Night Market in Xian - June 25-28

June 25 - 28
Wow, what a train. The train I took to Xian from Beijing was a brand new Chinese train. Each car had a cute, young Chinese girl with sharply styled uniform standing at attention waiting to help you. And the cabins, all new. Each bed, I was in a four bed cabin, had a flat screen tv at the foot of the bed with a selection of first run movies. What a contrast to my trans Mongolian train!!

On the train down, I see the "real" China. Back country farm homes, narrow valleys with huge red banners. People out doing Tai Chi in the morning, workers in the field doing work with NO mechanized equipment, all hand labor.

Xian is a remarkable city. Another BIG city, which is also booming. The center of the city is surrounded by a giant wall. It is an old fortress wall for protection. As with most Chinese cities I've visited, the infrastructure is not prepared for all the growth. It took 20 minutes to go 200 yards out of the train station to get into the city. On the west side of Xian, there are huge sky scrapers, new buildings, and cranes everywhere. More impressions that China is booming. I th ink I heard their GNP growth rate is over 10%. Traffic is always heavy, then when the peaks hit, it's a madhouse.

The Xian stay was a fun social experience. Sometimes the hostels are, sometimes they aren't, depending on your luck who you meet. For the three days, I hooked up with Jan, and American just finishing a Peace Corps assignment in Khasitstan, Sharon from New Zealand, and George (Georgia) from Manchester England. George was amazing, that cute deep English accent, (that many times I had to concentrate hard to understand..haaaaaaaaaaa). She is a lawyer there in Manchester, and hopes to perform consumer protection defense for people.

The major attraction here are the terracotta warrior statues. This was a whole day tour, we did ourselves by taking city and country buses out to the site. The hostel tour was too expensive.

What an incredible place. In 1975, a farmer while digging near the tomb of an emporer, discovered some clay figures. Turns out there are about 6000 of them. A whole army. The emporer had this clay army made to protect him in the afterlife. Each figure had a different face!!! they were all unique. there were chariots with horses, and orginally they were painted and holding weapons. The site has been turned into a major archilogical dig site, with huge buildings built over the excavations. Only pictures can show the incredible work this was. This was an amazing tour.

We all did the "night market" for three nights. This was in the Muslim quarter of Xian. When it gets dark, you walk under the big arch of the Drum Tower in the wall and the whole street lights up with vendors and street cooking. The Muslims love the meats on skewers and barbeque right on the street. Mutton, beef, and some weird chicken.
We also had pot boiled food. Like the old fondue pot, only with a hot soup that is boiling. You stick skewers in with various meats and vegetables. Wow, why don't we do this at home, it would be huge. For as long as the eye can see, lights down the street, smoke from the street barbeques, and lots of people. Mostly Chinese by the way.

I'm getting used to being stared at. I mean STARED at. Not casual stares, deep stares. Some are bold enough to just keep staring at me. I thought it was my age or my beard until I compared notes with the other fellow travelers. Haaaaaaaaaa its funny, we all just laugh at it. And after awhile you get used to it. It does tell me though, that not many foreigners come here. They say in Hong Kong, this doesn't happen, there are plenty of foreigners there.

Boy it's hot here. Record heat, its between 38 and 40 Deg C. If you calculate that out it has been over 100 deg F. In this heat, you tour early in the morning, then spend time around the hostel in the air conditioning mid day, then go out at night.

Well I'll say goodbye to Xian and to the great friends I met here. We all exchanged email names and plan to stay in touch. I fly down to Chongqing, where I'll pick up the boat for my river cruise. I was lucky, this hostel books transportation, so I was able to book my flights as well as the cruise.
See you on the Yangzi,

Yours in travel,
Bill