Xian: Ancient Capital meets Capitalism

This city is a feast for history buffs. This city is also the place where buff models on plasma screens blink at every major intersection. This city is the start of the ancient Silk Road, the capital of the Han Dynasty, and seems to be holding it's own with the modern pulse of Shanghai and Hong Kong. Although there is a town ordinance to not build any sky scrapers within the walls of the old city, the buildings are tall and impressive with a hint of traditional architecture. There are shopping streets and malls at each turn. The youth and adults wear Nike and Jeep t-shirts and seem to have a better sense of style than we do. Even the English quotes on some of the shirts represent the cultural shift that Xian is experiencing. One shirt said "I can do anything I want" and others said "Lebron James" "Just doing it" and "I'm a barbie girl"!

We stayed in a super hotel right in the center of the old city called the Bell Tower Hotel. Our room had an impressive view of the Bell Tower! The ancient cities in China used the drum towers to mark the morning and the bell towers to mark the evening. We could see two Starbucks from our hotel window and there was a Pizza Hut on the right and a McDonalds on the left as well as the ubiquitous KFC.

The night train was clean and modern with paisley white seat covers our cabin bunks. There are four beds per cabin, with a sliding glass door and reading lights. There was even a western style toilet at the end of the hall! Our only issues were the lack of toilet paper, and the confusing coffee service in the morning where we tried to get some sugar and milk. Oh and the agent who helped us buy tickets booked us in two separate cabins with 3 strangers in each. A young man volunteered to switch cabins but the British/Indian family next door was quite distraught that they had to share a cabin with a stranger... they didn't realize that you have to buy all four beds if you want privacy. Abe made small talk and made her realize that it could be worse... we tried to not bring up the trains in India! It was a lovely train ride. China knows how to do it right. Even the taxis run on natural gas, they have a clear system to pick up travelers. The motor bikes are all electric, and no motorcycles allowed in town. The streets are quiet. The buses are quiet. There isn't much of a metro yet because there are so many ruins underground building is slow. There is a quote from the 90's from Xian, that if you want to be rich, dig up your backyard.


The first day we rested and then rented bikes on the South Gate of the city wall. The wall is about 40 feet wide so there was plenty of room to ride. We went about halfway around the city till it started to rain.







We had two tours set up and our guide was superb. She called herself Jenny and we had a great tour of the tomb of the Terracotta Warriors. That night we went to the dumpling dinner and Tang Dynasty show. Many local men were talking loudly throughout the performance. One American tourist complained to them to be quiet and he vigorously wrapped his knuckles on their table. Finally one man in another loud group of men got a phone call and loudly answered it and they left. The costumes and set were wonderful. We decided to walk home instead of taking a taxi and we had a lovely walk home in the evening past markets and vendors. Xian is set up like a grid and our hotel is next to the largest landmark in town so it is hard to get lost.
The next day we had a city tour and it was a private tour.
Jenny took us to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda which was built originally to house the scrolls brought by Tripitaka from India. The were translated and housed there. We went to the Shanxi Museum and we saw items from Zhou and Han tombs! We saw many items that were traded on the silk road, many models of camels and caravans, and many Buddhist statues that were evidence of cultural integration between China and the west. We visited the Forest of Stone Steles Museum which is a collection of Confucius writings used to catalog his greatest words. And they have been used to teach Confucian students for generations. Some of the stone slabs describe the greatness of Buddhism. We ate at a Tang Dynasty Buffet at the new tang theater. This buffet was the best food we have had in China! And we managed to find the Western end of town where the western market was originally held. Here a string of camel statues have been erected to mark the starting point of the Silk Road.


On the way to the airport we paid our driver extra to take us to the tomb of the fourth Han Emperor. This exhibition was completely underground with glass floors so we could walk over the tops of the pits and look at the miniature soldiers and horses and chariots. Whereas emperor Qin had book 8000 life-sized warriors in his tomb, the Han emperors settled with thousands of smaller models of soldiers servants pigs horses and chickens.

We are off to Vietnam. Only three countries left to go!!

Kabe