Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Xian, China

China is experiencing the worst weather it’s had in about 50 years. Most of the east side is under heavy snow cover, and the entire country, even the southern parts that are always warm, are feeling the chill. Plus, Chinese New Year, also known as The Spring Festival, the biggest holiday of the year, and everyone is traveling home to be with their families. The holiday + bad weather combo makes travel even more of a mess with more delays and cancellations than usual. Flying is the best way to go now, as domestic airfare isn’t that expensive relative to the American dollar and a few planes have seats left.

It seemed too good to be true when, still determined to spend a few nights in a small town, we found cheap first-class flights to Wuhan in the Southwest. We were enjoying VIP treatment when some sort of disturbance broke out in the front cabin, and the two men in front of us started yelling at the flight attendant and shaking their fists towards the cockpit. And as neither Derek or I speak Mandarin, it took us a long time to figure out what was going on. Finally, a flight attendant announced in broken English, after several announcements in Chinese, that the flight was diverted due to bad weather and we were landing back in Hangzhou. Damn! We were so annoyed to have traveled all day for nothing that we booked a ticket to our next must-see stop, Xian, to avoid getting stuck somewhere in between.

Xian is the third oldest city in the world, after Alexandria and Istanbul, and also the fabled beginning and ending of the Silk Road. It’s on China’s central Plain, in the northwest area of the country. We came here to visit the Terra cotta warriors, a life-size clay army that was discovered in 1974 by a farmer who was just trying to dig a well. Now thousands of warriors have been discovered in the area, and the excavation is still in progress. The warriors were originally buried with weapons to protect Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emporer, in his afterlife (his mausoleum is nearby). Rumor has it Qin Shi Huang then killed the hundreds of slaves who helped build his warriors, to ensure the army’s location remained secret. The army is a must-see for anyone who is going to China, and the Chinese have dubbed it “the eighth wonder of the world.” The site is about 45 drive minutes from Xian, although the tour took all day, as most Chinese tour packages also include a visit to the guide’s sister’s neighbor’s silk factory, or her niece’s teacher’s jade emporium, where of course all items are for sale and shopping is highly encouraged.

On our last night in Xian, we walk along the city walls wearing all of our cold-weather gear, just to see if we need to buy more layers before hiking the Great Wall next week. Afterwards, we ditch the hostel and check into the Sofitel, one of the only five star hotels in Xian, mainly because I can’t remember the last time I was warm. (As Derek said, we’re either “penthouse or outhouse.”) It doesn’t seem like anyone in China turns on the heat. In Alaska, I always dressed warm outside, but was able to remove my layers inside, because it was always heated. Not so in China. People wear their parkas everywhere. Either heat is too expensive or the Chinese are a heartier breed.

Regardless, I really like Xian. It’s historic and modern city, with temples and pagodas beside malls and street vendors selling knock-offs. Everyone is walking around outside, all the time, and the town seems very busy and alive.

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