Arrival in Xi'an

Author: Gabriella M
Location: Xi'an
As we stepped off the train into the early morning air, the majestic city of Xi'an awaited us with open arms. Tired and groggy from our fourteen hour journey by train, we made our way through the swarms of people in the station until finally reaching our guide, Daniel. He was a local young man who loved his city, the local Muslim snacks, waving his blue flag continuously, and most of all, he loves his hampsters (whose pictures he showed off on his white PSP) As we drove through the city towards our hotel, we all noticed the beautiful blend of old and new within the city. As one looked out the window to the right, he or she would see brand name stores, high rise buildings, bright lights, and busy restaurants. However, out the left window, one would see the old city wall, surrounding breathtaking pagodas, drum and bell towers, and old cobblestone streets with the smells of local snacks and jingling of traditional trinkets. Finally, we got to our hotel, which was right next to the city bell tower, the Muslim street market, and merchants flying kites which seemed to touch the sky itself. Upon our arrival at the hotel, the staff served each of us a Western style breakfast, or at least an attempt at one. Since the food wasn't what one may consider delectable, Caroline proposed the solution of spreading the food around our plates in such a way that it looked like we had actually eaten it. However, we all agreed that the spring rolls with the red bean paste inside were especially delicious (they were the only bit of Chinese food on the plate).
That day was completely packed with touring all over Xi'an. First, we went to the museum of ancient village ruins preserved from 6,000 years ago and were fascinated by the bones, pottery, and foundations of homes lived in by people so many years ago. It turns out that the village hadn't been purged during the Cultural Revolution because it had no religious association, simply tribal. We then headed over to the Terra-cotta warrior factory, where we first took pictures with some of them outside with different poses, and replacing our heads with those that were missing on a couple of them. Inside, we learned about the process of making the warriors themselves by seeing the initial carving, the kiln, and glazing and painting station, and learned that the life size ones ones take two months to create! Of course, there was a gift shop with beautiful artifacts at the end, which some of us couldn't resist. After the factory, we headed over to a hotel for lunch that had another large gift shop. Sam bought a really pretty set of different colored glass rings to make a necklace. After lunch, we finally headed over to see the warriors, which were unbelievable! I was personally amazed at how intricate the faces and garbs were on each one and how no two faces out of 6,000 were identical. When we're here, history truly comes alive. After the warriors, we went to the emperor's concubine's private and beautiful bath house tucked away into the mountains, where we took "artsy" photos amidst the nature and architecture. After a full day of touring, we went out to dinner (where Sam finally found the perfect postcards and Ben spilled Sprite all over Jackie) and we returned to our hotel to learn that the keys to our room no longer worked. To conclude the evening, we had a powerful Lifeworks forum on values, where we learned about ourselves and the other members of our group.
Flickr Photos from Today
Flickr Photos from this Voyage