In Xi'an, and diatribe

The next day after the great wall, we had the afternoon back in town, where I visited the Llama Temple -- which houses the largest Buddha (Guinness Book certified!) in the world.


Tallest Buddha in the world.

Then I took a venture over to the Silk Market, which is like a giant counterfeit-goods swap meet. You can buy rip-offs of every designer label-- clothes, shoes, purses, jewelry, and more. I bartered down a Polo brand polo shirt from ¥250 to ¥50 ($7.50) ... looks real! We'll see if it lasts more than a couple washes :)

In the evening, we headed over to the train station to take our first overnight train (11 hours) to Xi'an. The experience was not pleasant. Lots of Chinese school children (age about 14-15) in our car, and the 'hard sleeper' sleeps six to a compartment. Very cramped and pretty uncomfortable. We have a 16 hour one to Shanghai and a 26 hour one after that! -- dreading the thought.

Once we arrived in the city, we went to a history museum and saw a 500 ft. pagoda called 'The Big Wild Goose Pagoda.' We didn't go in, as our guide said there wasn't much to see. But at the museum we had an interesting experience-- us white people were discriminated against! Who woulda thunk that was possible in this Universe? ...we had small day packs and purses that they said we couldn't bring in and that we needed to check at rental lockers a bit away. However they were letting Chinese nationals in with massive bags. I held mine up to one, to show it was considerably smaller, and he waved his hand and said 'Not same.' lol. so we checked our bags. O, the adversity us white people must face.


Me and a statue, in the park surrounding The Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

When I mentioned this to Emma (our guide, real name pronounced San-Wee) later that night, she assured us it must've been a misunderstanding because the Chinese 'don't do that.' And our day tour guide (also named Emma) today also said the same, very dismissively. In fact, all sensitive racial and political stuff is pretty much not talked about here, or done so very pensively. I asked our Emma how the communistic components of govt. inter-operated with the (very aggressive, and thriving) free market I see all around me. She said she didn't know... nobody really knows what's going on in gov't or how it works, other than the fundamental structure of it. And they don't seem to concern themselves with it. They validate the policy as necessary to keep the dissidents in the large population from manipulating the media, or from the media inducing people to over-react to events and destabilize the country. I love the culture and people's general attitude and outlook in China -- it's just them not being informed about (what I view as) basic political information that doesn't sit right with me. It's not that I disapprove, it's just I worry about the prospects of their long-term ability to maintain stability with such a policy always looming in the backdrop.

...

Today we went and saw the Terracotta Warriors, the proposed 'Eighth Wonder of the World.' Discovered by a farmer digging a well in the seventies, the govt. later uncovered (and is still uncovering) a massive memorial site to the First Emperor, Qin (pronounced Ching, who ruled around 200 b.c.), that houses over 8,000 life-sized terracotta soldiers. The soldiers were to protect him in the afterlife.


I like this pic. Inside one of the Terracotta Warrior pits.

Then tonight we had a banquet dumpling dinner followed by a stage show depicting music and dance from the Tang Dynasty (around 600-900 a.d.). However it was very gimmicky and camp, a tourist attraction unfortunately. The music was not authentic. It used Western classical music as a foundation and glazed over the top with oriental scales. I explained this to Lori, and she was like, "Aaron, you are the only one that cares about this sort of thing." lol, so i've just given the short version in my blog :)

Taking a bike trip along the city walls tomorrow morning, then off on an overnight train to Shanghai!