Xi'an

After some exciting days in Beijing, our journey continues to Xi'an, one of the four ancient capitals. In fact, Xi'an is one of the oldest cities in China and the oldest capital. The other ancient capital cities are: Nanjing, Luoyang and Beijing. A few more were added to the list of capitals later on in time, due to archeological findings: Kaifeng, Hangzhou, Anyang and Zhengzhou. Xi'an lies in the heart of the Middle Kingdom and it's not as big as Shanghai or Beijing, but has 'only' ca. 8.5 million inhabitants, which makes Xi'an a sub-provincial city. Even though the metropolitan area has a population of 13.5 million, it does feel quite provincial. Its name 西安 means 'Western Peace'. The famous and historical Silk Road starts (or ends) here and the Terracotta Army is also in Xi'an, although a bit outside the city. There are very few sights within this modern city and visitors don't need to spend much time to see them all. The most interesting part is the Muslim quarter. There are 50.000 or so Muslims in the city and their quarter is especially at night worth a visit. The area is then full of people, scents, food, drinks, shops, mosques, etc. There you will find Muslim cuisine at its best. A specialty are Bam Bam Noodles (look at the photo and the video to see why they are called like this). Another specialty is Chinese Burger. It's a bun with minced meat inside. You can have the meat raw if you want. Many Chinese prefer it raw. It looked disgusting to us, so we went for the cooked version. And here you will find bread!!!! If you have stayed longer in China and miss bread as much as I do, this is the place to find some. It's real bread, not the soft sugary disgusting Chinese bread you find elsewhere.
We stopped outside this restaurant and had a look at the food on display and how it's prepared. We ordered some dishes outside and were accompanied to a table inside to wait. The food came slowly and when all the dishes were there and we started eating, a waitress came and asked: May I help you? As I didn't understand what she said, I thought she spoke Chinese, I said: Ti bu dong, I don't understand. The waitress smiled and repeated her English question, which I understood now. 

We stayed at the Aurum Hotel, a modern four star hotel within the city walls, roughly twenty minutes walk from the nearest metro station. There are two train stations in the city, one fairly central and the bigger, more modern one where the bullet trains stop is in the north of Xi'an. Follow the Krauts, sorry, the crowds to the metro and get off somewhere in the centre and start walking.
If you want to see the Terracotta Army, you have to get to the train station in the city, find the bus station and look for the buses to the terracotta army. There are frequent buses and the fare, paid on the bus, is cheap. Since you will be the only foreigners on the bus, look what the other passengers pay and pay the same. They might try to rip you off.

We are travelling at the speed of light (Now or Never by Tom Novy) by train again. Beijing to Xi'an is just a few hours and costs the same as flying.

One of the first things we saw. Hmm... Would you call him a sleeping beauty?

The people here must be rich.

Bell Tower

Drum Tower

Muslim Quarter

BREAD!!!!

Skewers on little branches with bread.

Gate to culinary delicacies 

Want some juice?

Metallic cigarette boxes with communist designs.

Bouncer

Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine (way before George Foreman had his idea)

Bell Tower again

A taste of what we would see the following day.

And here are two videos (may not show and play on iPad/iPhone)

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.

Temple of Heaven Park

Like many things in China, the Temple of Heaven Park in Beijing has an unusual and poetic name too. And like many parks in China, that are actually sights rather than parks, you need to pay admission to get in and pay attention to the opening times. We strolled around the park for a few hours, but didn't manage to see everything, because it is so big. However, it is worth a visit.

If you happen to get hungry on your tour around the park, walk to the main entrance, cross the street and walk to the left. After a few minutes you will see a building with a few food places on the right hand side. Find the stairs and go down to the basement, there you will find a massive foodcourt with dishes from all over China, Asia and some western countries.

The Lonely Planet says the following about the park:

The Temple of Heaven Park is a tranquil oasis of peace and methodical Confucian design in one of China’s busiest urban landscapes, the 267-hectare Temple of Heaven Park is absolutely unique. It originally served as a vast stage for solemn rites performed by the emperor of the time (known as the Son of Heaven), who prayed here for good harvests and sought divine clearance and atonement. Strictly speaking, it’s an altar rather than a temple – so don’t expect burning incense or worshippers.
Surrounded by a long wall and with a gate at each compass point, the arrangement is typical of Chinese parks, with the imperfections, bumps and wild irregularities of nature largely deleted and the harmonising hand of man accentuated in obsessively straight lines and regular arrangements. This effect is magnified by Confucian objectives, where the human intellect is imposed on the natural world, fashioning order and symmetry. The resulting balance and harmony have an almost haunting – but slightly claustrophobic – beauty. Police whir about in electric buggies as visitors stroll among old buildings, groves of ancient trees and birdsong. Around 4000 ancient, knotted cypresses (some 800 years old, their branches propped up on poles) poke towards the Běijīng skies within the grounds. Seen from above, the temple halls are round and the bases square, in accordance with the notion ‘Tiānyuán Dìfāng’ (天圆 地方) – ‘Heaven is round, Earth is square’. Also observe that the northern rim of the park is semicircular, while its southern end is square. The traditional approach to the temple was from the south, via Zhāohēng Gate (昭亨门; Zhāohēng Mén); the north gate is an architectural afterthought.The highlight of the park, and an icon of Běijīng in its own right, is the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿; Qínián Diàn), an astonishing structure with a triple-eaved purplish-blue umbrella roof mounted on a three-tiered marble terrace. The wooden pillars (made from Oregon fir) support the ceiling without nails or cement – for a building 38m high and 30m in diameter, that’s quite an accomplishment. Embedded in the ceiling is a carved dragon, a symbol of the emperor. Built in 1420, the hall was reduced to carbon after being zapped by a lightning bolt during the reign of Guangxu in 1889; a faithful reproduction based on Ming architectural methods was erected the following year.

Continuing south along an elevated imperial pathway, you soon reach the octagonal Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇; Huáng Qióng Yǔ), which was erected at the same time as the Round Altar, but with its shape echoing the lines of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. The hall contained tablets of the emperor’s ancestors, employed during winter solstice ceremonies.
Wrapped around the Imperial Vault of Heaven is Echo Wall (回音壁; Huíyīn Bì). A whisper can travel clearly from one end to your friend’s ear at the other – unless a cacophonous tour group joins in (get here early for this one). 

Immediately south of Echo Wall, the 5m-high Round Altar (圜丘; Yuán Qiū) was constructed in 1530 and rebuilt in 1740. Consisting of white marble arrayed in three tiers, its geometry revolves around the imperial number nine. Odd numbers possess heavenly significance, with nine the largest single-digit odd number. Symbolising heaven, the top tier is a huge mosaic of nine rings, each composed of multiples of nine stones, so that the ninth ring equals 81 stones. The stairs and balustrades are similarly presented in multiples of nine. Sounds generated from the centre of the upper terrace undergo amplification from the marble balustrades (the acoustics can get noisy when crowds join in).

Off to the eastern side of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests, and with a green- tiled tow-tier roof, the Animal Killing Pavilion (Zǎishēng Tíng) was the venue for the slaughter of sacrificial oxen, sheep, deer and other animals. Today it stands locked and passive but can be admired from the outside. Stretching out from here runs a Long Corridor (Cháng láng), where locals sit out and deal cards, listen to the radio, play keyboards, practise Peking opera, try dance moves and kick hacky-sacks. Just north of here is a large and very popular exercise park.

In the west of the park, sacrificial music was rehearsed at the Divine Music Administration (Shényuè Shǔ), while wild cats inhabit the dry moat of the green-tiled Fasting Palace (Zhāi Gōng). 

Oh look, a silly Westerner.

Sleeping beauty. What you can't see in this photo is, that she is massaging his legs.

If you would like to read more by me, here are my novel and my diary from Ar'ar, in the northern Saudi desert. Both available on Amazon as soft and hard copy.