ourselves anyway - it was actually quite nice and the first time ... read more

Day 9 - Terracotta Army and the Muslim quarter Up at 6.30, reasonable breakfast at the hostel this morning, then at 8am we set off to catch the public bus to go to see the Terracotta Army. For the first time, we came together as a group and got to the meeting point on time....yayyyy It was about an hour and a half bus journey with only one change, but with 118 of us plus two guides, that's not a straight forward task. There is about a 15 minute walk once you actually get past the ticket point. It is very tourist based. My eyes were are all over the place as there is so much to look at! We finally got there. First we watched a film on how it was discovered and then excavated. ... read more

Finally moved on from Beijing via overnight train to Xi'an. Xi'an is most famous for the Terracotta Warriors but the city is also very interesting and we spent today cycling around the city walls and visiting the Muslim Quarter. About 1% of the population of the city is Muslim, and the population originates from the earliest time of the Silk Road which led to Muslims from Central Asia coming to China and marrying locals. Our guide made much of the physical appearance of the Muslim population: according to him they are easy for the Chinese to identify because they are paler than the rest of the population. The dress is also distinctive, lots of brightly coloured suits and, of course, headscarves. The big draw of the Muslim Quarter is the food markets, which still sell traditional ... read more