Xi'+An+Day+1

Sorry we are getting backed up on our reports a little. Having no computer access last night and having a very full day today set us back a bit. I've posted [|photographs] from today; Kathryn will add her observations, but Allie has to get at our last day in Beijing first. Know this, though: these kids have been great and we are all having a fabulous time. I love how well they all get along. Greg and Kevin are amazing us all with their facility with Mandarin. Everyone is appreciating every aspect of the experience. I hope you can tell from the photographs how really spectacular this trip has been.

In the end, I took over the write-up for day 1 in Xi' An. Carmelle's already well along with today's experiences with the Terra Cotta Soldiers and the Tang Paradise. Enjoy!

For most of us, the long train ride through the night seemed to go pretty well. Most slept at least most of the night. We arrived in Xi’ An a little ragged but interested in what we would find. We collected all of our belongings, disembarked, and met up with Sherry, who guided us through Xi" An last year (and helped us so much at the front end when we had the passport incident). Sherry led us out into the streets of the city, hiking a decent distance to get to our van. Our new driver is not as friendly as Master Joe was, unfortunately. He was not very interested, for example, in helping us load our luggage onto the van. But we did get loaded up and took a short drive through the city wall and into the center of Xi’ An where our hotel is located. Just seeing a Starbucks nearby thrilled some of our travelers.

The timing of our arrival worked out quite well. We settled in for breakfast—lots of breads, cereal, fruit, eggs, fried rice, tea, juice: a whole buffet—and found out that all of rooms would be available immediately. That gave us time to shower and really come alive again before setting out on our day.

We gathered around 10:30 for our excursions. For our first stop, we visited the City Wall, a tall protective rectangular wall built to protect the original city about the same time that the Great Wall was built. The city wall runs for some eight miles around the inner center of the current city. We watched a brief performance of drummers and soldiers before climbing the stairs to the top of the wall. Caitlin, Katherine, and Ms. Lee opted to walk parts of the wall. The rest of us rented bikes and set off to see if we could ride the whole circuit. Katie, Vanessa, Carmelle, and I rode off on our own; Allie and Kristen and Greg and Kevin took tandem bikes and rode together. As on cobblestones, we found the ride to be bumpy and shaky; the bikes were not the high quality mountain bikes with shocks and thick tires we might have chosen if given the option; but we managed to complete the route just a bit later than our appointed time. We decided it was definitely the way to go, though our legs and arms felt the aftermath of the ride’s vibrations for hours to come.

From the City Wall we traveled again by van to the site of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda. This active Buddhist seven-story shrine sits in the middle of a temple. Monks wander the grounds. Gardens and paths and statues of various buddhas surround the pagoda. After so much action and motion, it was wonderful to relax for at least a bit, enjoying an ice cream or a drink. Most of us found our way to the famous Happy Buddha, patting his belly and stroking his enormous earlobes for good luck and longevity.

By this time it was rather late in the afternoon. We made our way to a restaurant for lunch. The large room, empty by now, seemed set for a banquet. We sat at another rund table with another lazy Susan and wondered, again, why these places can be so generous with food, which we can never finish, and so stingy with soda, of which we can never get enough! The food on this day was really quite good.

From lunch we headed for an art museum in Xi’ An city, a really excellent gallery displaying art from the ancient dynasties but focusing especially on the local “farmer paintings,” folk paintings from the countryside, vivid in color, “naïve” in style (think Grandma Moses in America), but lively, optimistic, evoking a proud and simple life. Our tour guide in the museum was outstanding. She spoke a precise, eloquent English; she moved us efficiently from piece to piece, usually choosing one or two pieces to explain in depth and never leaving us bored or anxious to get moving. We learned a lot, among other things about a brief era during the Tang Dynasty when a woman ruled as the true emperor. She allowed women to become government officials, encouraged women to engage in professions, and even allowed these noble women to have male concubines.

After the tour we had a quick lesson in calligraphy. Carmelle was the star of this show, immediately going to the easel and elegantly executing the first challenge our guide introduced. We all then set on a few assignments. I got stuck trying to perfect the first, the Chinese symbol for “forever.” I got better after six or eight tries, but I will simply need more time and practice to get my “forever” to come out right! The others advanced more quickly and took on a ridiculously complicated set of characters that basically stood for “noodles”!

After the museum, we headed back to the hotel, with an hour or so to explore before meeting again for our next outing. I spent the time in my room trying to recharge my various electronics, downloading my photographs, and updating the website. The kids made a beeline for Starbucks and checked out the local scene. At 6:00, we met again in the hotel lobby and headed out for a last excursion, first heading toward the center of town and a visit to the Bell Tower. This structure, at least 600 years old, sits at the very center of the old city, with towers in the distance marking the center of the north, east, south, and west sides of the City Wall. In the evening, hundreds of swallows swooped and sang as traffic emanated from this central point.

After the Bell Tower, we had a “dumpling banquet,” again being served more food than we could conceivably eat. Dinner was not the hit it’s usually been. Most of us found something we could enjoy. But most of us also came across samplings we decidedly hated. Greg, with these adorable chicken-shaped dumplings, was especially unnerved. Allie settled into a role as surgeon, dissecting a number of dumplings to determine their consistency. The kids wandered nearby shops afterwards, returning later to the hotel to play cards, read, swim, work out, and sleep. Another great day, really.