Good Sunday Morning from Xi’an, China-
Very important first order of business – Happy Birthday to our lovely granddaughter, Jocelyn. Have a good day, Jocey; we miss you.
What a strange and interesting country China is. We have heard it described as being “gray” and that is an apt description. There really is no color. There has been a layer of smog hovering over Xi’an the entire time we have been here. The locals call it fog, but, trust us, its smog. There is also a layer of dust over everything. Even the green leaves on the trees and shrubs have a layer of dust that mutes the color. It is cold here in Xi’an, upper 30’s, lower 40’s, so all the people have on winter coats. They are all black or gray. The only color comes from the large signs on the buildings. They are bright red and blue. In addition, Xi’an is in the midst of preparations to celebrate the Chinese New Year on January 25, and those decorations are very vivid colors. National Geographic has again put us up in a luxurious hotel. The staff of the hotel as well as the people we have encountered outside the hotel have been very efficient but also very reserved.
Xi’an is one of the oldest and, at one time, the most powerful cities in China. Early in its history it was the home of the great Emporer dynasties of China. Today, with over 8 million inhabitants, it is still a very important city in the central part of China.
Yesterday morning we visited the site of the terra-cotta warriors. There are over 8000 of these warriors that were built in 200 B.C. by the emperor Qin. He wanted this army to guard him in the afterlife so when he died he was buried along with the soldiers. They were not discovered until 1974 (yes, that is the right date, 1974) when a farmer accidentally found them while drilling a new well for water. They are amazing. The face of each warrior is different just like a real life army would be. We hope you can see the detail in the pictures. (Try double clicking on a picture to enlarge it.) Like many of the sites we have seen on this trip, words cannot adequately describe what we have seen.
After leaving the soldiers we had lunch at a local restaurant. We were the only foreigners in the place. Only 12 people on our tour chose to go to China, everyone else is in Tibet, so the 12 of us (plus a National Geographic staffer & 2 local guides) sat around a large round table with a huge lazy susan in the middle. A wide variety of dishes of food was place on the lazy susan and that is how we were served; sort of a buffet where the buffet comes to you instead of you going to the buffet. The food was interesting and delicious and, of course, we ate with chop sticks. (It is 6:45 in the morning and for the second morning in a row we are hearing martial music being played over loud speakers outside the hotel) Back to lunch. As we were going in the restaurant we went past a family with a small boy, 3 or 4 years old, who had obviously never seen Americans because he was pointing at us and laughing quite uncontrollably.
After lunch we went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the oldest pagoda in Xi’an. The pagoda itself is no longer used but there were several beautiful Buddhist shrines on the grounds as well as very peaceful gardens. Because apartments are so small in China the only pets people have are birds and they take the birds for walks in their bird cages. There were bird cages hanging all over the grounds at the pagoda. We had a good laugh when we noticed a couple of the cages hanging in the trees had cats in them!
Before returning to our hotel we stopped at the city wall that separates the center of Xi’an from the rest of the city. The wall is approximately 45 feet wide on top and 55 feet wide on the bottom. Now it is a lovely place to walk. When it was built it surrounded and separated the “Forbidden City” where the Emperor lived from the rest of the city and the ramparts at the top of the wall were used to defend the “Forbidden City”
After a wonderful dinner of Peking duck we went to a performance of music and dance from the Tang dynasty (600 A.D.-900 A.D.) There was a 25 piece orchestra that played for the singers and dancers. All of the instruments date from that period of time and most are no longer played except in this particular performance. In stark contrast to everything else we saw yesterday, the costumes were very colorful. (See picture above). It was a wonderful way to end our first day in China.
We have two more days left in China, including a visit to the National Panda research center that we will report on later.
Tim and Lynda
Very important first order of business – Happy Birthday to our lovely granddaughter, Jocelyn. Have a good day, Jocey; we miss you.
What a strange and interesting country China is. We have heard it described as being “gray” and that is an apt description. There really is no color. There has been a layer of smog hovering over Xi’an the entire time we have been here. The locals call it fog, but, trust us, its smog. There is also a layer of dust over everything. Even the green leaves on the trees and shrubs have a layer of dust that mutes the color. It is cold here in Xi’an, upper 30’s, lower 40’s, so all the people have on winter coats. They are all black or gray. The only color comes from the large signs on the buildings. They are bright red and blue. In addition, Xi’an is in the midst of preparations to celebrate the Chinese New Year on January 25, and those decorations are very vivid colors. National Geographic has again put us up in a luxurious hotel. The staff of the hotel as well as the people we have encountered outside the hotel have been very efficient but also very reserved.
Xi’an is one of the oldest and, at one time, the most powerful cities in China. Early in its history it was the home of the great Emporer dynasties of China. Today, with over 8 million inhabitants, it is still a very important city in the central part of China.
Yesterday morning we visited the site of the terra-cotta warriors. There are over 8000 of these warriors that were built in 200 B.C. by the emperor Qin. He wanted this army to guard him in the afterlife so when he died he was buried along with the soldiers. They were not discovered until 1974 (yes, that is the right date, 1974) when a farmer accidentally found them while drilling a new well for water. They are amazing. The face of each warrior is different just like a real life army would be. We hope you can see the detail in the pictures. (Try double clicking on a picture to enlarge it.) Like many of the sites we have seen on this trip, words cannot adequately describe what we have seen.
After leaving the soldiers we had lunch at a local restaurant. We were the only foreigners in the place. Only 12 people on our tour chose to go to China, everyone else is in Tibet, so the 12 of us (plus a National Geographic staffer & 2 local guides) sat around a large round table with a huge lazy susan in the middle. A wide variety of dishes of food was place on the lazy susan and that is how we were served; sort of a buffet where the buffet comes to you instead of you going to the buffet. The food was interesting and delicious and, of course, we ate with chop sticks. (It is 6:45 in the morning and for the second morning in a row we are hearing martial music being played over loud speakers outside the hotel) Back to lunch. As we were going in the restaurant we went past a family with a small boy, 3 or 4 years old, who had obviously never seen Americans because he was pointing at us and laughing quite uncontrollably.
After lunch we went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the oldest pagoda in Xi’an. The pagoda itself is no longer used but there were several beautiful Buddhist shrines on the grounds as well as very peaceful gardens. Because apartments are so small in China the only pets people have are birds and they take the birds for walks in their bird cages. There were bird cages hanging all over the grounds at the pagoda. We had a good laugh when we noticed a couple of the cages hanging in the trees had cats in them!
Before returning to our hotel we stopped at the city wall that separates the center of Xi’an from the rest of the city. The wall is approximately 45 feet wide on top and 55 feet wide on the bottom. Now it is a lovely place to walk. When it was built it surrounded and separated the “Forbidden City” where the Emperor lived from the rest of the city and the ramparts at the top of the wall were used to defend the “Forbidden City”
After a wonderful dinner of Peking duck we went to a performance of music and dance from the Tang dynasty (600 A.D.-900 A.D.) There was a 25 piece orchestra that played for the singers and dancers. All of the instruments date from that period of time and most are no longer played except in this particular performance. In stark contrast to everything else we saw yesterday, the costumes were very colorful. (See picture above). It was a wonderful way to end our first day in China.
We have two more days left in China, including a visit to the National Panda research center that we will report on later.
Tim and Lynda
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1 comment:
Tim and Lynda,
This is the first time that I've had an opportunity to catch up on your adventures. It sounds as if you are having a marvelous time and partaking in all of the local traditions. Continue to keep us posted, as those of us stuck within this crappy God forsaken snow, are enjoying reading of you cavorting in all of these exotic climes.
Love to you both,
Bunky
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