Xi'an: The City for (History) Lovers

Greetings! We're back from our Spring Festival travels, and we have a lot of stories, pictures, and videos to share. For the most part, we were very lucky and everything went smoothly during our journey. Here's our list of cities visited: Xi'an, Leshan, Emei Shan, Chengdu, Lhasa, Hong Kong, and Sanya. We'll be blogging about our trip in that order. So, without further delay,

Xi'an

Xi'an is most famous for its Terracotta Warriors. We knew we were definitely going to see them, but we didn't really know what else was going to entertain us while we were there for a few days. Luckily, Xi'an has plenty of fun sites to offer. I know many of you were worried that the bad winter storms would effect our travel, thankfully it didn't, but that doesn't mean we didn't see a lot of snow in Xi'an. Here's our first picture taken on the trip.

You'll notice that from here on out that we're pretty bundled up since most of outings were outdoors, and involved a lot of walking. Anyway, this is Darbie in the heart of downtown Xi'an. Behind her is the Bell Tower, but more on that later. Xi'an is one of the only cities in China that still has it's city wall in tact. The walls were built in the 14th century, and encase downtown Xi'an. We were able to walk on the city walls (through blizzard conditions), and it's almost unbelievable how thick and tall they are.

Darbie and Jimbo are standing outside the city walls, which are about 12 meters high (39 ft for the metrically-challenged). On the left is one of the many tunnels providing road access to the interior, they are usually jammed with traffic. Also, if you notice, we're standing on a bridge, which crosses over the moat that still surrounds the city walls.

Here, I'm on top of the wall looking down on what is one of the most appealing parts of Xi'an, ancient Chinese architecture in a very modern city. Our guide book says that people either love or hate Xi'an, and we clearly came down on the former. Darbie and Jimbo walking on the city walls. This shows just how wide the walls are, and they actually narrow as they get to the top! At the base, the wall is about 18 meters thick (60 ft). Also, you can see on the right that Xi'an was preparing New Year's displays with Chinese scenes. We saw many in construction on our brisk wall along the wall.

In the center of Xi'an is the Bell Tower that was mentioned earlier. The Bell Tower once functioned as an alarm clock, with all the bells inside struck at sunrise. Just down the road from the Bell Tower is its counterpart, the Drum tower where drums were beaten at sunset. We got to visit both, and while they aren't the greatest exhibits, they offer ceremonial music displays and great views of the interior city. For those of you interested in hearing the music, check out the video below.

For most of the trip, we were advocates of "slow travel." We walked if we could, stopped when we wanted, and ate wherever we felt like. A few memorable dining experiences took place in Xi'an. The local specialty is yangrou paomo, lamb meat stew. We had the local dish a couple of times, and I can endorse it as the epitome of slow eating. Once you've ordered it, the server brings out a bowl of bread which you then have to tear into tiny bits. She had to keep badgering us to tear it smaller and smaller, basically until your fingers hurt. Then they take the torn bread back to the kitchen and put the stew in, which is basically just lamb and noodles. While it isn't the tastiest dish, I can definitely see how a hot, filling dish is popular in winter. I was also pleased to notice that "The Real Deal" Holyfield had at some point visited Xi'an and had a bowl himself (begging the question whether or not there are little Chinese Evander's running around.).

Yet another cool site in Xi'an is the Big Goose Pagoda. It is touted as Xi'an's most famous landmark. The pagoda is really, really old (completed in the 7th Century CE), and is where China's most famous Buddhist monk Hsuan-tsang brought back Buddhist scriptures from India. They've also surrounded the pagoda with a pretty interesting temple, with some great Buddhist ivory, stone, and marble carvings depicting the Buddha's life. In front of the temple is a statue of Hsuan-tsang himself. Although they promise wonderful things inside the pagoda, there's little more to see or do than simply look out over the city, and even that can be less than great on a typical, smoggy day. Nevertheless, the outside of pagoda and its surrounding park and temple is worth the trip if you're in Xi'an. Contrary to what the pictures display, I don't believe the Big Goose Pagoda is leaning. Below you can check out two great Darbie pics. First, enjoying a nice winter scene in front of a Buddhist shrine in the park. Last, working on her graceful sword skills in hopes that she can one day become a Buddhist nun with amazing psychic powers.

In addition, we also hit the Shaanxi History Museum which contains a lot of great displays and exhibits, the Folk House which is quaint, historic house with little to offer, and the Forest of Stelae Museum which can get brutally cold with all those tall stone tablets and no heat. But do check out the museum inside and the side streets along the way. Here's a glimpse.

That's a less-than-brief look at Xi'an for you, and we didn't even cover the Muslim Quarter, an area of back alleys and side streets, which has loads of eating and shopping awaiting every tourist and as soon as we stepped onto it we were beckoned into the "secret" back rooms of vendors. Xi'an was a pleasant surprise, with a great blending of ancient and modern. I wish it was the prototype for every Chinese city, though to be fair, no city's history holds a candle to the history that has taken place in and around Xi'an. Visit and see for yourself!

What's that? Ah yes, the Terracotta Army will be covered in our next session, we don't want to exhaust our dear readers. But, to appease you, here's a great video of Jimbo's first hotpot meal. I think it was a memorable experience to say the least.

We're back, spread the word!

DB & KM