CHINA December 23 and 24, 2005: Americans in Xian —

Hi-

Well it’s Christmas Eve in Xi’An… and it’s a spectacular event… but more on that in a bit…

We left Shanghai yesterday morning.. rather uneventfully, although navigating the airport, figuring out where to get boarding passes, etc. was an experience… The boarding process was a bit chaotic.. with everyone trying to walk up the stairs to the plane at the same time…  Anyway, we arrived in Xi’an about two and a half hours later and then located a taxi to take us to the hotel. It turns out the airport is about one hour from Xi’an… Not exactly sure why they decided to locate the airport in the middle of nowhere…  First impressions of the Xi’an area were pretty bleak… The cold air combined with the moisture creates some kind of inversion so the air is always hazy (sort of like California’s tuili (sp?) fog); roads are broad; buildings shabby and reminiscent of Russia in the 70s.. etc.  But we figured the trip to see the terra cotta warriors the next day would make the stop worthwhile…

Arrived at the hotel (a Hyatt that tries very hard to please) and decided to walk around town… and then it was an eye opener… Firstly the town comes alive at dusk… Second.. this “little village” of 6.5 million people is hopping!  There are two main thoroughfares.. one going east-west; one going north-south… Each has sidewalks the size of boulevards and each has about 4 lanes of traffic in each direction… These main streets go about two or three miles in each direction within the walls of what was the old city…  And the streets are completely lined with shops…On the main boulevards it’s mostly clothing.. with music blasting everywhere…  And the streets are completely filled.. body to body.. mostly with young people strolling, shopping, window shopping, eating… Throughout the stretch are hundreds of little stands with incredible foods… being cooked on the street…

Within the center of this maze  are two towers (pagoda like)… called the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower… At these points the streets become multi-level… about three different levels with shops, restaurants, vendors, etc… on every level…  And then the unbelievable … the street suddenly narrows to the width of an alleyway.. into a huge Muslim neighborhood… and then it’s just vendors and vendors and food stalls for blocks and blocks.. with incredible delicacies being cooked on the street.. some being served indoors if you choose to get out of the cold…

We were in ecstasy!… All this activity.. Exactly what makes a city a city…  We walked for several hours..  We’re a big attraction… at times… especially among young people who are trying to practice their English — which is quite nascent.. mostly “Merry Christmas”… “Where are you from?”.. and then “Thank you”  They are somewhat surprised to learn we are from the U.S…. and very few get beyond that… Only one person seemed to recognize “California”… referring to it as “Chalfora”… and saying “television.” (All in all, we have not run into more than a handful of Americans and have heard almost no English being spoken anywhere, except occasionally in the hotels)

Eventually we meandered to a Muslim restaurant.. where we had some kind of stew…  Navigating this menu was easier than we anticipated, because there wasn’t any menu… They just served this one dish.. and then they come around with some condiments and salad choices…   It was good, but I fear extremely fattening..

Today, Saturday, we set out fairly early to go to see the Terra Cotta Warriors… It’s about a 35 mile journey.. We opted for a taxi rather than the bus (given our aversion to other tourists and the fact that taxis are amazingly cheap)…  The hotel thought we should go in their sleek black car “so that we could be sure of the hygiene,” they explained.. But we thought the taxi (a little banged up) was just fine. The terracotta warriors are worth the visit.. Imagine.. 1,000 (of the total 7,000) full size warriors unearthed about 30 years ago by two farmers who were digging a well… (The farmers have become famous.. and they sit in the bookstore autographing copies of the book about the discovery, while smoking cigars…)…   Anyway, if we got the story straight… the emperor (circa 206 B.C.) had 700,000 workers creating this army over a 37-year period… The warriors were to guard his mausoleum…  In the little shops within the museum and surrounding it, you can purchase replicas of the warriors in any size you want .. from microscopic to larger than life-size (larger than the actual warriors).. and they have signs saying they will ship them for you.. Federal Express!!…

So keep a careful watch on packages coming to Oakland… only kidding..  We did hire an English speaking guide once we got to the warriors because the history is very rich and we thought we might have lots of questions.. Her English was not bad, although most of her explanations were memorized… and she was extremely disappointed when we chose not to purchase a replica, so I assume she gets some kind of kickback from the vendors.

Then back to Xi’an.. where we were in for a surprise…  Christmas Eve! On those people-packed streets!  There were about 1.5 million people on the streets, which were all suddenly void of cars (where earlier traffic was a nightmare)…  And what a sight — A stew of people and the mixing of cultures… and commercialism: masks, Santa hats, Muslim skull caps, sparklers, fire crackers, and lots of food… the whole scene was like a combination Mardi Gras, New Years in Times Square, and a peace march… And all without any fights, violence, public drinking — just lots of people having fun, celebrating… Seems as if they’ve adopted Christmas (the secular commercial iconographic parts) as a reason to celebrate and have fun…

At some point in all of this chaos, we meandered into a restaurant serving dim sum-like buns and vegetables.. .and sort of figured out the system.. or at least we sat down.. pointed to what someone else was having.. and then ordered beer… Other than the confusion that we didn’t initially understand that you need to pay as soon as the food comes, rather than wait for a check, we did fine.

Well — that’s it for me for tonight.. I’m sure I forgot lots of what we did and saw..

We’re off early tomorrow to Xiamen and then Yongding… This should really be an experience.. We haven’t met anyone yet who knows where Yongding is..
Wishing you all a good holiday..
Fern