After spending three lazy days in Changde, we traveled to Xi’an. We started our trip with a 2 hour car ride to Changsha, the capitol city of Hunan Province. After arriving at the airport we get all checked in and waited for our flight. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9:10pm and I think we left pretty well on time. We arrived in Xi’an at 10:30 and took the one hour bus ride into the city to our Hostel. We headed off to walk to our hostel and after not finding it we called them and they said that had moved! So we caught a taxi and finally arrived at the Han Tang Inn Hostel (by a little after 12:00am) that would be our ‘home’ for the next few days. We checked in and headed up to our room, which was dorm style with three bunk beds. There were two people already asleep so we quietly went to bed. We slept late and had breakfast at about 10:00. We then headed out for our first day in Xi’an. We went to the Muslim Quarter first. It is an old part of Xi’an where the Muslims lived and still live. There is a mosque and plenty of street sellers. I went into the Mosque and looked around while Wade and Leah did some shopping. In some ways it reminded me of another old time place like the park we went to in Shanghai. But yet it was different. There were different areas like the cleansing area that were not allowed entrance into because they are still used by the Muslims. Most of the signs were in Chinese so I’m really not sure what some of the places were for. At the very end was the temple area. I was there at prayer time. I watched for just a few min then I headed out. I did not stay really long, there was not a whole lot to see and it honestly felt a bit odd being there. I did not feel unsafe or threatened but just that I totally did not fit in at all. (If that makes sense.) After I left the Mosque, I met back up with Wade and Leah and we did some shopping. We shopped around and haggled for a few hours which was rather fun. The sellers always started off by saying “cheaper, cheaper” but I wanted to know cheaper then what? When we made a deal for them at our price, they sometimes complained that they were getting no money. We finally decided to be done shopping and headed off to the Hostel and dropped our wares off. We had heard that Xi’an was famous for a noodle dish. We asked the people at the desk and they helped us find the place. So we headed off walking (I’m now probably up to having walked 30 miles…or so it seems) and found it. We ordered what we hoped was the right thing (they spoke no English there) and waited for it to come. We had chosen right and boy was it good! I could eat there almost every day it I lived here! It was a giant noodle in broth with some meat and a few small veggies. It was a tiny bit spicy and so yummy! After dinner we wandered around for a bit and ended up at Starbucks. Wade and Leah got a bit to eat and I snitched off them. We had a good time chatting and resting our feet for a little while as we waited to go the fountain show at the Big Goose Pagoda. We got there at about 8:00 when the show was to begin. But as per usual in China, 20 min late is not a big problem! The area where the show took place was a huge open place similar to a terraced square. There were 5-6 different levels separated by a few wide stairs that one could stand on and watch the show. We found a place about in the middle and waited for the show to begin. It was so cool! The fountains were in time with the music as well as lights at the base of each fountain. It was fun being right smack in the middle of it! The show lasted for about 20-30 min. I could have watched it for a lot longer. We decided to go back the next night and see it from the bottom instead of the middle. We caught a taxi and headed back to the Hostel. It was great to finally get some sleep after a long but fun day!

Thursday we awoke a bit earlier because our tour left for the Terracotta Warriors at 9:30. After a quick breakfast we were on our way. We joined a group of seven others, a couple from France, a man and a woman from England, and three girls from the US, two from Utah and one from Illinois. We had a very nice tour guide and she gave us some history while we drove to the factory where they now make small models of the original warriors. After we spent a while there looking at the process and the gift shop, we boarded our bus and headed to the actual site of the warriors. The first Emperor Qin Shi Huang (cheen-shur-whong) had this massive army of terra cotta (pronounced terra-cotter by the guide) warriors made to precede him into the afterlife. We visited the museum that told the history to the building of the museum sites and had some duplicates of come of the clay art. There are 3 areas of the actual terracotta warriors site. We went to number 3 first. This one was a site that has not been uncovered. The warriors had been broken into at this site and the weapons stolen. Many of them have been destroyed and are in pieces now. Also, there was much color on them and if they are exposed to light the color will fade. So until they figure out a way to display them they will be left alone. It was really neat to see the site. Then we went to number 2. It was a site that was very small and had only a few soldiers and a chariot and horses. (Only the chariot was gone) It was really neat because you could actually see the original warriors that were made 2100 years ago! It’s amazing that they are still in as good a shape as they still are after all this time. We then went to number 1. It was the biggest one and covered the area of 2 football (soccer) fields. Inside were 6000+ clay warriors, horses, chariots and pottery. Each warrior was different and had different facial features. I could have spent a long time there just looking at them and taking it all in. After we were done there, we went to lunch at Subway and then headed home. We asked to be dropped at the South Gate of the old city walls so that we could ride around the wall. But it was too late to rent the bikes so we headed back to the Hostel. We looked up a really good Indian restaurant and got the address. We ordered three dishes, one mutton and two chicken as well as three kinds of bread…including some roti. The food was super good and just the perfect amount of spicy! We did not linger and headed across the street to the Big Goose Pagoda for the fountain show again. We got there just as it was starting and got a good place at the base. It was not as good as the first night but still fun. I liked being in the middle of it instead of in the front. Once again we headed back to our Hostel and went to bed.

Friday our tour for the Pandas left at 7:30 am. We had another quick breakfast and headed off to meet our group. This group was a bit smaller. There were two girls and one man from England, one girl from New York and Wade, Leah and I. We drove about 2 hours out to the Panda reserve. We saw the pandas (pronounced Panders by the guide) as well as several other animals. There are four animals that are being protected here in China. They are the Panda, the Golden Monkey, the Crested Ibis and the Takin. We also saw some goats, pigs, and peacocks. We had a good time and then headed off for lunch at a Chinese place. We had a variety of dishes and it was all very yummy! I really like the food here and I wish you could get ‘real’ Chinese food in the States. After we got back to our Hostel, Leah and I went and rode bikes around the wall. We had a blast! It was so cool to see the city from the wall. When we were done with our ride we headed off to the Muslim Quarter to meet Wade for dinner and a bit more street shopping. We met up with Wade after a bit of a miscommunication as to where to meet, and found a place to eat. We had a Mutton soup of sorts with bread in it. It was ok…not my favorite. I am terribly spoilt to our young lamb. After we finished a bit more shopping we headed back to the Hostel for a dumpling party. They taught us how to make dumplings and it was really fun. It’s not hard at all. We waited around for a little while as they were cooked and then we got to enjoy eating them. I did not stay long for the company got a bit wild…they like their beers. Leah and I decided to head back out for a bit more tromping around. (Like we have not done much lately!) We went back to the Muslim quarter and picked up a few more things and enjoyed walking around. We then went back to the Hostel and chatted with Ben, one of our room mates for a bit before hitting the sack.

Saturday we headed out of the Hostel by 9:30 to catch the bus back to the airport to head home. I was ready to be home but yet a little sad to leave Xi’an. I had a most wonderful time there. Our flight made it in on time but the bus ride was long! We got home and had some dinner, watched a movie and then went to bed.

We are going to be in Changde for a while and then we will head off to Harbin.