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Published: April 2nd 2009
Mom and I have really enjoyed Xi'an. We ended up staying at our stinky hostel but found a less stinky room. The people here have been really nice. I promised mom that we would step up our accommodations in Beijing. Our first day here we decided to take a tour of the City Wall. It is 14 km long and in a rectangle shape. In order to do the entire wall, we decided to rent a bike. After mom's concrete post incident, she was a little worried so we got a tandem. Man, I thought I was going to die! Tandem bikes are no the easiest thing to ride. Anyway, we made it the whole way around and came back in one piece. We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets of Xi'an. Again, so much shopping here. I can't believe it! And still more shoes! That evening we went to see the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show. Dinner ended up being largely dumplings. I have never eaten so many delicious dumplings in my life. They were shaped to represent what they were stuffed with too which was really interesting. There were some in the shape of a fish (with
Tour around the city wall.
This is the tandem bike that nearly killed me many times that day. eyes and all) and others in the shape of a walnut. The show was pretty good as well. We saw some traditional dancing and drum shows.
The next day we took a tour to see the Terracotta Warriors just outside of Xi'an. The site was discovered accidentally by a farmer who was digging for a well. Apparently Qin Shi Huang was terrified that he would be haunted in his afterlife so he built this army of warriors to protect him in death. I think he was insane. He employed thousands of slaves who took clay from the mountain and made life size statues and placed them in battle formation. I had a hard time understanding the history behind the place because everything is in Chineese but apparently he had taken some mercury elixir in order to extend his life, instead, he poisoned himself and died early. His tomb is found in a mountain but cannot be unearthed due to high mercury levels. There are thousands of soldiers of different rank, with different expressions, facial features and clothing. Not one looks the same. It really was quite impressive.
On the way back from the tour we got dropped off
Flowering tree
The gardens around the Big Goose Pagoda in Xi'an were beautiful. Here is just one example of the flowering trees they had. at the Big Goose Pagoda which was built to house the Budhist sutras Xuan Zang brought back from India. The grounds around the Pagoda were pretty interesting. We did not end up going in the Pagoda because you had to pay to access the grounds then pay again to access the Pagoda. They get you every way they can here! We had to find our own way back to the hostel so we tacked the local bus again. I am proud to say that it was a success.
Yesterday we spent most of our time shopping. We did not find much. People are so annoying in the markets that I just loose all interest. Today, we leave for Beijing. Stay tuned!
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Roger
non-member comment
How's the chinese food, apart from dumplings
Hope you got to eat the real stuff and not just dumplings. Your next excursion, try rollerblades. Might be easier than biking. You may have to tie a rope around your mom though to help her stop. Ha!ha!. just kidding. To bad you can't post your photos. Enjoy Beijing. From: Superdad, Mr. Mom, Chief cook and bottlewasher, Laundromat operator, washroom sanitizer and whatever else you want to throw in there as a title.