Xi’an
Warriors, Planks, and Chinese Hamburgers
Arrival
Funny thing about travel guides — they often say things you promptly ignore, only to find out later you should’ve freakin’ listened. People write these things for a reason.
Watch the taxi drivers in Xi’an as the industry is not regulated as it is in other larger cities. You may find yourself being taken on a long ride around town to get where you are going. It can also be difficult to convince them to take you anywhere.
Vici, Mary, and I got to Xi’an with very little hoopla. Everything ran smoothly. Wouldn’t it be great if that was the end of the story?
Ha.
That is, it ran smoothly until we got into a taxi at the Xi’an airport. We picked up the taxi driver’s boss’s daughter on the side of the road, which was a little weird, but hey, new city = new rules.
The smells that greeted us on the highway were somewhere in the realm of high-octane cow farts. Moving on…
Since Vici was staying in a different hotel than Mary and I, we asked the taxi driver to drop her off first. He proved completely incapable of finding her hostel. After stopping and asking five other taxis, he finally made it to the right street, but had Vici not yelled out and pointed, we would’ve stormed right past.
Vici makes it safe. We then continue on to Mary and my hotel. The taxi driver again proves unable to find our hotel, stopping an additional seven or eight times and flat-out refusing to look at my very clear map. He even stopped once, got out of the car, and went to chat with some buddies for a few minutes.
Mary yells at him and he begins to laugh. “Relax”, he says. FINALLY he drops us off at our hotel. We head to the lobby and are informed that this hotel is for Chinese citizens only. I protest, intending to prove I already have a reservation. But of course, I’m unable to access my email. Just to make sure, I ask the address of this hotel.
Yes, after all that, the taxi driver dropped us off at the wrong place.
Yes, we survived. We made it to the correct hotel. I swore a lot.
Huashan
FACT 1: Shan means mountain in Chinese, so if you hear someone refer to a mountain as, say, “Mt. Huashan” or “Mt. Huangshan”, they’re actually calling it “Mt. Flower Mountain” and “Mt. Yellow Mountain” in a mix of English and Chinese.
FACT 2: Does this article look familiar? It circulated a fair bit at the beginning of the year. Regardless, THAT is Huashan.
In the days leading up to our trip, a big ol’ raincloud appeared to hover over every day of our trip. We decided we might in all our lives have this one chance to go to Huashan, so we went anyway.
After an ahem…thanks for nothing taxi driver very short night sleep, we blearily wandered to the bus station. All in all, t’was an easy trip to the mountain. Except, when the bus dropped us off, I couldn’t find the mountain. Laughing, Vici pointed towards a wall of fog. Squinting, I found the shadow of an enormous mountain through the white mist. I still can’t believe I lost a mountain.
We were worried we wouldn’t be able to see anything, but we ended up with about a kilometer of visibility.
We took a bus + cable car up to the lowest of the five peaks. As it was the lowest of the peaks, the ride up was quick. The top was beautiful. The trek to the next highest peak involved several thousand steps and about a liter of sweat.
We spent the rest of the day hiking the other four peaks.
And walking the plank path.
Exhausted, dehydrated, and very hungry, we made our way down the mountain and decided to use the China method to make our way back to Xi’an proper — make no plans, have no expectations, and hope for the best. Surprisingly or not, it usually works.
It worked this time, too. Filthy and achy, we made our way to a local dive. Our eyes proved much larger than our stomachs and we ordered enough food to feed around six or seven people (I’m not kidding). The food was all delicious, but the most notable was the fried chicken. It was just plain old fried chicken. Granted, the batter was egg yolk instead of breading. But still. Fried. Chicken.
I botched our trip home, insisting we hop on a bus that led us in the complete wrong direction. But, as a result of my mistake, we did get to see Xi’an at night.
Terracotta Warriors and Muslim Quarter
1974. 19-freaking-74. The Terracotta Warriors were buried in 210 BC and rediscovered by some local farmers in 1974. At least as far as we’ve discovered, no one ever wrote down, “Oh hey, by the way, we buried several thousand life-sized clay sculptures. Just wanted to let you know!”
They depict the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. The primary purpose of these figures was to protect the emperor in his afterlife.
Even as recently as 2003, pits of figures continue to be discovered.
Seriously… READ.
Now everywhere I walk, I have to fight the urge to start digging.
We spent the afternoon browsing the Muslim District of Xi’an. It was supremely touristy, but the street food was excellent.
We finished the night with The LEGO Movie, obviously.
Han Yang Ling Mausoleum and Wild Goose Pagoda
Seriously, these dead guys and their mausoleums. We went to another mausoleum today. It was the quietest place I’ve been in China. We were joined on several acres of land by perhaps seven other souls.
For the pure “wow” factor, the Terracotta Warriors beat this mausoleum. But for the presentation factor, this mausoleum destroyed the Terracotta Warriors. You actually got to walk on top of the site and look down through a glass floor.
In the afternoon, we bused on down to the Wild Goose Pagoda. We sort of pretended we were going to the Wild Goose Pagoda to see the Wild Goose Pagoda. The reality is we wanted to see the magical musical fountain.
Awe turned to “wow is it really still going” turned to “I’m hungry, let’s go get food”. We went back to the Muslim Quarter to try some more regional bites. Too many options, too small a stomach capacity.
Vici and I went to see a show in the style of the Tang Dynasty. There were dancers and an orchestra and a fake emperor. Plus, the tickets came with a free glass of champagne. It was a wonderful show, and clearly meant for the fur-ners visiting the area. A peek at the food options revealed broccoli and mashed potatoes. Not exactly Chinese staples. It was quite a lot of fun.
The City Wall and Biang Biang Mian
Xi’an has one of the world’s oldest and best-preserved city walls. It has a circumference of 13.7 kilometers, a height of 12 meters, and a width of 15 meters. The best part — you can rent bikes. We got up while it was still cool and (luckily) dry, and enjoyed using different muscles after several days of walking.
Then, worn out and happy, we took a bus back to the airport.
Oi! I forgot. First we ate noodles called “biang biang mian”. The noodles are famous in large part because of the complexity of the “biang” character.
All in all, Xi’an was an interesting city. On the one hand, it avoided the wartime destruction that faced many of the eastern cities of China, so it remains one of the most well-preserved cities in China. It is surrounded by absolutely stunning nature. On the other hand, trashed lined nearly every street and my nose was exposed to many an unidentifiable and unpleasant smell. Traffic “laws” weren’t even recognized as suggestions, as they are in most other cities. They were just ignored.
It was quite the juxtaposition of old, new, poor and wealthy. It really was fun, though. Good travel companions, good food, and good sites.
