Xian

Way back before Beijing was the ruling city of China, Xian was the boss, a thriving city of emperors, poets, monks merchants and soldiers, a place where chinas culture apparently reached an apogee of creativitiy and sophistication. The end of the silk road the city has long been an important trading post, protecting it there were once huge walls that enclosed 83 sq km of palaces, temples and grand buildings. The area was home to the capitals of several major dynasties (11 apparently) stretching back all the way to the 11C BC . Sounds impressive eh? Well don’t get your hopes up like we did as almost none of it has survived and the city is the same as other Chinese cities - big boring concrete buildings and large wide streets for the high levels of traffic. If it wasn’t for the big walls enclosing the city (which have recently been rebuilt for the tourists and are a 1/7 of their former glory), a very few buildings that might pass as old (you know, old to an American) and the large muslim population then you could be forgiven for thinking the city was a creation of the past 50 years. As many people still rely on the cheap pressed coal dust blocks for fuel, and the streets are stuffed full of traffic you can literally chew the air in Xian. Within a few hours even the most healthy person has a sore throat, runny nose and is reaching for some kind of extra oxygen canister.
Quick list of the things we did in Xian.
- Visited the Terracotta warriors – found in the countryside about 1.5 hours outside of Xian by a farmer digging a well. Didn’t realize they had all been smashed up by rebels once the emperor had died, so all the warriors you see have been glued back together.
- Cycled the old walls
- Visited chinas largest musical fountain
- Spent lots of time trying to buy train tickets
- Ate Muslim food
That’s about it I think