Jane and Hal's Trip to China (with the Lipton's)
May 6 - May 23, 2007
Celebrating 40 Wonderful Years Together

Xi'an
 

Friday, May 11, 2007: We arrived in Xi'an late in the day and checked into the Shangra La Golden Flower Hotel.

That night we had dinner in the hotel. Judy and Ed decided to skip dinner as we had a small snack on the flight from Beijing. We had a fantastic dinner in the hotel restaurant. One of the best of our trip. The chef came out and when I asked if he had any pickled szechuan cabbage - he said certainly and brought out a spread of various chinese pickles including the cabbage. They were all wonderful. We then had some pulled noodles - a Xi'an specialty.

 

The next morning, after a fantastic buffet breakfast at the Hotel we boarded our bus with our tour guide ????? and headed out to see the Warriors.

Of course we passed modern buildings in this city of 8 million people. When we got to the countryside we noticed a huge power plant. Note the smog. It was almost impossible to see far into the distance because of the smog everhwhere.
We arrived at the site of the Warriors and headed for the main entrance. First stop of course is the obligatory gift shop visit.

Inside the main building the dig is exposed and is huge. Probably more than a football field long. It is just breathtaking. Part of the site has been uncovered and many of the warriors have been put together from pieces found on the site.
Many of the bodies of the warriors are similar but every head is unique. They are also interchangeable and can be put atop any of the bodies. They were probably based on real warriors of the time.
   
 
We had lunch on the site and enjoyed some of those special pulled Xi'an noodles. And beer of course.
After lunch we headed for the smaller site that is still under work.
 
   
   
   
The Xi'an Warriors are a World Heritage site.
   
   
   

We ran into some fellow tourists visiting the site. How come they let Chelsea, Bill and Hillary down there but not us? *

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Actually its just a picture of a picture! :-)
Outside you can still see the degree of polution in the middle of the day.
This is a cable car up to the site of the tomb of the ?

Passing a quite village on the way back to town.

Billboards along the highway.
   
Costco anyone? Will probably a Wal*Mart not far away.
Traffic and smog. And new constuction everywhere on our way to the Archeology museum in Xi'an.
The Archeology musuem was new but built to look typically Chinese. It is a very impressive group of buildings.
   
 
We left the theater and headed for the water show in a city park. The place is huge - with thousands of jets of water spurting in the air. The show attracts thousands of people and was fantastic free show..  
Made friends with a delightful little Chinese girl who stood next to me on one of the light towers to watch the action.
The show was a great hit with everyone. Young and old.

We then headed for the Main Gate to the city. Xi'an is a walled city. Of course most of the city now lies outside the wall. The square at the Main Gate is a gathering place each evening. There all kinds of enetertainers and games around the square.
In front of the gate there was music and a people dancing. Hal even joined in and had a grand old time. Xi'an is a wonderful city. Lots of street life and people enjoying themselves on a warm summer evening.

 
   
We left the area around the Main Gate and headed to the "Moslem" section of the city. This was just a few blocks away and you entered through a gate into what could have been the souk in Jerusalem.
   
After strolling through the "souk" we headed to our hotel for a well earned nights sleep.  
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