Field Trips

I haven't written because we've been out of town. We went on a field trip to Xi'an, China. Xi'an is a city of 6 million, but it is definitely a tourist attraction. They have maintained the old world feel in modern China - that is unique among the cities we've visited. There seems to be an overwhelming preference for new here, at the expense of tearing down history to build new. Xi'an (pronounced She-on) is also the site of the terracotta warriors. You've probably seen these around, they have a few at the Country Club Plaza in KC. I hadn't known their origins until now. They were built by an emporer so the army of soldiers could escort him in to the after life.

There was lots to see in Xi'an. We spent three days there. We arrived by overnight train and our hotel room wasn't ready. So, we walked to the south gate - Xi'an preserved the city gate that once surrounded it, now it is just part of the central city. We rented bikes and rode them the 13.74 kilometers (8.5 miles) around the entire gate. Fi and I were on a tendem (double)bike. It took us a couple hours, but it was a great way to see the city and all the Saturday morning activities. After that we checked in to our hotel (a local youth hostel) and showered. Yes, we stayed in a youth hostel. It wasn't as bad as you would assume. We had our own room with our own bathroom and the kitchen served pretty good food. It wasn't luxurious, but it was centrally located to everything we wanted to see. Because we didn't have enough exercise that day we also climbed the bell tower to get an overlook of the city. In the evening we attended a cultural dinner show with dancing, music and 16 kinds of dumplings - I'm not a fan of dumplings so I obstained.

The next day we took a tour to see the terracotta warriors. Before arriving we stopped at a silk factory. That was awesome! Did you know they use silk to make bullet proof vests? Also, the silk is from the cocoon of the silk worm, to get the different colors they change the DNA of the worm. Our second stop were the ruins of an ancient civilization believed to exist 6000 years ago. Then on to the terracotta warriors. We were traveling with five russians from moscow also staying in the hotel - they didn't seem to enjoy much. That night consisted of shopping, shopping, shopping in the muslim market.

Our third and final day in Xi'an we visited a museum of artifacts from the civilizations discovered in China. It was interesting to me because that is also our history. In the afternoon was more shopping. Then we went to the most amazing place - the Tong Paradise. This is like a giant botanic garden designed to replicate the Tong dynasty. It had amazing buildings, greenery, paths and water features. At 8pm they do a lazer light, water and pyrotecnics show. I think someone might be able to plan a whole day there. We missed it, but there were cultural shows earlier in the day. There were camel rides, play grounds and building tours. Dan said they spent millions - possibly billions on this. I believe it. It was phenomenal.

We took a plane back to Wuhan, ate dinner, and are leaving at 6:30am to the three gorges on Wednesday. What's the three gorges? That's the area of the worlds largest dam project, the one that displaced millions of people and will drown some very ancient buildings and temples, but will be an unbelievable source of water and power for China. I've seen a documentary on it on PBS. This will be field trip number two. I'm looking forward to it.