Most Feared in Xi’an

 China  No Responses »
Feb 072012
 

 

The green and orange or green and grey taxi …. The most fearsome predator on the streets of Xi’an!

As pedestrians, you have the least rights to any hard surfaces in China – you must give way to any bicycle ring, horn toot etc.  Next lowest are bicycles, next motorbikes, thence cars, taxis and buses. It is the once place I have ever seen a bus accelerate before the light turn green – he had his foot on the gas and his hand on the horn to get people out of the cross-walk.  You need to develop eyes in all corners of your head to watch for any vehicle.

 

This is a large sidewalk – with cars parked along both sides and a path between. Even here, the pedestrian is low-man.  Any wheeled vehicle can drive along that sidewalk and you must move!  Traffic is China is best described as a flow – lanes, signal lights, stop lights are all just taken as advice as you move with the flow of traffic. The red lanterns hang everywhere in celebration of the New Year.

 

The bicycle is still common but seems people increasingly use transit. The Shanghai metro is now the largest in the world and continuing rapid growth. Gas is a little over one Canadian dollar per liter in China – about the same as in Canada. The minimum wage in China is about 200 Canadian dollars per month. Needless to say, vehicles and gas are so far out of the range of ordinary citizens. I can’t help but think we are under-paying for our gas given our wealth.

Xi’an

 China  No Responses »
Feb 062012
 

 

 Lynn is standing on the ancient city wall of Xi’an and we are looking north to the Bell tower.  With many ancient buildings as well as a completely refurbished wall and partial moat, the buildings and architecture of this former capital of China are a real attraction.

 

 

However, this is not fog you see in these pictures. This was probably a sunny day although we only ever saw a hint of blue through the smoggy haze. Visibility was seldom better than this during our visit. Roughly 30% of the vehicles moving on the road at any time appear to be late model taxis. Essentially all the motorcycles on the road are electric. This smog extends well outside the city – it is not primarily a creation of urban emissions but rather is regional from factories, power plants etc.  It can’t be good for the buildings or the people. 

 

 

This shot of the Bell tower at night was hand-held.  It is too bad there is so much haze – the wonderful colours and lighting just can’t stand out the way it likely did in earlier days. But, this tower is still a major focus as it sits in the centre of a large traffic circle in the centre of downtown. 

The Terra-Cotta Soldiers

 China, Travels  No Responses »
Feb 062012
 

 

I had visited the famous buried soldiers once on an earlier visit but nothing prepared me for the significant changes since then.

There are now three different pits in which one can see the soldiers. Some, as in this picture, are standing and essentially like new. Some of these have likely had some repairs done to re-assemble as they have been broken over the many years buried in the pits. The soldiers had a wooden covering to their pit that was then covered with dirt. Not surprisingly, the wood has sometimes given in to rot etc. over the years. In other pits, you can see just how badly they were damaged when the pit covering collapsed.

 

 

But, it is a truly remarkable site to see. Some of the soldiers have simply been reassembled while others have also been re-painted to reflect the colours that were used.

A big positive change here are the extensive explanations that are provided – including much information in English. You learn a lot about the times in which these soldiers were created, their intended purpose etc. Remarkably, this emperor was only 13 when he ascended the throne and began the creation of the many pits of soldiers etc. that he would use after his death – he needed to be well prepared for his after-life. My recall is the construction went on for more than 45 years.

A big negative change is the village of souvenir shops etc. that have sprung up around this place. People are just looking to make a buck/yuan but it is certainly most annoying. Wisely, the actual museum and pit are surrounded by a large park. So, after passing through the phalanx of requests to buy, you have some minutes of walking for quiet contemplation.

A post on the traffic and air quality of Xi’an will come …

Festival in Xi’an

 China  No Responses »
Feb 042012
 

 We went to visit the Small Goose Pagoda in Xi’an and found a cultural festival with music, dancing and many displays. This small statue was outside and the black areas indicate the significant number of people that have touched it. 

We never learned which ethnic minority was dancing but, for the women in the dance group, it was all about hair. Much flipping of long hair. It was interesting to see both the men and the women. 

Part of the celebration included masks and this line of brightly colored masks presented themselves for a photo.  

 

Muslim Mosque, Xi’an

 China  No Responses »
Feb 022012
 

 The Muslim Mosque is noted in guidebooks as an interesting mix of traditional Chinese and Muslim themes – a blend of a people’s culture with a religions beliefs. It made for a very interesting place to visit. You were mostly only able to visit the grounds but it was interesting to see and a quiet respite from a busy city. 

I spent a bit more time processing the photos for this post. I like the tools on an iPad for processing photos but I dislike the very humble file management options. If you use a couple applications to process, crop, etc. a photo, you end up with a new copy of the photo each time.  Needless to say, there is no simple way to rename so you have to organize them into separate albums quickly or you forget what is what. 

Scott and Juliette have been fun to travel with. Traveling with your adult children is highly recommended. We will be sad to go home! 

The Muslim Market in Xi’an

 China  No Responses »
Feb 012012
 

 On our first day in Xi’an, we visited the large market near the Muslim mosque in the centre of the city. 

Our hotel had an exceptionally uninspiring breakfast to offer us so we were looking for a little food.  The first blocks of this market were almost exclusively food – retail shops, butchers, bakers, etc. as well as all sorts of street food. While “grilled meat on a stick” is a pretty universal offering for street food, this street had so much more than that. We didn’t try these grilled eggs on a stick …. But they sure looked good. 

There were also some artisans of street food.  Very hard to capture in an image but the fellow here is blowing very complex animals from a melted sugar.  He was quite amazing – able to create a a very realistic cow with four narrow legs etc.  These were street lollipops for the kids lucky enough to have one purchased for them. 

Leaving the predominantly food area, you entered a more traditional market with arts, crafts, etc. etc.  shop keepers here were much less aggressive marketers than in Beijing – they were certainly encouraging and engaging but not persistent and pressing.  There was a very interesting artist buried within the market and a few purchases were made. His daughter was there this day but he was there a few days later – proudly showing pictures of himself at a show in Las Vegas. Curious that his shop was so deep in the market – the quality of his work deserved more exposure.