A Whirlwind Tour of Xi'an

We left Chengdu after a more than three hour delay due to huge thunderstorms earlier in the morning.  But, the flight to Xi’an (all 60 minutes of it) was uneventful.  Our luggage arrived promptly and we met Tianqi’s “Uncle” (actually a cousin of her Mom’s).  He is Chunzi, a taxi driver.  We packed ourselves and our luggage into his cab and traveled the 40 minutes or so to the Hilton in the central city.

The Hilton exceeded our expectations.  The lobby was beautifully done in a style that combined Chinese traditional with clean modern style.  The rooms were decorated similarly.  Our room faced the central courtyard which was quiet and peaceful while Nick and Tianqi’s faced the back street.  The bathroom was unusual in that a picture window separated the bathtub from the bedroom.  There was an electronic shade that could be lowered.  The bathroom had a separate large shower and a separate toilet room.  The AC worked well and the kingsize bed was comfortable.  

Nick and Tianqi in the wonderfully done Hilton lobby - a modern setting for traditional Chinese art

The front entrance of the Hilton does not do justice to the graciousness and comfort within

Our room faced the inner courtyard and had a very comfortable king bed

The bathtub (which we did not use) with the large bathroom beyond

After dropping the luggage we went across the street (literally) to the Tianxilou restaurant.  This place had a huge menu which included some Muslim specialties, which we chose.  Xi’an is the eastern terminus of the Silk Road and thus includes a Muslim minority and has a tradition of some Muslim cooking, which is known for its deliciousness.  We had a roast leg of lamb which was the best lamb we ever had, some stir fry eggplant and green beans (also wonderful) and stir fry mushrooms and bok choy.  The most traditional dish was paomo, a lamb (or beef) broth poured over thin noodles and crumbled bread bits.  Before the meal, the waiters bring you a stiff dry bread the size of a large English muffin.  You tear this into small bits into a bowl.  Then the staff adds noodles and broth.  Apparently this traditional was a social one (breaking the bread, which takes a while) and nourishing (eating/drinking the soup).  It was nice but not as outstanding as the lamb and the veggies.

The best place for Muslim food is just across from the Hilton

The English is imperfect but the food is pretty perfect

Tearing the bread in preparation for the paomo

Tianqi, Chunzi and Nick anticipate lunch

The lamb was the best of the best

The eggplant and green beans were off the charts too

The finished paomo

Our main goal for the day was the World Heritage Site of the Terracotta Warriors (or Terracotta Soldiers).  This is located about 45 minutes north of Xi’an in a large park area, some 50 square kilometers.  Apparently it is almost always packed with tourists, nearly of them Chinese.  On our day (late on a rainy Wednesday) it seemed a surprising number of tourists to us but apparently it was a very light day in terms of visitors.  Chunzi dropped us near the entry where golf carts whisked us to the main site.  

In the back of Chunzi's taxi

The soldiers were made at the order of the first Emperor Qin in the 200’s BC for his mausoleum and use after death.  There is a museum and three “Pits”.  The first and largest and most famous pit is #1, the site of where the farmers first found the warriors while digging for a well.  We took this in while jockeying for position with the native tourists.  Then we visited Pit 2, a disappointment as all warriors are still covered and Pit 3, a smaller collection of mostly unexcavated warriors.  The Pit 2 building does contain some of the most outstanding figures under glass so you can see them up close and marvel at the detail.  They expect to find some 6,000 figures when it is all over and these include soldiers of various rank and type, officers, and horses.  All were equipped with brass weapons and there were also chariots, now lost because they were made from wood.  These figures are about 2,400 years old and were the result of the local emperor deciding he would rule in the afterlife as he had on earth and would need an army to protect and support him.  

The breathtaking view of the soldiers in Pit 1

Marching through eternity

Three of the magnificent horses

A selfie in this top 10 attraction of China

Everyone enjoyed this spectacle

A sideways look

Some detail - every warrior is different with a different face, clothes, etc.

In the back of Pit 1 were the warriors still under restoration

You can see some missing parts

The covered warriors of Pit 2

One of the warriors on display in Pit 2

Head detail

An officer

Facial detail

The general

An impressive horse

Head detail

An action figure

An intent expression

The back of the general (head seen earlier)

The partial excavations of Pit 3

Pit 3 still needs some work

In the small museum there were more figures to view up close along with some of the remnants of the weapons and pottery.  The most celebrated items in the museum though are two metal (brass with other metals) chariots built at half size.  One on display (#2) was a replica (the other one might be on loan somewhere) but the other one (#1) is presumably authentic.  After admiring these we walked back to Pit 1 where we began and took a leisurely look at the hundreds of figures almost undisturbed by others as it was near 6 PM and very few visitors still remained.  

The 1/2 scale metal chariot (#2) and horses

A frontal view of chariot #1

The big dog himself whose tomb artifacts we are seeing

An interesting warrior in the museum

There was also a group of metal wildlife in the tomb area including this crane

Randy admires the soldiers in the museum

Originally all colored, this one is a rarity that retains some of its red on the clothing

The pretty hills surrounding the terracotta warriors site

Back to Pit 1 - a panoramic gives you a good idea of the scale of the place

Another lateral view of the countless warriors standing ready to guard their lord

A final panoramic of this amazing sight

We walked out (no golf carts on the way out) through a long complex of shops.  We did bargain and buy some souvenirs here and finally made our way to Chunzi’s taxi.  He took us to a very local and very good noodle restaurant near the central city (but outside of the city gates) where we ate a variety of noodles and accompanying dishes.  The wait staff (which was huge) and the customers gawked at us (non-Chinese are apparently unknown at this establishment).

Where the locals go for noodles

Some of the staff were chowing down near us

Unusual to see bread in a Chinese restaurant.  This looked better than it tasted.

The gang enjoys the starters before the noodles arrive

The rest had soupy noodles while I enjoyed spicy noodles not in a broth

Nick is impressed with his noodle bowl

Satisfied, Chunzi took us to the historic center where we saw the breathtaking Bell Tower and Drum Tower lit up at night.  The Bell Tower, despite being surrounded by streets, was a bit more breathtaking but the Drum Tower lay next to the atmospheric small streets of the Muslim quarter.  Both looked better lit up than they could possibly look in daylight.  I wanted to see the Great Mosque, a large and famous one dating back more than 1,200 years but it was closed.  I was able to see some of the walls and the entry.  This mosque is a totally different concept than the ones we saw in other countries.  It is like a Buddhist temple complex and the single minaret (which I did not see) is built as a pagoda.  The shopping area next to it was really interesting with many touristic goods.  We bought a few things and headed back to the comforts of the Hilton.

The amazing Bell Tower - best seen at night

The Drum Tower was also a beautiful sight

The Bell Tower again

The Drum Tower again

Entry to the mosque complex (closed at night) - this photograph is for you, Mehmet

The entry to the mosque

Another view - this is set right in the shopping street

As you walk through the shopping street you are also walking along the walls of the mosque complex.  Note the carvings and the gentleman with the Muslim white cap walking by

A last view of the very special Drum Tower

After an interesting early morning stroll around the busy city streets surrounding the Hilton, Thursday AM was spent seeing the Big Wild Goose Pagota (“Dayanta”), another notable sight of Xi’an.  This is located outside the city center in a suburb that looked pretty upscale.  This was built in the 600’s and consists of a large tower surrounded by Buddhist temples and a monastery.  The complex was nestled in a green park.  It was all peaceful and interesting with exceptional carvings and wall reliefs in jade, wood, stone, and copper.  The center was built to honor Yuanzang, a Chinese who traveled to India and spent some years there learning about Buddhism.  He became a master and then returned to China to share his learning with others including the Emperor of the region.  Yuanzang became a revered scholar.  He is mentioned in a well-known (at least to the Chinese) ancient book, “The Monkey King.”

Heading to the Big Wild Goose Pagota

As usual, beasts stand guard on either side of the entry

Nick and Tianqi enjoyed their short stay in Xi'an

Entering the complex, small buildings housed a bell on one side (here) and a drum on the other side (below) in order to signal day's beginning and end

The drum

Some of the statuary

A dragon entry carving (we will see more of these in Beijing)

An altar

A bell inside the temple

The jade relief artwork that depicts the life of the scholar Yuanzang

One of my favorite photos - a monk reading his devotions (presumably) with his tea travel mug next to him

The pusa of money

A selfie with the relatively austere pagota

Detail of a wood carving relief in one of the buildings

An elephant on guard

Another altar (there are many gods in Buddhism)

A lucky goddess sits in the garden

Noble turtles guard the place also

Chilling in the garden of Dayanta

Chunzi took us back to the Hilton to retrieve our luggage and a larger van took us all to the airport.  We went through the (now) usual rigmarole of getting Tianqi on the plane.  I had bought all of our tickets from Expedia and listed her name (of course) in English characters.  She did not bring her passport with her (a mistake) and we had convince the airline (and sometimes security) that she is the same person.  It adds time and frustration to the process.  We made it through and had an airport lunch of noodles and a type of small sandwich that Xi’an is known for.  This is shredded pork or lamb on a hard version of an English muffin.  Our flight, unlike the previous two internal Chinese we flights we took, took off on time and we are now headed for the capital city of Beijing.

Lunch at the Xi'an airport

The local sandwich specialty

Xi’an is an attractive city (by Chinese standards) and contains a wealth of historic sights and sites.  We were not able to see more than the two few sights and there are many more, both in the city and in the nearby countryside.  The food was the best we had in China (so far) and clearly has benefited from its Muslim connection.  Having a local take us around and be our driver at the same time was an enormous benefit and the Hilton is a superior hotel, one we would happily stay in again.  People know the place for the Terracotta Warriors and they are definitely worth seeing, but we also liked the other aspects of Xi’an just as much.

The family in front of one of the major sights in China - Pit 1 in Xi'an

Another family photo - this time in front of the iconic Dayanta of Xi'an