Chapter 40 - Xian

Hello Again Everybody,
Well I am no longer at my little town in Huayuan anymore! It’s the
last 2 weeks of my time in china and these next weeks are going to be
crazy! With seeing so many amazing sights, meeting new people and
traveling by trains. In fact at this every second I am writing this
blog laying on my bed on the very top of the sleeper cabin. I will go
to sleep and when I wake up I will be in Beijing. This is the
2nd train I have been on. The first was the one that got me to
Xian!!!
Xian has been a WONDERFUL place! It has so much to offer and since my
time there was short every day was filled with fun filled adventures.
So instead of breaking this blog into 3 days I will make it 3 long
paragraphs about each day. Also in our room at the hostel our
roommates were Gary and Joanna! The first day we decided that we
should explore Xian together and from there the friendship grew and we
ended up spending everyday together laughing and having a great time!
The first day Joanna, Gary, Lee and I decided to hit up the
Terracotta Warriors! This was AWESOME!!!! Its was amazing to see
over 2,000 clay warriors all standing in a line! I learned so much
about this place and I was astonished with every new fact! It was
crazy how many statues there were and how many people were coming to
see them. The first place was were majority of the soliders were in
Pit #1.
And we also got to see the place where the soldiers were put
back together piece by piece. Because most of the statues were broken
due to the fact that were made out of the clay/dirt found in that area
know as Terracotta sand/dirt. So there I got to see statues at
different stages of the building process.
Now the finding of the
warriors was in 1974 by a farmer who was digging a well trying to find
water. Well he found a head of the warrior and its said that if he
would have dug 1 to 2 meters (3 to 6 ft) in any other direction they
would of never found them! It was really cool because that farmer is
still alive today! And he was at the museum the day we happened to be
there. I got a Terracotta Warrior Book full of pics and the
discoveries and I even got the farmer’s signature in my book. Also
got to shake his hand! It was really neat!
After we got done with the warriors we headed back to town.
Well a big part of the city of
Xian is barricaded with walls from the Qing Dynasty. It had huge
walls and even a moat that went all the way around. Well we rented
some bikes and got to bike on top of the wall around the barricaded
city! It was so cool! And it was right during the sunset so it was
beautiful weather, the chinese were out in the plazas dancing and I
thought I would never say this but the smell was wonderful! The bike
ride had finished our day and we headed back to the hostel where we
got a good nights rest.
The second day in the morning we all were still very exhausted from
the prior day! So this day we took it more relaxed and saw some more
relaxing sights. Within the walls of Xian are two towers. One is the
bell tower and the other is the drum tower. The bell tower was
awesome! It had this huge bell the was over 15 ft tall and in the bell
tower there was a performance. It was really cool to see all the
different instruments they used and how they sounded! Next was the
drum tower. This was sweet! They had these huge drums that were
like 15ft and they sounded awesome! We weren’t supposed to drum on them
but Gary gave us a pretty good show. Hahahah
After that I got see the a true Chinese market! Got to work on my chinese and get ready for Beijing and Shanghai. Then we went to this square where it
has these fountains that dance and do this cool show (sort of like
the Beligio fountains in Las Vegas). But due to electrical problems we
didn’t get to see the show but it was really cool just being in that
environment with that many chinese people and also many travelers.

The next day was sort of out of the blue. It was supposed to be a
relaxing day and getting everything ready for the train ride to
Beijing. Well the prior night Joanna and Gary started asking me about
the Huangshan mountain. Now my pics will not give this mountain
enough credit! So look it up on the web and you will see this is no
normal mountain hike. We decided to do the easy way which is a cable car
to the base of the mountain then start the climb from there. Which is
the first 600 meters it was difficult. Climbing up these super steep
stairs. The stairs were carved out of the mountain and then a pole with
chains were what you used to pull yourself up each and every step!
There were parts where the pathway turned into a 2 ft board on
the edge of the cliff and chains about eye level for you to hold on
to! It was so crazy and such a riot! Wasn’t able to reach the tip
top but I guess that will have to wait til next time I come to Xian! We
had to hurry down the mountain so that I would be back in time to
catch my train to Beijing. That’s why I wasn’t able to reach the top.
But as high as I got up was totally worth it and it has brought
endless stories for me tell. I got back in time to shower, get in a
taxi and get on the train, where I am now writing everyone.
My body is very sore but I am loving every second! I know that I will
be coming back to Xian in the future because 3 days in Xian wasn’t enough time
to spend in this beautiful city! I WILL CONQUER that mountain before
I die! I hope everything is going great for everyone.
Love Jordan

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