Xian

After Beijing, our next stop in China was Xian.  To get there, we took a 12 hour overnight train from Beijing that set off around 8:40 PM.  Riding the night train was definitely a cool experience.  I was in a cabin that had two bunk beds with 3 others from my study abroad group. Tip: If you ever happen to ride the night train, take the top bunk – the air conditioning is up there.  Being on a train for twelve hours was definitely more enjoyable than the twelve hour plane ride I took from Detroit to Tokyo to get to China.  In a train you have the ability to get up and walk around, meet people from other cabins, and actually lie down to sleep.  Our entire train car was filled mostly with our group and a large group of students from Australia who were traveling in Asia as part of their education to become Travel Agents.  We somehow managed to fit about 10 people in our tiny compartment at one point and we played cards with some of the Australians and talked about what life is like in Australia.

Xian was formerly named Chang’an, and is the ancient capital of China.  Our train arrived around 8 am the next morning, and after a much-needed stop at our hotel, we set out to explore Xian. We first went to the History museum, where there were different exhibits for the different Chinese dynasties. My knowledge of Chinese history is very limited, so it was nice to learn more about some of the dynasties that are referenced at all of the tourist spots we’ve visited.  We went to two more attractions that day: Dayan Pagoda and Xian’s Drum tower, both of which were really cool.  Dayan Pagoda is 7 stories tall and was built in 652, and we got to go inside it – there are awesome views of Xian from the top.  It was incredible that a structure so old was still standing to this day.

Xian has an ancient city wall which is still intact that surrounds the center of the city.  The wall is almost 40 ft tall, and our first activity of the day was renting bicycles and riding on the city wall.  The entire wall is 9 km around, and riding bikes on this wall that is thousands of years old was an awesome experience. From the City wall we could see the park where the ancient palace was once located, so that’s where we decided our next stop was.  The ancient palace itself is now in ruins, but the location where it once was is now a very large park in the middle of Xian.  The park reminded me somewhat of Central Park in New York – but on an even larger scale.  You could see all the tall buildings of Xian all around the edges of the park.  Our trip to see the palace also included a paddle boat ride around the lake that was within the park.  One awesome thing about China: the paddle boats had roofs to shade you from the sun (Although at this point I had been outside all day and had already sun burnt).

The Park

Xian has a very different feel from Beijing as a City.  In Beijing almost every sign has both the Chinese characters and the English translation, which I believe may be because Beijing was the host city for the 2008 Olympics.  There is a lot less English in Xian, and that was immediately apparent to me from even just our trip from the train station to our hotel.  Xian is definitely still somewhat of a tourist city in China, but it was interesting to see two different big cities in China.

Our third day in Xian was dedicated entirely to climbing Huashan. After an early start and a 2 hour bus ride, we made it to the mountain.  Huashan is the mountain where the Emperor used to pray when the capital was in Xian, and though many people say Huashan isn’t as pretty or impressive as Yellow Mountain, it holds a spiritual significance for the people of China.  There are multiple temples on your way up the mountain, including one right at the top.  In my opinion, Huashan was incredibly impressive – though I have yet to go to Huangshan (that’s Chinese for Yellow Mountain).  On Huashan, every rope you see on the mountain is covered in locks that people have left there.

The climb of the mountain itself was definitely challenging.  The cable car we took goes about half way up the mountain, and then you get to climb the rest.  Stairs are carved into the mountain out of the stone, and in certain sections they can be very steep.  It was already a cool day in Xian, but at the top of the mountain with all of the wind it was really cold, which was quite a difference from getting sunburnt the day before. When we reached the top we all bought medals with our names engraved on them to commemorate the occasion.

Our last day in Xian started out with checking out of our hotel and taking a bus ride to The Terracotta Warriors.  When I first found out we were going to Xian, The Terracotta warriors were the only thing that I was familiar with.  They were something I had heard of before, but the difference between seeing pictures and actually being there is astonishing.  I didn’t really understand the scale of The Terracotta Warriors until I was there right in front of them. Right now each pit is being excavated and every effort to rebuild all of these soldiers is underway. The restoration and excavation of the site occurs during the night, so that it can be open to tourists during the day.  My favorite part of The Terracotta Warriors was seeing the pits that were still in the process of excavation.

After seeing the terracotta warriors, we got to take part in a tea tasting and tea ceremony.  The Chinese definitely take their tea seriously – sometimes I’ve even asked for water with dinner and gotten tea.  We tried multiple different kinds of tea, and even though I didn’t particularly care for any of them, seeing how big tea is a part of the culture was interesting.  After that we went to the Xian airport where we boarded our plane to Hangzhou, China, where I’ll be staying for the rest of my time here in China.

I’ll do my best to write a new update about Zhejiang University, where I’m studying abroad as soon as I can!