Xian Garden of the Wild Goose and Burning DVD's

May 5, Wednesday, Xian Garden of the Wild Goose and Burning DVD's

It's been a full day already, so I have to admit that I am *not* terribly excited about finding out that we have yet *another* stop today: "The Garden of the Wild Goose". We've been seeing signs around Xian - directing tourists to it, so I am fearful of a tacky tourist trap - and, anyway, we've seen gardens in Beijing so how good can this be? But. We're on the bus and they're driving, so off we go.

We drive through the bustle and traffic of the city of Xian and pull up to - well - a blank wall. My excitement drops another peg: I can't even *see* a garden - and how much of a garden can there be here in the middle of the city, anyway? We're told that there has been a misunderstanding: that the garden is usually open until 4:30PM, but, today, they closed early so even though we're "on time" it is closed. Frankly, I'm relieved. Let's just go back to the hotel and relax.

But, no! Odysseys comes thru again. Our local guide personally knows somebody who works in the Garden, so she gets on her cellphone and calls her friend - still inside.

And. Magically. The wall opens up into a gate. And the bus pulls through. And the wall closes behind us. And there is a whole "Central Park" stretched out ahead of us. It really is like some "bag of holding" in "Dungeons & Dragons": WHERE did all of THIS come from? - and we almost have the whole thing to ourselves - since it was officially already closed.

Wow.

My blood pressure drops 20 points again. We're in a quiet, beautiful little paradise and we slowly explore - not being hurried at all. Just take things at our own pace as we pass a 13-story-high temple and just enjoy the luxury of *quiet* and trees and beauty - in the middle of a city. A rose garden in bloom with quirky little statues. Picturesque junk. We open out into another large square and it is actually nice to see ancient roofs which are *not* kept spotless.

We all kind of congregate around a massive bell - which you can ring for a small fee and the deep "goonnnng" is just what you would expect - and very satisfying.

We split up again and find a Stone Pony which I suspect Bruce Springsteen never heard of. There are stone mounting blocks beside it, so I decide that it is OK to *ride* the pony and feel the joy of being a silly child while I do.

We seem to have gotten to the effective end of the park, so we slowly wend our way back toward the front, passing more "interesting things" on the way take a good look. This is a carving. Find the face, then work your way out from there.

It's just... *nice*.

We work our way back through the rose garden and back out to the bus. What a great ending to the day.

Back to the Sheraton and I try to burn some DVD's of the photos taken to this point - only to find that the old laptop I brought - just won't do the job. I suspect that it doesn't have enough RAM to handle the job of verifying the contents, but the bottom line is that I discover that I can't make back-up copies of the photos while we're in China. That's OK. We've got room on the SD cards.

So off to bed - and we've now finished day *5* of our 20 day tour.

Tomorrow we travel to a wheat farm / village outside of Xian - then fly to Shanghai!!!

Xian Glasses, Dumplings, Jade, University Visit

May 5, Wednesday, Xian Glasses, Dumplings, Jade, University Visit

Odysseys, as usual, makes good use of our drive time as we wend our way back to Xian - as our guides talk to us. Among other things, we hear that anyone who is looking for a good deal on Chinese prescription glasses - needs to be careful to find an Optician who routinely handles Westerners - because Chinese glasses are *shaped* differently in order to fit the less-prominent nose bridge: they don't have the big bump that Westerners do - so they have to build their frames in a way that they don't fit Western faces.

As we pass through a toll booth, we notice that even though we're on a highway - that there are beautiful Bonsai trees potted and beautifully presented - just to make things prettier. Maybe this isn't such a big deal, but I think of having Bonsai's in a toll plaza on the New Jersey Turnpike - and it seems rather a remarkable "extra effort".

We unload at our Xian restaurant - and trek up to the 2nd floor to sit in front of the very-familiar lazy susan - and the appetizer course is presented in a way that clearly shows us that it is not pork or beef. Quite tasty.

But that is just the beginning. This turns into one of the most-memorable meals that we will have in China; DUMPLING LUNCH!

OK. It doesn't *sound* that exciting, but we are served a wicker basket of dumplings. Delicious. Nothing terribly unusual.

Then another. And another. And another. And when I finally start paying attention, each round is entirely *different*. Not just the contents: Shrimp, pork, chicken, walnut(!!), duck.... and on and on - but each dumpling is carefully *shaped* to reflect the filling. Each little dumpling is a complete work of art. It is almost a shame to pop them into our mouths, but they're delicious - and varied.
Even one that is shaped like a little oyster - complete with a pea for a "pearl".

They just keep coming. 5 different kinds. 10 different kinds. We're stuffed and "couldn't possibly eat another" - until the NEXT one comes out and is just too clever (and delicious) to resist.

Ultimately we are served **16** different kinds of dumplings (plus the appetizer - plus a huge pot of soup - boiled right at our table).

OK. I know. I get too excited about food, but this was *entertainment* as well as a meal. Just a really wonderful surprise when all I was expecting - was lunch.

Great stuff!

We waddle down the stairs and back to the bus for a short trip to another "retail therapy" session: a Jade Factory. We're shown how the figures are individually, carefully, shaped by hand - on little grind wheels - and we get an explanation of how to tell fine Jade (hold it up to the light: fine Jade has a transluscence and glow to it)... and the difference between Jade and Jadeite. I always assumed that Jadeite was "the cheap plastic imitation of Jade" - but it is exactly the other way around. The "good stuff" is the Jadeite because it is harder, has a higher inner glow, and is more difficult to shape - so it holds up better.

We're ushered into the showroom and it is astonishing what has been created with Jade - and the different *colors* represented. Just a note, too, to point out that nobody had any problem with us taking as many photos as we wanted. It's getting to where in the US there are signs everywhere forbidding photos: "If you want to remember it, you have to BUY it". That attitude hasn't pervaded China - yet.

As always, we're given a choice of shopping at the Jade shop - or "escaping" to a tour of a local University just down the street. Kathy and I decide to split up: she stays to look at the Jade while I hop on the bus: I *always* like to tour Universities. This one is a technical institute and we stroll in through the front gate. As we walk in, a student comes walking toward us - very quickly - but isn't interested in us. He finds a marker in the bushes, marks something on a sheet of paper, and hurries off. Apparently there is some kind of scavenger hunt in progress. I do *love* College life!

We stroll along and engage some students. Most speak excellent English - and Chen translates in situations where our questions about their majors or studies - gets too much for the language barrier. We talk to one young Engineering Management student who is a local to Xian and ultimately wants to teach Engineering. She seems quite happy to talk to us for awhile - to exchange some College notes with us old Engineers from the West. We stroll on down the street and see many students out exercising - playing Ping Pong on a group of maybe 50 outdoor tables. Doing Tai Chi. Playing a badmitton-kind of game. Active. It feels great just "being college" again.

We wend our way back to the bus - and suddenly realize that one of us set down a purse while we were talking - and walked off. Whoops! We all just assume that it will have been "acquired" by someone since it contained money and a camera and other valuables, but Chen runs back in with our "purse person" - and find the purse sitting right where it was left. Crisis averted - and a small demonstration of the honesty of the College students.

The bus takes us back to the Jade Factory and we are re-united with our spouses.

Next up: The Garden of the Wild Goose.

Xian "Terra Cotta" Warriors

May 5, Wednesday, Xian "Terra Cotta" Warriors

The chemical smell in our room got too pungent last nite, so we changed rooms before we went to bed. We've been a bit surprised to find 2 double beds in our rooms (as opposed to Queen's or a King), but that's what we're getting, so "coupling up" is apparently not expected in Chinese hotels. Anyway, after changing floors, the smell was left behind - but so, too, were some electronics and a luggage lock that I forgot to transfer from one room to the other. I try to explain the situation to the front-desk attendant and she tries to understand my English, but can't help murmuring to herself "So FAST!" - at my blurted explanation. A quick phone call and our ever-available guide, Chen, immediately appears and helps me to explain the situation and I get admitted to the old room and find *most* of what I left - and Chen supplies another luggage lock out of a personal supply he keeps - just because tourists forget things like that. Real service. And, by the way, we've been *required* to lock all of our luggage anywhere in China: not just a suggestion. Anyway, crisis solved and a nice spread of choices for a buffet breakfast - is consumed.

A quick peek out our hotel window confirms that the air quality in Xian isn't any better than in Beijing.

Onto the bus and ride the half-hour out of town to the farming areas. As we drive, our local guide tells us that the entire area is just *full* of tombs and mounds - and that it is suspected that there are still *hundreds* of tombs which haven't been discovered - let alone excavated. Since this was the Capital of China - 2000 years ago, every leader made his own monument to himself, but when government moved away, the peasants intentionally covered the area: they resented the oppression of the leaders - and they needed the land to farm. In particular, the Qin (pronounced "Chin") emperor - who was responsible for killing one million people in the building of the Great Wall - and probably another 700,000 in the building of all of the "Terra Cotta Warriors" - was *not* beloved. So when he died, the farmers had a major uprising and they intentionally looted the tombs and Warriors of all of their weapons (great place to get weapons to stage an uprising!), then smashed, mixed, and burned the clay. So, to date, ALL of the recovered figures were in pieces at best. Dust at worst. So ANY figure you see whole - was laboriously *reconstructed* from the pieces. That's also why many of the figures are shown headless: their heads were so smashed that it was deemed best to not try to guess at what they had looked like. Meanwhile, the green fields we are driving past - probably cover a huge cache of yet-undiscovered tombs.

We pass some low-rise construction and I see what I think is bamboo scaffolding - but on closer inspection, it is steel pipe. I suspect that construction *used* to use bamboo in the same configuration and they have just updated the building materials, but that is just a guess. We see this kind of scaffolding *everywhere* as we drive.

We arrive at "The Site" and Odysseys again shows their "class": most buses are required to park in lots which are a half-mile walk from the actual site and museum. *We* get to pull right past the lot and right up to an interesting checker-board lawn - so that our walk is perhaps 500 yards. With the hills in the background and the quiet morning, it is *very* peaceful and nice as we walk to the courtyard and the museum.

Our local guide tells us that we'll go thru the museum first before proceeding to 3 separate dig sites. The current estimate is that there are over ***8000*** figures buried in this 26 square-mile area (the same size as all of Disney World, coincidentally) - and that only about 2000 of the figures have yet even been uncovered. They are proceeding very slowly in order to try to develop techniques to prevent the deterioration when the figures are exposed to air. So *nobody* has seen at least three-quarters of the figures - for at least 1000 years.

We're also told that the term "Terra Cotta" is a misnomer. The first reporter who came to the site - looked at the figures and decided that they looked like Terra Cotta - but the firing temperatures used to bake the figures - was much higher than that used for Terra Cotta - so the figures are actually closer to porcelain. But the name has stuck.

We file into the museum and encounter a *giant* reproduction of one of the soldiers - holding hands with a doll. It is a representation of the collaboration and friendship with a major sponsor: Johnson & Johnson from the US. Note how small the people are - standing at the feet of the statues.

Inside, we find reconstructions of a chariot for the Emperor - found in the tomb. The umbrella is of note since the holder was quite versatile - able to be leaned nearly any direction to keep the sun off the Emperor - no matter what angle was required.

The walls are filled with other artifacts, but they kind of blur together for me since the signs don't include English explanations. So I wander on out and wait for the group to collect - and walk over to the huge building which houses the first site.

OK. This is the one you've seen photos and videos of. We walk into a large building - and there they are. All reconstructed and lined up. You can see the original "ground level" which is the smooth *top* of the walls. Not the ones with the "18" on it... even higher. So the Figures were lined up in long pits - with dirt mounds between them. Wooden roofs were built across the mounds to protect the figures before the whole thing was again buried to ground level - and, indeed, mounded up much higher than that. So the figures were actually a good 5-8 feet underground. Under wood roofs. All lined up. All fully armed with real weapons. And painted with bright colors.

It is breathtaking. It is wonderful. It is amazing that these figures have been *reconstructed* from smashed pieces. It is a testament to what can be built - and made to last for 2 millenia. And it is ultimately, again, a testament to a gigantic ego and, likely, someone very insecure - to have to build such monuments to *himself*. Really quite sad, though I suppose it certainly provided "full employment" during the period.

We walk along the side of the dig and find that there is *active* excavation going on in the middle section. It *is* a tomb, so there is a sort of hushed reverence to conversation as we exit the rear and make our way to the next entire *building* which covers the next huge *section* of the dig. In this building, the lighting is more subdued. They are trying to carefully control the light, humidity, and temperature - to have a better chance at recovering the figures without the deterioration when the air touches them. The work is slow. Vast pits of debris being uncovered and examined. And a reminder that there is yet a third dig site that we won't even see.

We shuffle past the huge open pit - and back out into the warm Xian morning - to the obligatory Gift Shop. We watch a surround-movie which doesn't really add much - historically - and look at the opportunity to have your very-own Terra Cotta Warrior made - with *your* face - but it doesn't seem like something that would fit well in our luggage, so we collect back with the group and walk back thru the "checkerboard" to the waiting bus - contemplating the vast effort expended: how wonderful - and how awful.

Next: Dumpling Lunch!

Beijing to Xian, Xian Wall, Xian Museum, Tang Dynasty Show

May 4, Tuesday, Beijing to Xian

Pack (it's surprising just how much one can *un*pack in only 3 days), Buffet Breakfast in the Hotel - and I nearly get caught putting *Soy Sauce* on my pancakes - since it - and the Maple Syrup - are right next to each other and both have about the same color. A reminder to be careful when dumping things onto my plate!

On the way out, we pass a Japanese couple, struggling to be understood by the Chinese hostess. Neither knows the others' language, so *both* are struggling along with *English* - the common language they share. Wish I could help, but I don't know any Chinese *or* Japanese, so we just smile and head down to the bus and back to the airport.

Wow. We're already *leaving* Beijing. Perhaps never to be here again. So much in such a little time!

Odysseys takes care of getting us all checked in - just hands us back our passports and boarding passes - and we head thru the security check. I always *hate* security checks: I get everything all packed carefully, then have to open it all up again, take out my laptop, strip down and put all of my metal into my backpack. Grrrr! And we get a bit of a surprise: "personal space" does not exist here in Beijing. We are told to stand on a little box, stretch our our arms, and be unceremoniously totally - well - "felt up" by the female security guards. They are quick - but very thorough. And this is not just people who beep the metal detector: EVERYBODY is frisked. OoooKay. Not a place where I want to make a scene and wind up in a Chinese jail.

So. We get to the gate and will be flying "Chinese Southern" to Xian.

Nice, modern airliners. No problems. I doze as we fly West and we are whisked thru arrivals and bag check - and onto a waiting bus. Very nice.

As we drive to Xian we are reminded that "The National Bird of China - is the Crane". Extensive construction is just *everywhere*. High-rise buildings shooting skyward.

In order to be efficient, we go directly to the Xian Museum even before our hotel. Since this is the land of the "Terra Cotta Warriors" - the museum is stuffed with them - and gives a preview of tomorrow - when we will travel to the main site. The real "stars of the show" here are rare pieces which have their *color* intact. We learn that all of the original figures were painted, but as soon as they come in contact with the air, the lacquer just peels off. Archaeologists have recently have success with a special injection technique which shoots a glue under the lacquer to keep it attached - but it is still experimental and difficult so the colored figures are still quite rare.



There are also other artifacts like Buddha's and *smaller* "Terra Cotta warriors": apparently the buried figures were originally made of *paper* and were small, then slowly progressed to harder substances - and larger sizes - until they got to life size.

The museum is actually surprisingly extensive - given that it doesn't look *that* large from the outside.

We wind up our viewing and as we walk back to the bus, I'm fascinated by an enterprising kite-seller outside. She is selling little 4" x 4" kites - strung together one after the other - into a line of *10* kites - and she has a set flying - stretching out from the front lawn of the museum. And then I keep looking and she has actually tied together maybe *10* *sets* of kites so that the little kites are stretching almost as far as I can see. Perhaps *100* kites all stretched out - flying in the breeze. Quite impressive!

The bus takes us to the City Wall. "Old Xian" was surrounded by a huge wall - of proportions to rival the "Great Wall" - but only about 2.5 miles total length - in a rectangle. At one point, Xian was the capital of China, so it has a proud history. We park by the wall and walk up the stairs onto the wall. *This* wall is flat - all along (no steps along the wall) - so it hosts regular 5K runs and bicyclists and such - and looks like it would be quite pleasant to walk the wall - but we don't have time - so we take photos and enjoy the feel and view. Both *of* the wall and *from* the wall

A quick stop at the Sheraton Xian to check in, then back out to a Tang Dynasty Cultural show and dinner. Much more tolerable than the Opera: beautiful costumes and movements and traditional, though more-Western-sounding music - including the "horizonal harp" (Well, that's what it *sounded* like to me).

Beautiful - including a piece which is said to have duplicated a wonderful dream that the Emperor had - featuring his mistress. He told his mistress all about it and, as a present to the Emperor, she re-created the dream. I'm betting that she was wearing a lot less in the original dream, but maybe that's just me. And the food was interesting and good, too.

A nice end to our first day in Xian. Back to the Sheraton. There is a strong chemical smell coming out of the A/C ducts, but to bed we go.