Feb 24 - XiAn

Our guide, Ivy, told us XiAn is only a small city of 9 million, and it takes her “only” an hour to get from her apartment to our hotel, and the hotel is in the middle of the city, and she lives in the “middle” of the city… Chinese perspective is a bit skewed I think. Today we went to see the Large Wild Goose Pagoda, it was modeled after the Buddhist pagoda’s in India. It was built in honor of the famous Monk what’s his name, who got tired of the Chinese Buddhists misapplying the religion, so he went to India to get a set of the scriptures to bring back with him. He is credited for the rise in popularity of Buddhism in China. All the temple buildings surrounding the Pagoda were in the architecture of the Tang dynasty (that is not who invented the popular orange drink). It is much plainer and simpler architecture, with fish tails on each gable of the roof. The tradition says that fish live in water, so the tails would protect them from fire… they were still standing, I guess it worked… Pretty neat stuff, I’m sure it was very educational for the kids, banking on this, and wanting to lock in the valuable lessons, I asked them what they learned; “It doesn’t look like a goose” –Emily, “Buddha has moobs” –Taylor, “What?” –Zach… Learning…

Since we had spent more time at the replica workshop than our guide had allowed, we had to eat lunch on the way to instead of at the site of the warriors. Okay, I’m going to rant a little here, please bear with me; Why do they insist on seating a family of five at a table for ten every meal? Then they feed us the exact same amounts as the adjacdent “table of ten” (with 10 people sitting there)! Do I look fat or something? (please don’t answer that, things may have grown since we got here…) I think I’m going to burst soon! Our family mantra has become “table for ten” as we are being seated by non-english speaking hostess’. During lunch Zach complained that his soup bowl was so small, he was using the ashtray…

Next, we arrived at the workshop that makes the official replicas of the terra-cotta warriors. While Stacey and I decorated the house from 8,000 miles away, the kids amused themselves by taking pictures posing with the life-size replicas. Did you know they had the hang loose hand signal back then? They also did thumb wars, according to the pictures. Next stop was the site of the terra-cotta warriors. This is truly one of the Wonders of the World, it is hard to put into words the magnitude of this amazing find. I was gratified to see the Chinese seem to appreciate its significance to their heritage, however, as with most things, it’s a little different than the States. There were guards, and signs prohibiting flash photography, so while I labored with shutter speed in the low light, bulbs flashed all around me. People were eating, drinking and smoking in all the exhibits, I even saw a pepsi bottle that had been dropped into one of the pits and had settled next to a soldier half buried in the dirt. The close access to the soldiers was a welcome difference however. Really stunning was how well they had reassembled the soldiers from the rubble they discovered. Among the things I didn’t know prior to this visit, was that a group opposed to the Emperor Xin (who ordered the soldiers created to guard him in the afterlife) found out about the pits of soldiers (in spite of the fact that the Emperor had every one of the laborers who fashioned the soldiers killed to ensure their silence), broke into them, stole all of the weapons the clay soldiers were holding, bashed them to pieces, and set fire to the entire structure. The area were basically long pits dug into the earth about 10 feet apart, covered with large timbers, then straw mats then covered with earth entirely. You can imagine the shape of things upon discovery, but you can’t really even see any seams where they glued the pieces back together. I also did not know that when they discovered them, the soldiers were painted in bright , intricate, detailed colors, however, upon exposure to air and light the colors disappeared within three days of their exposure. For this reason, about 5,000 of the 8,000 soldiers remain buried in the soil until the technology of preserving the colors is invented, there’s some optimism for you! The discovery was made when a farmer was digging a well and found pottery pieces. The site of the well is at the very outermost edge of the entire pit. Only a foot or two away and they might still be undiscovered. Our guide told us it takes on average 6 months to reassemble one of the soldiers, there are about 3,000 reassembled soldiers at the site. In the up close exhibit I was surprised at the intricacy of the detail used in the construction of the figures, on the kneeling archer the tread on the sole of the exposed shoe was amazing, small details only 1/8 of an inch wide. Walking out of one of the exhibits, three teenage girls grabbed Emily and motioned for her to take a picture with them. She was almost as tall as they were, but it seemed to be a treat for them to have Emily in their picture. We spent 4 ½ hours at the exhibits, our guide informed us that usually people spend 3 hours, including lunch at the site! This is becoming a theme of our trip…

On the way back to town the kids were in rare form. The large van we were in afforded them the space to wrestle, have thumb wars and tickle battles. At one point the laughter became screaming/arguing, at which time Stacey, who had been dozing, woke up and shouted “dissolve” at the kids, the arguing turned back to laughter, and now when one of the kids gets out of line, someone else yells dissolve, and all is fine and funny… Professionals at work, do not try this at home! Our guide had arranged dinner at one of the hotels in town, as it turns out we were the only ones having dinner there that night (wondering why), so they said with enthusiasm “we can make you American dinner!” (I’m getting real nervous now!). Following is a rare glimpse into the conversation surrounding our scariest meal in China (so far)… Please note, we did not order anything, they just bring stuff out:

Waitress: “How you like you steak cook?” S: “Well done please” B: “No way, medium rare!” T: “Steak… of what?” B: “I heard you shouldn’t order steak in China, they don’t have cows” S: “You don’t even know what it is and you want it bloody?” T: “You could always tell them to pop it back in for a while” S: “Kids, you don’t have to eat the weird salad, but at least re-arrange the plate so it looks like you ate something…” B: “Excuse me, can you put this back in the oven… for say… an hour? I don’t want to recognize it when it comes back!” T: “You know the meat isn’t so bad, smothered in ketchup” B: “Can I have another glass of wine, and don’t be stingy, the glass is already really small” S: “this is gross.” Z: “What is this meat? T: “Dad, can I have another beer?” E: “What’s for desert?” Back at our hotel, Taylor posted to his blog while the four of us watched a movie (well actually only three of us, Stacey can’t stay awake for a movie, and China is no different).

XiAn is a very interesting city, the geography reminds me of the central valley of California, dry, dusty, flat, lots of farms and the everpresent smoggy air. We are told there are frequent dust storms, many people were wearing dust masks. The huge ancient wall around the inner city, which is still intact is incredible, as are the high end cuture shops lining its streets, clogged with pedestrians, bikes, cars, taxis, and busses entangled in the typical Chinese dance. Our guide told us it was only a small village in 1974 when they discovered the terra-cotta soldiers, now it is a bustling metropolis of 9 million! Any direction you look there are skyscraper cranes building new buildings, and rubble from older buildings being torn down to make room. XiAn’s primary industry is military factories, and tourism. New roads are being built everywhere, the airport is brand new. So far it seems that at any given moment, ½ of China is under construction! Apartments in this town are fairly reasonable (according to our guide), with a average for a nicer apartment in a new high rise going for $45 a square foot.
Evidently this is a good time to travel to China, the crowds and traffic are light (by their standards). Today was actually nice weather, the sun was out, and it was a cool 65 degrees (by our guess).

My thoughts on China so far; the public bathroom stall doors open outward (very good idea), most of the toilets are “squatty pottys” (not such a great idea), and everywhere its BYOTP – bring your own TP (bad idea), No minimum drinking age (this is good according to Taylor, Stacey and I are trying to figure out what to think), There are no rules of the road, accept for don’t hesitate!, however the Chinese drive fairly slow, even on an empty expressway – our van never got over 35mph and this was very typical. Bikes can do anything, cars can do more, and watch out for anything larger! Pedestrians do not have the right of way, and they are everywhere – even the middle of intersections (probably a bad idea, but it doesn’t seem to occur to them) Fireworks are cheap and plentiful (great!) They set them off everywhere, 24/7 for the entire 2 weeks of Chinese New Year (not so good for sleeping) Cold drinks, soda and beer, aren’t really cold, warm rather, and ice cubes are rare (not great) Food is plentiful and cheap (can be good or bad) A lot of small “baby butts” hanging out of their “split pant” outfits (cute) They squat wherever they feel the urge (not so cute) Bountifull breakfast buffet’s in the hotels, with choices for a dozen different cultures (good) Mystery meat (not so good) The standard answer to any question they don’t really understand – “no problem” (nice) Hearing “wait me one moment” (cute but getting old) Chinese Laundry, that’s like an institution right? So we packed light (good, we thought) Charge for laundry on one pair of socks - $4!!! (not so good) Comfy down comforters on the hotel beds (great) Thermostat, no matter the setting, blows HOT air, no operable windows (sweaty mess!)

Good Night,

Brett