Xi'an is a big, bustling provincial capital on the site of the former
capital of China, Chang'an. It was the capital on and off over a
period of over 1,000 years, and marks the Eastern end of the fabled
Silk Road. This importance has left it with some interesting legacies
for the tourist:
1. The first emperor of China had a huge mausoleum built to store all
the things he'd need in the afterlife. It covered 45 square km, but
was ransacked during the civil war shortly after his death and for
many years the only legacy was a small artificial hill over the site.
35 years ago, a farmer was digging a well when he found some pieces of
carved stone. When archaeologists explored they found the remains of
over two thousand life-size clay figures of warriors and horses,
including charioteers, archers, and infantrymen. No two soldiers were
alike. Unfortunately, the statues had largely been smashed up in the
civil war, with only a single archer being complete, but they have
been painstakingly putting them back together again. The site is
pretty spectacular, especially the largest pit with row upon row of
figures in a genuine battle formation. Other riches have been found
there too, including a bronze half-size model of chariot and horses -
the chariot designed as a working model with moving parts. see here
for a sample picture, since we haven't been able to get our photos
onto the internet.
2. The city walls, which stretch for 14km around, and have been
restored so that you can walk or cycle (as we did) around the lot.
they're a lot bigger than those at Pingyao, at least 20m high and
similar width. see here
3. a large Muslim population, who are the main traders in a street
market near the city's belltower. You can buy plenty of souvenirs
here, but we focussed on the street snacks, and lunched on tea
-flavoured eggs, breads, pastries and pancakes filled with minced
meat or vegetables, persimmon cakes with date filling, rice cakes with
bean paste filling, sugarcane juice, wontons, fried quails eggs on a
stick, little kebabs rolled in spices. We also bought snacks for
later, including dried fruit - not just the usual, but also kiwi,
pineapple and goji berries; candied ginger and our favourite, peanuts
fried with sichuan pepper and dried chillies - the perfect beer snack!
see here
Xi'an is not all about the past though. One evening we took a bus
South of the city walls and walked through a bright shining new
development of shopping malls, restaurants and a square with fountains
where a nightly show is set to Chinese and western classical music.
All quite Las Vegas, I know, but fun to watch. Also a reminder of just
how "communist" china is these days!
We shared a soft sleeper carriage with Angela and Nicolla for the
overnight trip to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. This journey
really marked the transition between Northern China - dry, dusty with
wheat or corn fields; and southern china - lusher, greener, with rice
fields (stepped up the sides of hills when not on the flat) and
sometimes water buffaloes pulling the ploughs.
Population-wise and area-wise, most Chinese provinces are are as big
or bigger than a large European countries, so their administrative
centres are like national capitals. Chengdu is no exception, with 11
million people living here. We found a fairly relaxed corner of it to
stay in, in the Tibetan quarter where every other shop sells prayer
wheels and flags, and there is a large park nearby with a temple in
the middle and a tourist-oriented snack street - a tidier, dearer
version of Xi'an's Muslim quarter - but the food was just as good. It
was a blast from the past for me, as I stayed at the same hostel 7
years ago on my previous visit to China... So I let the others go off
to see the pandas at 7 am and had a lie-in instead! While there we
learned how to play Mah Jong and how to cook some popular Sichuan
dishes - visitors to chez K&A in the future can expect gong bao
chicken and fish-fragrant aubergines for dinner. WE were also on the
receiving end of some traditional massage techniques: scraping, where
a flat stone is dragged down your back using the thin edge "to get rid
of toxins" apparently, and cupping, where little jars are placed on
the back and then the air extracted pulling the flesh up inside. Our
backs have just about recovered...
We had a day trip out to Qingcheng Shan - a Taoist holy mountain a
couple of hours out of Chengdu. The mist didn't lift all day, which
meant that we didn't get great views across the mountains, but it did
add a sense of atmosphere to the place. We took the easy way up, a
short ferry trip across a lake and then a chairlift up most of the
way. It was odd to look down from the chairlift and instead of seeing
snow and skiers, to instead see gingko biloba trees, monkeys, and
Buddhas painted on the cliff-faces. We wondered around up and down
steps, in and out of temples for few hours, and even though we were
mostly going down, our legs were like jelly towards the end, so we
stopped and had tea overlooking a view of the mountains and trees that
the Chinese call "natural painting" because of its beauty. The return
journey was typically Chinese, being dumped on the outskirts of
Chengdu - fortunately a bus came by that took us almost to our hostel,
so it wasn't a problem. Hard to find an image that conveys the
atmosphere at Qingcheng Shan, but here's one to be going on with.
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