Day 4: The Ancient City of Xi'an

Please Mummy!!! Can we take him home?
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Xi'an (pronounced "shee aan") is a lesser known but equally important city in the history of China.  Indeed, Xi'an was the capital of the first Chinese dynasty and many other early chinese dynasties before that title was conferred upon Beijing.

Xi'an is much smaller in size compared to Beijing and is the only city in all of China that retains its original city wall - a great wall built around the city's perimeter in the Ming dynasty (over 600 years ago).  Xi'an is at once modern with its bright neon lights and glitzy shopping centres and steeped in history with its charming city wall and drum and bell towers.  The people of Xi'an are very friendly and very proud (especially when comparing themselves to citizens of Beijing or Shanghai).

Xi'an is at once modern with its bright neon lights and glitzy shopping centres and steeped in history with its charming city wall and drum and bell towers.

A puppy for 5 yuan!
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Upon our arrival in Xi'an (around 5 pm) we were met at the airport by our tour guide, Winne, a young collge grad (22 years old - we know this cos Missy asked her!).  Winnie embodies the modern chinese woman.  A daughter of a surgeon (mother) and a police officer (father), it is easily evident that she's had a privileged lifestyle.  Her english is soft and very accentuated and her mannerisms are delightfully endearing.  She is studying computer science at the local university and works as a tour guide to practice her english, supplement her income and to show off her city's rich history.

Kai yuan Shopping Mall
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Once we checked in at the Howard Johnson Plaza hotel located just outside the south side of the city wall, Winnie gave us recommendations on some places to eat and to shop.  The East Big Street (there are four main streets in Xi'an city centre: East, west, north and south) is where we would find all the western restaurants and shopping malls.  Winnie recommended a local restaurant for Xi'an's regional speciality - hotpot which was on the south side and so we decided to go there first before hitting the East Big Street.

The Bell Tower
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Taxis are incredibly cheap in Xi'an.  Because the city is relatively small, you can travel from one end of the city to the other for less that 20 yuan (about $3). It cost us about 6 yuan to get to the hotpot restaurant and we were hit by the strong smell (aroma?) of spicy chinese food even as we were exiting the cab.  Once we got to the restaurant's entrance, however, the smell was far too strong and overpowering for our palate..so much so that Missy looked visibly ill.  We abandoned the idea of local regional cuisine and decided to find a safer and sterile western alternative.  That began our task of finding a McDonald's, KFC or a Pizza Hut.  Of course, we now had to get to the East Street as that's where we would find it but it was a challenge trying to find out if we could simply walk there or if we needed to jump into another cab.

We asked various locals (and they all understood McDonald's) and they all seemed to indicate that it was just a short walk away.  After about 15 minutes of walking, we were just about to give up when we decided to ask some young guys on their mopeds (hoping they would know).  One of them gallantly offered to drive us there.  Missy and I looked at each other and figured why not!  So, we got on his bike and he zipped through the back roads while we both held on for dear life and dropped us right outside the McDonald's.  He blushed when we offered him 10 yuan and shyly took it.  It was well worth it!

Just outside McDonald's we noticed there was quite a commotion of people gathered around someone.  And then Missy screamed with joy - they were puppies!! Almost a dozen of them in different breeds and each one only a few days old.  We (ok, Missy) ended up petting and carrying every one of them.  They were quite adorable and only 5 yuan each (that's less than a dollar!!).  Missy begged me to get one (she announced she could afford to buy them all with her allowance) but, of course, we couldn't do that.  I had to explain to her how you can't just smuggle puppy dogs into Canada and getting all the paper work ready may take days (if not weeks). She was disappointed.  I think she just misses our own dog, hearsay, very much.

After having a quick bite to eat at Mickey Dee we crossed over to the Kai yuan shopping mall where the retail stores are all having their end of summer sales (50 to 80% off ticketed prices).  We shopped for some clothes (mainly cos we were running out of clean t'shirts to wear) and then took a taxi back to the hotel.