Xi'an - China's past

OK, so it's been about 6 weeks since I was in Xi'an, but one thing is sure - it left an impression of MAHOOSIVENESS. (You read it here first, just remember where it came from once it enters the Oxford Dictionary!)

Slumming it as usual when travelling with Mrs Lindsay, Olivia and Wara, I grudgingly consented to stay at the Sofitel at Renmin Square in Xi'an. It's lobby (picture left) was marginally impressive, the restaurants of a "reasonable" quality, and the staff was sufficiently friend and efficient... ok, cut the blase attitude, it was AWESOME! When we entered our room for the first time, Wara (picture right) and I both decided we'd just move in and never leave... the beds were beyond heavenly. The only tiny-smaller-than-small-itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny-miniscule little issue with the whole LUXURY HOTEL set-up? The lights wouldn't switch off and at 1am we had to call in housekeeping who sent a woman to press the switch. When the lights still didn't switch off - she tried the same switch about 50 more times over a period of 5+ minutes. When we finally convinced her that the switch wasn't going to start working without some divine or engineering intervention, she left and brought back a man and his toolbox. 45 minutes later we finally had a dark room, but precious little time left to appreciate our WONDERRRFUL beds!

The first evening we decided to go to a local Dumpling + Dancing show. Literally - a dinner with approximately 50 different types of dumpling (some more tasty than others... yergh! Olivia is a great actress!) followed by different dancing, music, and acrobatics from various tribes around China. Wonderfully kitsch and touristy, we had magnificent seats by the stage so I could film and photograph everything. Weirdly enough, that's still allowed here. After all, they can't very well copyright their own performances when...anyway. My favourite bit was a guy who "sang" like no whole man should be able to sing.

The next morning (slightly refreshed despite the late-night-light-switch-fiddle) we set out early for the Terracotta Warriors. The museum and the grounds surrounding it are impressive and very representative of Chinese tourist attractions - spotlessly clean and well-maintained, massive and not at all wheelchair friendly, with bathrooms you really don't want to frequent unless you're about to have an embarrassing accident en-plein-publique! We saw EVERYTHING and spent over 4 hours in the various halls and shops. I was trying to take a picture with the warriors, but a Chinese couple kept getting in the shot. As it turned out, they wanted a picture with me. Not only was I at the Terracotta Warriors, but once again I was part of the attraction! I really should start charging (100 for a group picture, 150 for a signed napkin...) :P

The next stop (after an interesting but delicious lunch) was the Xi'An city wall. One of the few remaining completely intact city walls built in the Ming Dynasty, it dates from XXXX and is YYYY long, took ZZZZ years to complete and has a GOLF CART that will transport you from one end of the wall to the other ON TOP OF THE WALL! It's important to always remember the pertinent facts... Absolutely amazing to be standing on top of a wall that is 15 metres high, at least 10 metres wide, and snakes its collossal way through the center of the now sprawling city.

The last stop that day (its exhausting to write about it, let alone to have done it all in 34C heat) was the Great Goose Pagoda - or DayaNn Ta. refreshed from the golf cart ride, I was once again able to take in more facts! One of the largest Buddhist temples around, and the place where the original texts were purportedly first transcribed by a monk from Sanskrit to Chinese. Unfortunately, we were too pooper to even try to climb the pagoda, so I only have a picture of me looking quite knackered at the bottom of the tower!

After a great dinner in the hotel, we did what any group of exhausted tourists would do... we gathered in one room and played cards until 1am! Having been taught the game of Canasta, I've become a real monster. So much so, that I thought nothing of walking from one end of the hotel (our room) to the other end of the hotel (Canasta Central, a.k.a. Mrs Lindsay & Olivia's room) clad in my pajamas and hotel bathrobe...fetchingly accessorised with my handbag! Unfortunately it was only AFTER I posed that we realised there were security cameras at short intervals along the entire length of the corridor. Well, hope someone enjoyed the show. :)