Trips - Xi'an 07

Tang Dynasty Show

Someone looked up my entry re Xi'an yesterday. So, I thought I might write a bit more about it:

 

It was 非常非常好! (really great!). Xi'an (previously called Chang'an) is an old capital city and so there are a lot of historical sites, the most famous being the terracotta warriors (quite amazing!). We were lucky enough to meet Mr Young, the 80 year old farmer who discovered this ancient tomb. He's quite a celebrity, but I can't help but feel sorry for him. It's his job to sign the books about the Terracotta Warriors. He's now a tourist attraction and I think sitting there all day signing books would be quite straining for him.

 

We also got to go to the factory making the terracotta warriors using the original method – it was really interesting & we got to take close up photos with the warriors. I couldn't take many good pictures of the "real" terracotta warriors themselves because the hall was way too dark.

 

Xi'an is also the only city with its ancient city walls still intact. During the trip, we can actually go up and walk on top of the wall. Great views of the old city. There's also a very nice (and expensive) souvenir shop on top of the wall near the gate. If you go up to the top floor, you can buy original calligraphies from a famous calligrapher. If he is there you can ask him to "write" something for you – it will make a great gift! We are also able to walk or rent bicycles (probably the best way) on top of the city wall.

 

Being a Buddhist, I would say my favourite place was the "Forest of Stone Steles Museum". This is where translations (engraved in stones) of Buddhist texts and various historical records, important writings, and poetry, are kept. It's quite awesome being amongst these stone steles, especially seeing that there were some that were engraved (if I remember correctly, in the year AD480 (something like that!). It was also fun to see how many characters (not many!) I could recognise on those stone steles! To enhance the experience, ask the guide to translate one of the poems.

 

I thought the food in Xi'an was quite good too (compared to Inner Mongolia!). The dumpling banquet was fantastic, and the Tang Dynasty Show (optional – have to pay extra) was fantastic.

 

All in all, I had a great time and made some new friends. The trip was well organised and the tour guide in Xi'an was great. He was quite knowledgeable and during the trip he spoke both English and Chinese.