Day Four - Xi'an

The sun was down as we walked along the side of the 40 foot wall surrounding the inner city of Xi'an. The path, along a forested park between the wall and a deep moat, was busy with the citizens of Xi'an enjoying the cool evening. There were people in groups of 10 or 15 performing slow dances in unison that were like aerobics in slow motion, many dogs – all loose, not a leash in sight – took advantage of their daily opportunity outside (no dogs from 7 am – 7 pm allowed), young couples strolling hand in hand, and even a few men engaged a serious game of badminton.

This beautiful ending to our day began what seems like a long time ago, at 4:45 am, when our wake up call alerted us that we had reached the end of our Beijing visit. A groggy ride to the airport and a uneventful flight on China Eastern Airlines brought us to Xi'an (Cee-Anne). The name literally means “Western Peace.” The origin of the Dynastic era began here with the rise in power of the Qin Dynasty. We were in for a taste of 3,100 years of history.

Our first stop was a short walk on the top of the city wall. Fourteen kilometers square, the wall encloses the old city. It was constructed during the Tang dynasty (618 -907) to keep out invaders. There are 14 gates to the wall with archery towers spaced throughout the perimeter. The wall is about 45 feet wide making it very suitable for walking and bicycling. Unfortunately, a summer storm was approaching so our walk had to be cut a bit short.

 

From the wall we made our way to the restaurant for lunch. Along the route I caught this shot of a typical Xi'an electrical pole. Lucky they don't get ice storms here.

 

The highlight of our lunch was a noodle soup where a chef hand tossed the noodles from dough in front of us – delicious! After lunch we visited a very memorable Shaanxi History Museum (named for the Province that Xi'an is a part of). The museum is made up of 4 main halls covering 300,000 artifacts from prehistoric age (>1 million years ago) to roughly 500 BC.

 

After the museum we made a short stop to check into our hotel, the Grand Metropark Hotel, and then off to dinner. It was the worst meal yet. On the way back to the hotel, Lucie, Jean, Danielle and I decided to get dropped off so we could walk back. Making our way along the path next to the wall turned out to be the highlight of the day. Tomorrow, the Terracotta Army, I can't wait!