16th-18th of May 2014
Introduction:
My sister and my brother in law came to visit me for 2 weeks in May 2014. I was really really excited about their venue. Indeed, it was the first time I was welcoming them in place somewhere in the world and maybe no the most common one: China :)
I still remember Mitko, after they landed, sitting on the front seat of the taxi having his driving reflexes exposed and trying to virtually push the break :)
During their stay they managed to visit Beijing and I wanted to get them out of Beijing. We were hesitating between Shanghai and Xi'an. We chose Xi'an for one of the world wonders: the terra-cotta army.
At this moment I was dating a French girl who also joined us. It was two couples trip.
16th of May: Xi'an
We left Beijing by plane in the early morning and reached Xi'an 2h later. Well, here again I was quite impressed by the size of the airport, the roads and the infrastructure. After checking on Wikipedia, the population of the city was over 8 million people, more people than in whole Bulgaria....
It took us an hour to reach the downtown where our hotel was located. After checking in we left to visit the old city and eat somewhere. Fernando, Gutcha and Claudia, have told me that the Muslim street (the main one in the old city) had amazing food, so we went straight there.
The old city is surrounded by a wall and 4 big gates.
To summarize it: inside the wall everything has been kept authentic and outside a new city with tall buildings has been built. It is a pity the government didn't preserve a bit more the authenticity by reducing the size of the surrounding buildings so it can stay a bit more "human size city".
Anyway, the old city was really beautiful with old Chinese style houses and really nice food. We ate the noodles which were very famous for the region but I didn't like them a lot. I clearly preferred the bread with grilled lamb meat.
In the afternoon we visited an old tea house and we had a shadow theater.
We spent the night on the other city attraction: the singing fountains. Really nice idea by the way. The classical music had married very well the fountains rhythm.
When we came back we also appreciated the night lights of the Bell Tower of Xi'an which was standing in the middle of crossroad. Really beautiful piece of art!
My sister and my brother in law came to visit me for 2 weeks in May 2014. I was really really excited about their venue. Indeed, it was the first time I was welcoming them in place somewhere in the world and maybe no the most common one: China :)
I still remember Mitko, after they landed, sitting on the front seat of the taxi having his driving reflexes exposed and trying to virtually push the break :)
During their stay they managed to visit Beijing and I wanted to get them out of Beijing. We were hesitating between Shanghai and Xi'an. We chose Xi'an for one of the world wonders: the terra-cotta army.
At this moment I was dating a French girl who also joined us. It was two couples trip.
16th of May: Xi'an
We left Beijing by plane in the early morning and reached Xi'an 2h later. Well, here again I was quite impressed by the size of the airport, the roads and the infrastructure. After checking on Wikipedia, the population of the city was over 8 million people, more people than in whole Bulgaria....
It took us an hour to reach the downtown where our hotel was located. After checking in we left to visit the old city and eat somewhere. Fernando, Gutcha and Claudia, have told me that the Muslim street (the main one in the old city) had amazing food, so we went straight there.
The old city is surrounded by a wall and 4 big gates.
To summarize it: inside the wall everything has been kept authentic and outside a new city with tall buildings has been built. It is a pity the government didn't preserve a bit more the authenticity by reducing the size of the surrounding buildings so it can stay a bit more "human size city".
Anyway, the old city was really beautiful with old Chinese style houses and really nice food. We ate the noodles which were very famous for the region but I didn't like them a lot. I clearly preferred the bread with grilled lamb meat.
In the afternoon we visited an old tea house and we had a shadow theater.
We spent the night on the other city attraction: the singing fountains. Really nice idea by the way. The classical music had married very well the fountains rhythm.
When we came back we also appreciated the night lights of the Bell Tower of Xi'an which was standing in the middle of crossroad. Really beautiful piece of art!
17th of May: the terra-cotta army!
We decided to book a car for 4 of us. We left in the morning as it was a full day tour:
- we first stopped at a market,
- then at a museum which wasn't bad. It was explaining briefly the life at the era of the terra-cotta army
- a factory for the army soldiers sculptures copies. Quite expensive by the way. The bad thing about those visits is that you feel guilty you don't buy anything from them as the guides follow you and try to sell you something.
Anyway, after more than 2h trip we finally reached the terra-cotta army museum. It was looking huuuge!
Indeed the complex (because here the word museum seems small) was separated in three independent halls. One of them was for the sculptures of the emperor and the generals, the biggest one of the army and the third one I think it was the archers (I don't remember exactly).
The legend says that after the emperor built this memorial, he ordered to kill all the people who worked on this masterpiece so he can keep the place secret. It is only in the 70s (if my memory is still good) that a peasant accidentally found the halls.
Such a beauty to see those hand made sculptures made so many centuries ago. An amazing lesson of the Chinese art masters.
After few hours spent in the army complex we went back to Xi'an where we had a nice dinner and went to bed.
The last day we decided to go on the wall before going to the airport. Indeed there was a bicycle or a tandem tour for two hours which allowed us to look at the city from it. A really nice trip which offers beautiful spots on the old Xi'an.
We decided to book a car for 4 of us. We left in the morning as it was a full day tour:
- we first stopped at a market,
- then at a museum which wasn't bad. It was explaining briefly the life at the era of the terra-cotta army
- a factory for the army soldiers sculptures copies. Quite expensive by the way. The bad thing about those visits is that you feel guilty you don't buy anything from them as the guides follow you and try to sell you something.
Anyway, after more than 2h trip we finally reached the terra-cotta army museum. It was looking huuuge!
Indeed the complex (because here the word museum seems small) was separated in three independent halls. One of them was for the sculptures of the emperor and the generals, the biggest one of the army and the third one I think it was the archers (I don't remember exactly).
The legend says that after the emperor built this memorial, he ordered to kill all the people who worked on this masterpiece so he can keep the place secret. It is only in the 70s (if my memory is still good) that a peasant accidentally found the halls.
Such a beauty to see those hand made sculptures made so many centuries ago. An amazing lesson of the Chinese art masters.
After few hours spent in the army complex we went back to Xi'an where we had a nice dinner and went to bed.
The last day we decided to go on the wall before going to the airport. Indeed there was a bicycle or a tandem tour for two hours which allowed us to look at the city from it. A really nice trip which offers beautiful spots on the old Xi'an.
In conclusion, really good trip shared with my sister, my brother in law and the my ex. The terra-cotta army will stay forever in my mind as a beautiful master piece.