The most amazing month ever ... Xi'an

Our next stop was Xi’an. After coming from a small city in Wales, every city I have visited in China seems massive in comparison to Cardiff! Once again, we weren’t in Xi’an for long so we had many things to do in very little time.

Our main reason for visiting this city was to see the Terracotta army of course! I had an idea of what to expect after seeing some friends’ pictures shortly before I visited there myself. However, nothing prepared me to realise the vast scale of the army.

Only a small part of the army has been uncovered. There is a mini sculpture of the area to show the size of what they believe the army to be. It is gigantic!! I couldn’t believe it! What’s even crazier is that they will not be able to uncover much of it for a very long time because our technology today just isn’t good enough!!

There are four zones full of terracotta statues (yet the forth has yet to open).

    

Many of the statues of soldiers, horses and people they have recovered from the earth so far have been either broken or discoloured. The broken soldiers are still visible for tourists to see. There is also a ‘hospital’ for the statues that are lucky enough to be fixed. It is strange to see the statues wrapped in what appears to be cling film and with holes through their bodies. There are many headless soldiers too!

(Broken soldiers)

                                           (The hospital).

We know that the figures have been discoloured after being discovered because on some of the statues there are vague colours to be noticed.

(Look at the detail!!!)

 It is also really amazing to see the tiny detail on every single individual masterpiece in the army.

 (There's a hole in the middle of the horse to stop the terracotta from cracking)!

It’s hard to imagine that all this was created for one man, an Emperor at the time.

The Terracotta army did not disappoint!!!

Leaving the Terracotta army however felt as though we were in a theme park. We passed endless stalls selling junk souvenirs and if we hadn’t have been with our lovely guide, we probably would have eaten at one of the rip off restaurants there. However, she took us a short distance by car from there to a local place that she knew well.

I advise that if you go to anywhere in China, you should hire a personal guide. They’re not that expensive and it’s so much better than following a large tour group!! They are always from the area too and so they know the absolute best places to go! The food was great. Our guide asked us what we liked and chose the best suitable things for us! I am so used to ordering pork, beef or mutton these days in China instead of my favourite chicken. The chicken is always so difficult to eat as it is almost always presented chopped up but still joined to the bone. Also, they serve you literally every part of the chicken possible…even the feet!

My parents were also shocked that a group of men on a table near by were completely drunk off baijiu in the day time! One of them was even looking after his young son while drinking shot glass after shot glass of baijiu!

Our hotel was lovely, situated in a lovely part of the city. Every evening, six girls dressed in traditional Chinese clothes played traditional Chinese instruments. It sounded beautiful!!

                                                        (Our hotel).

 The hotel was next to water fountains and a square for people to walk around. Every night there is a fountain show. There are probably better fountain displays to be seen in the world but it was still very nice to watch. The music was good too and the colours made it very pretty. It was difficult to see sometimes though with the amount of people there (obviously since it’s China)! So we stood on a bench to see it more clearly. A patrol woman came around every so often demanding everyone to get down. However, once she was out of sight, everyone was immediately on the benches again!

Walking around in the square after dinner and the fountain show was the nearest I’ve felt to being back in Italy. What I love about Italy is that everyone goes for walks during the evenings and it’s a great way to spend the night, to people watch and socialise. As we walked around we saw many people dancing, walking and talking.

What I do love about China is that in every ‘spacious’ part of a city, there are public dances. Anyone can join in. It’s like a way to keep fit for city people I guess! The music is always nice (or interesting) Chinese music and the dance moves can be amusing to watch. You also see people early in the morning practising Tai Chi in groups or practising with swords in local parks. It’s really nice to watch!

My father and I were watching some people dance and I turned to ask my mum and sister what they thought about it and realised they were gone. I looked around and realised they had joined the dance party! It was funny to see them as the only Westerners there to take part!

We were lucky to have more sunny and hot weather during our stay. We also went to see the city walls of Xi’an, the only remaining city walls still standing in all of China. During our stay in Xi’an we had another lovely guide to help us around the city and to take us to the best places. She said that the walls were a pain during the busy rush hour because the entrances into the inner city are small and therefore only a certain amount of traffic can pass through at the same time. However, she said the walls are what make the city special. You can walk or even cycle around the entire wall. My family were keen to cycle around it after the amount of cycling we had done in Yangshuo. However, it was far too hot, it was the middle of the day and there was no shade! So next time I visit there I will ride around the wall!

(Apparently the Chinese believe if you stand under a bell it will give you bad luck...unfortunately I didn't know this until after the picture was taken...oops!!)

Our guide took us to the Muslim quarter. Before I went to China I always thought that the whole of China was non religious. But since being here I have learnt that there are many Christian, Muslim and Buddhist areas. The Muslim quarter was interesting! There was stall after stall of touristy things to buy and there was stall after stall of street food! Our guide advised us to look after our bags to avoid being robbed and to not eat anywhere unless she advised that it was a good place.

We ate some nice sweet tasting food (approved and recommended by our guide of course). Don’t ask me what it was though, I have no idea!!

(The drum tower. The bell tower was in another part of the city ear by).

It was nice and interesting to be in a Muslim district and not see the women in strict clothing. At the most, the women wore head scarves.

We went to a dumplings restaurant and we saw a very good live performance of traditional Chinese dances, songs and instruments. It was a really beautiful show!!! Our meal was a variety of ten different kinds of dumplings. My sister had a vegetarian selection for herself. To be honest, having ten different kinds of dumplings was too much and I felt like I didn't need to see another dumpling for a long while after but it was something new and different! Inside the dumplings were many things, from pork to crab to tomatoes to fish.

 (I had never heard of or seen so many of the traditional instruments that were used in the performances).

Finally, before we left, we visited the Pagoda right next to our hotel. We were given a different guide just to look around the Pagoda. He was very good at his job. He knew so much information about Buddhism. He taught us things like; you should always enter a Buddhist prayer room from the left and leave on the right and you must never step on the high plank as you walk into the room. (You will know what I mean when you visit your next Buddhist monastery). We didn’t actually have time to climb to the top of the Pagoda as we had a flight to catch in the afternoon but we looked around the Buddhist temple surrounding it.

                  (The original Buddha himself).                 (People pray to this guy for wealth. My Dad was                               one of them!)

             

Before we left he showed us how to write some things in Chinese characters. He wrote down our country, Wales, in Chinese characters and also wrote the characters for Coca Cola for some reason!

After this, he turned into probably the best sales person I have ever seen! It was strange since he was meant to be a monk! He did a remarkable job at selling us original paintings painted by the monks. We ended up walking away with two paintings when we originally planned on having none! Seriously, he was the best at selling!!! They are really lovely paintings though to be fair!!

Xi’an was yet another city that I was fond of!

Our last destination during our three weeks of travelling around China was my home while in China… it was time to go back to Zhengzhou…

The most amazing month ever ... Chengdu

We stayed only briefly in Chengdu. I thought the city was nice and my family all wished we could have stayed there a few days longer!! The city looks attractive because the streets are full of trees. Driving into the city on higher ground, we could see endless buildings with endless greenery in between them. It looks very different in comparison to the dirt and pollution of Zhengzhou.

Our main objective in Chengdu was to visit the pandas! There are a couple of panda research facilities in Chengdu. One of them is a few hours out of the city and in the countryside. The one we went to is in the city. We went to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. As the title of this place may suggest, the purpose of this centre is to breed pandas because as we all know, pandas are not good at breeding and their numbers are decreasing constantly.

                                    

We could have easily spent a day at the panda centre but we only had the morning there. It is important to go early in the morning if you want to see pandas moving around. Pandas have a small digestive system therefore they must eat an awful lot. An adult panda will eat up to fourteen hours a day to ensure they get the nutrients needed. They will then sleep for the rest of the day! What a life!! I think in my next life I will be a panda in a panda sanctuary!

When we were there, it was actually nearing breeding time. Therefore the baby pandas were no longer really babies. They had grown quite big! They are very cute! They sleep in the trees and look like they will fall out of them at any minute! The big pandas are huge!

My sister and I were lucky enough to spend time with a ‘baby’ panda. To spend a short time with one is really expensive but it is so worth it! We were in a group of around twenty people. We had about ten minutes of an introduction about pandas. We were told information about them including the fact that they have been on this planet for around 8 million years. (This is crazy when you think how slow they are, how long it takes them to eat, how they don't mate and that they are black and white colouring in a green environment...camouflage is not a strength of their either). Then we were told about the bamboo, the different types, how they find it in the wild and how they eat it. At this point, I had had enough! I was so eager to see a little panda! I was losing interest and just wanted to spend time with the panda!

Finally, we were made to wear blue aprons, gloves and covers on our shoes. We were made to stand in a line and wait our turn! Luckily all the foreigners with us were Westerners. If we would have been with Chinese tourists, it would have been a fight because Chinese people just don’t seem to know how to queue!!! (The dots in the blue square represent the way people queue in the West, the dots in the red square represent the Chinese way of 'queuing'). 

The first panda they brought for us to see had a cold so he had to go to the doctors! Another one came and sat on a bench. He was in his element! He seemed to love eating bamboo and appearing for the camera! Luckily, my sister and I were near the front of the queue!

I went first. It was such an experience! The panda’s fur was rough and the baby panda wasn’t little any more so I couldn’t hold him. Instead I stroked him and at one point his paw mistook my hand for bamboo and he held it tight! It was amazing! However, once he realised my hand wasn’t bamboo he quickly let go!

My face in the photos!! I look ridiculously happy!

(He held my hand!)

(He let go quickly!)

 After the experience, we were given a ‘complementary’ panda pack that included a certificate, photos in a photo frame from the professional photographer, a badge, information magazines, a large cuddly toy panda and a tie. (I assume the tie will be for a future boyfriend?!)

You could tell they were actually looked after really well! The enclosures for the adult pandas were big and they all looked healthy! I was worried as I am often told animals in China aren’t treated as they would be in the West. I was impressed with this centre though!

There were also red pandas. They are my sister’s favourite animal so she was even happier to see them! We were walking and one red panda appeared out of nowhere, walked in between us, turned around, walked alongside my sister, took a long look up at us then disappeared through a hole in the fence. He was a cheeky chap!

We left the panda centre reluctantly and travelled by car for around two hours. The afternoon was spent visiting the largest Buddha in the world. (The biggest one ever was sadly destroyed recently by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001).

The Leshan Giant Buddha is in the Sichuan province near the city of Leshan. The statue is 71 metres (233 feet) tall!! It is massive!! It was just about impossible to fit the whole statue in one picture on my camera!! My mum loves Buddhism and was so happy to see it. The statue is really so impressive! It was built in the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD). So the statue is not only gigantic but very, very old! Despite some alterations to the Buddha as a result of pollution and age, it is so incredible that something so big could survive for so long!

(The pathway down to the foot of the Buddha).

(You can see us standing on the left beside the Buddha's huge head!)

It is amazing....if ever you are in Chengdu...you have to visit here...it's spectacular!! 

(My Dad next to the Buddha's foot)

(My family's size in comparison to the Buddha's size!)

Our hotel was situated in the old part of the city. The hotel and area was very traditional! It was lovely!

(Statue in our hotel)

(Spice stall...from seeing my parents reaction when tasting some...they were really, really spicy!)

(Monument like the ones you would find in Nepal).

I also saved a turtle while in Chengdu. He got stuck on top of a suction thing and would not have been able to get to the surface for air if I hadn't been there to prod him off it with a stick and save him!! I hope I get some good karma my way soon!

 There was a Buddhist temple just around the corner from our hotel. Every Buddhist temple I have been to fills me with delight. There is something so peaceful about them. There was a big celebration when we went there so endless rows of candles and flowers and colours had been put on display! It was beautiful! 

Our guide urged us to pray by giving us some incense sticks to burn. My family aren't religious and for a moment we thought we would look silly or maybe offend someone. However, we got serious, copied what the locals were doing and prayed. 

 We reached the back end of the temple and realised a gate was open. We had a little nosey look behind it and saw monks busy playing ping pong!! There were other monks near looking through their mobile phones! It was a funny sight to see!

We passed a woman with her baby selling candy. I was intrigued and so paid her the money. I had to spin the arrow on a board and whatever animal the arrow landed on, she would make it out of the candy. My arrow landed on a dragon. It was very impressive how the woman was holding her toddler and making the masterpiece at the same time.

 I would love to go back to Chengdu! Our guide was lovely! Hopefully I will go back one day!

We passed this sign while on the road. I think this is very true. It's all happening in China!! Big things will happen in this country over the next ten years...

Our next stop was...Xi'an...