China Tour 2012 - Xi'an

Audra the Warrior

Good morning Xi'an. We already like this city more than Beijing. Could it be that it is a small city of only 8,000,000 souls?

After breakfast in the hotel it was off to The Chondale Pottery Factory and the Terracotta Warriors. The pottery factory was interesting, the local clays used for the warriors and for modern decorative pieces and paving tiles and bricks makes for a very dense and hard finished pottery after firing. Of course there was a shop after the brief tour and Sharon and I picked up a new tile for the house, some pottery trinkets, and a silk embroidered piece with a circle of gold fish in the center.


The Terracotta Warriors! This is an extraordinary thing to see and experience. Anyone who comes to China should make the effort to come to Xi'an and see this. There are over 7,000 soldiers, horses, chariots that have been here since about 200BC. Many of them were badly damaged when the supporting roof beams collapsed but they have been carefully restored. Fascinating. Though we have seen pictures and a documentary, seeing them is a memorable, moving experience.

Lunch at A Wa Shan Zhai Restaurant was mainly Hunan and Sichuan cuisine and very good. Summer recommended a dish made from pig intestines and we went for it. Quite tasty! She told us later that in four years of being a guide no other American group has tried this dish. We are adventurers. The meal was very good and we all especially enjoyed the bean and eggplant dish and ordered a second one.

After lunch we headed to the Great Mosque and Muslim quarters street. There has been a Muslim presence here dating back to the beginning of the Silk Road which starts in Xi'an. This is one pf their National Heritage sites. I think it needs work. The Muslim Quarters street was very interesting, filled with people and sights and sounds.

Next stop the City Wall. We all road bicycles on the wall. Sharon and I wimped and only rode the length of one side then turned around. Frankly, the air pollution here was taking a toll on my lungs and my throat was burning. Air pollution is a major issue here. Think of the worst of L.A. back in the 60s before the Clean Air Act.

Shopping. Larry wanted to go handbag shopping. Our guide took us to a shop that had really good high end copies. The Dunivan clan made out with some great deals. Sharon and I sat out front and watched the neighborhood. I chatted with a young boy of about Avery's age, 11. I complimented him on his English. He asked where were were from and what we were doing in Xi'an. Cute boy and shame on me for not getting his picture.

We finished the day with a dumpling banquet. The dumplings kept coming and coming! Many were good a couple were terrible and a couple were outstanding.