Kui's Blog 4: Welcome to Xi’an
Blog 4: Welcome to Xi’an
So my 12 hour train ride was pretty entertaining. I have never been on a train before, so I decided to go exploring. The carriage that we were in was for 2nd class seating. There were 6 beds to a room (3 on one side, 3 on the other) and storage for luggage was above the tiny hall way at the foot of the top beds. The bathrooms were all squat pots…I have honestly avoided a squat pot for as long as I could while living in Beijing, but I could no longer avoid them. They are not that bad, but I would still prefer a good ‘ol American throne, if you know what I mean. There is always a food cart that goes around every few hours for those who are out of food and are completely starving. There are tiny little seats in the hallways for looking out the window and eating.
After a few hours, I tried to get some sleep. The downside of living on the 2nd and 3rd level beds is living above people who SNORE!!! I could not sleep for the longest time due to some stranger sleeping on the 1st level who snores really loud. I put on my iPod, turned the volume on loud, and went to sleep. I woke up a few hours later because I felt crammed in my tiny bed, and walked around for a bit socializing with the rest of the study abroad students who were awake. After a long 12 hours train ride, we finally made it to Xi’an.
We dropped our bags off at the hotel, and started to explore our surroundings. We found an amazing dumpling place right across the road from our hotel, and an ice cream shop about 5 minutes away from where we lived. We noticed right away that this wasn’t a bustling city like Beijing, and everything was in walking distance to where we were living. We found a beautiful park, with a huge tower and a very huge water display. Apparently, every evening at 9pm, Xi’an holds one of the biggest water display shows in the world for 10 minutes. The water spouts play according to the music, and it is just amazing to watch at night. It is always crowed, so if one wants to get a good seat, go about an hour before the show.
While in Xi’an, I was very excited to see the Terracotta Statues. We did have to learn a bit of history first, and so we went to a pottery shop where we were shown how the statues were made in the past. I learned that they were hollow, they were all originally painted, and all the soldier statues were different from each other. I would have never thought that. We definitely needed a lunch break, and went to another part of the city to have a buffet. We finally got to the Terracotta Statues, and they were amazing. The story goes that a farmer was digging a hole for a well in 1974 and discovered pottery fragments at the bottom of the hole he dug…from there, its history. Hundreds of the soldiers have been uncovered, and many are still being uncovered today. Some of the statues are in amazing condition, and some of them are headless. It was honestly breathtaking and amazing to see Chinese history up close and personal.
The last full day we had in Xi’an was dedicated to climbing Huashan Mountain. There had been an earthquake a few days before, but the mountain was safe to climb. We took a cable car up to the midpoint of the mountain, and hiked to the highest peak (South Peak). It was a long hike and probably took us a little over 2 hours to reach the South Peak, which included us getting lost. Well, we conquered and rocked that mountain. We decided to go on the West Peak next, which was the 3rd tallest peak there. I won’t lie to you, but there was a bunch of steep climbing and rock climbing to do. What also doesn’t help is the fact that the steps are half the size of my foot, so it definitely will scare someone whose foot is about over a size 6 in women’s (note: I have size 10s in women’s). This was the first day since I arrived in China that I was able to see blue skies. The air was fresh, and the view was breathtaking.