Bastion of history

*** SEE 'LONG WAY TO XI'AN' FOR PICTURES ***

Arrived to Xi'an a tad earlier than planned...  Fortunately the hotel we were planning on using had availability the night we arrived. While our journey to this city wasn't what we had envisioned, it certainly was educational and helped to heighten our appreciation of Xi'an in general.

This is a big tourist attraction for China because it holds numerous reminders of the 5000 year history of civilization in China.  Principle among these are the city itself, completely enclosed by walls (much of which was built hundreds of years ago and some in the last few years), and the terracotta warriors, an army of clay figures defending the resting place of the first (?) Chinese emperor.

Because we had the time, we walked and savoured the city quite a bit around an outing to the terracotta warriors.  Our hotel was conveniently located near the heart of the old city, with the Drum tower just out the front door and the bell tower down the road a little ways.  The whole area is vibrant and pulsating with activity most hours of the day, with the only downside being the congregation of taxi drivers and vendors outside the hotel waiting to pounce on emerging tourists.  Starbucks isn't ready for brewing yet, but it is in the works, and many a McDonalds was in walking distance.  We did not succumb to the temptation of entering that particular hamburger joing, however, and rather sustained ourselves primarily on authentic chinese (dumplings and noodles, mmm) and bad bread and canned coffee (breakfast).

Near to the hotel is a bazaar and a mosque--Xi'an was the starting point of the Silk road and received arab influences via that historic route--and just outside the mosque (very nice, almost tranquil, not perfectly maintained, unique for the lack of classic 'arab' or mosque-ish architecure, i.e. all chinese style with the pointed roofs and upturned eaves.) there is a street of vendors selling, amongst other things, famous brands...  Fortunately, carrying backpacks limits our purchasing, otherwise we would be ruined by now and probably have to head home early.  We emerged from the mosque area laden with bags, happily thinking we had come away on the upper hand of the deal (almost never the case), and continued our explorations of the city.  The drum and bell towers of Xi'an are interesting; maintained as functioning museums of times past when they were used to communicate to the public, one can enter (for a fee), spend money in the shop, see ancient instruments and furniture, and even catch a show.  Which we did in the bell tower.  Short and sweet, but worthwhile to hear the apparently dischordant (sharp) notes of traditional Chinese music played on (near) original instruments.

Xi'an itself is a city that was more attractive and enjoyable than Beijing, but this is perhaps because we had become accostomed to the way of things in China.  It is fairly clean, certainly energetic and crowded, but (as everywhere in China) under a constant grey cloud of pollution.  The walls are continuous for 14 kilometers and make for a good bike ride (even if the brakes didn't work ...). The restored draw-bridge is as neat as its shop is expensive (prices include shipping...).  Outside the walls, more sites can be found.  There are 2 pagodas, little and big goose pagodas.  Both are made of stone and associated with buddhist temples.  They were built with holy purposes, apparently, and to appease the emperors ego (again).  Both are surrounded by nice gardens, are frequented by tourists, and worth the visit.  Even more so on foot, as we did, even though the sum distance to, between and back to the hotel was probably 5 miles.  The trek took us through alleyways and streets entirely devoid of foreigners, providing a glimpse of Chinese city life away from the attractions.  The best site in this whole little venture out of the walls was the plaza found just south of the big goose pagoda.  Here, everything is brand new.  A spectacular fountain at least 100 yards long and 30 wide has been constructed consisting of row upon row of jets--all coordinated to music.  We had the luck to arrive during a performance and managed to shoulder into the crowd.  Fantastic.  And a dim sum lunch there in the plaza topped it off.

Now the real reason most folks head to Xi'an are the terracotta warriors already mentioned.  To make this trip, we signed onto a tour.  Such tours work by taking one to a number of places in addition to the warriors, including something for lunch, and inevitably to some market where the guide can earn a bit of commission.  We loaded the bus along with several others, made our way through a few sites the most interesting of which was the emperor's mausoleum (just a big man-made hill now that makes for an ok climb that would have a view if visibility was better than 150m...) and the winter palace (built around the base of a mountain, with hot springs and quite a history of intrigue, romance, etc., but way too crowded).  Lunch certainly was unspectacular (at least it was cheap).

Eventually we made it to the warriors--now a big museum.  The story is that a farmer 30 years ago was digging a well and pulled up some clay fragments.  He reported it, they started digging, and years later had found thousands of life sized warriors constructed from clay and in the apparent likeness of the original craftsmen or the emperor's army.  They were found arranged in battle formation, facing east.  Further digging found many other things buried there and nearby, all part of the first emperors mausoleum.  Amongst that found, was evidence indicating that the workers who constructed the figures and the mausoleum were all put to death...mind you 200,000 people are estimated to have worked on this little project.

The site is fantastic; the warriors are very realistic--those in repaired condition, at least.  Many are nothing more than fragments, and many are somewhere the public can't go.  The fascination of the site derives from the quality and enormity of the work done, as well as the level of organization and wealth that would have been required to pull it off, not to mention the brutality.  In some ways it is an interesting metaphor of human history.   Of course, it is crowded and the organized tour doesn't quite give one enough time to really soak in the site.  Moreover, upon exiting they force everyone to walk through a half-mile long money trap: kiosks, hawkers, etc. all trying to sell their wares to those with loose wallets.  And did I mention the pomegranate?  They are grown in the area of the mausoleum and many a chinese tourist made good to buy a box or two.  The only thing is that the mausoleum has been found to have an extremely high concentration of mercury--'quicksilver', it was mined by the ancient Chinese and placed in the tomb with the emperor.  Whether or not the mercury is making it into the groundwater and subsequently into local crops is not an inquiry I sought to pursue, thus we didn't try any pomegranate.

Our final night in the walled city we spent at a show of traditional Tang dynasty music and dance.  This was preceded by a dinner of local foods, 9 courses long.  It included cold meats and pickled veggies (lotus root, for one) to start, a fish soup, fried broccoli, gelatinous pasta (a bit slimy), chinese cabbage (of course) and mushrooms, dumplings (some with mysterious and not nice fillings...), date soup, ramen noodles (served after sweet buns), fruit, and washed down with Tsingtao.  Good, and way too much.  The show then commenced and we were enthralled with classic music and elegant dance, much involving the clever use of veils extending from the dancers arms (much like that movie...).  It was all quite good.