Xi'an

Our first trip out of Beijing was to Xi'an. Xi'an is a 4 ½ hour bullet train ride from Beijing. Xi'an was highly recommended from my coworkers. People that have lived in China for a long time absolutely love going to Xi'an. Xi'an city is one of the world's four great ancient cities, being most famous for its role as the starting point of Silk Road (the ancient trade road). Xi'an is widely regarded as the greatest city in Chinese history.

Xi'an's local delicacies are a must-try. There are many different types of food, all of which have characteristics of Northwestern China.

Roujiamo is the city's favorite burger (Carly loved this) A delicious roujiamo is composed of two key elements – juicy shredded braised pork and a crispy baked bread. Rice noodles are cooked, cooled and thinly sliced. The noodles are often served in a sauce made of chili oil, pepper powder, vinegar and diced garlic (my favorite) Then it's garnished with bean sprouts and sliced cucumber. Commonly described as resembling a belt, biangbiang noodles are wide, thick and long (these were so fun to watch the cooks prepare) One string of noodles can easily fill you up. Pomegranates are a local specialty product. Pomegranate juice stands pop up around town every fall (Carly also loved this) Cooked overnight in a zeng – a traditional earthen utensil – most vendors only prepare one batch of zenggao (glutinous rice and date layered cake) a day. (My favorite) We also tasted date tea.

The Terracotta Warriors was an amazing experience. Standing before the massive underground army, we felt the extraordinary might the the Qin Emperor that enabled him to unify six warring states 2,000 years ago. The Qin Emperor Ying Zheng began building the mausoleum for himself at the age of 13.

He was obsessed with the afterlife. He wanted to live forever but ironically died at the age of 50 because he ingested too much Chinese medicine.

He ended up killing the soldiers that built the clay soldiers for him. The soldiers were discovered in 1974 and 6000 soldiers still remain underground. The had bronze weapons alongside them.

There were also horses and chariots with them.

They do not want to dig up the rest of the soldiers until a new technology will allow them to do it without destroying them.

The Banpo Museum was built on the Banpo archaological site. It has 6,000 years of history, holding the remains of Neolithic settlements. We saw pots for babies that had died and old bones. Carly especially liked this place.

The Muslim Quarter is a paradise for food enthusiasts.

Just as its name implies, the Muslim Quarter, also known as Huimin Jie in Pingyin, is the hub of the Muslim community in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. Located to the north of the West Street in the city center, the quarter covers several blocks inhabitated by over 20,000 Muslims.

The Tang Dynasty Music and Dance Show has become a classic that has been running since 1982 and has also toured many countries. The performances have their roots in folk arts, developing over thousands of years. The show presented today is a recreation of traditional entertainment based on much historical research. This show educated us on the typical style, culture, and dance of Xi'an.

I bought Carly a Kimono to wear to this event.

We also visited the Huaqing Pool. It was a hot spring bathing resort since the ancient times and was also here the Xi'an incident took place.

Xi'an City Wall is the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.

Carly and I rode a double bike around the entire wall. The wall now stands 12 meters (40 feet) tall, 12-14 meters (40-46 feet) wide at the top and 15-18 meters (50-60 feet) thick at the bottom. It covers 13.7 kilometers (8.5 miles) in length with a deep moat surrounding it

Shuyuanmen, namely Shuyuan Gate, is a cultural street factually restored in the style of the ancient architectures of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It is about 570 meters (623 yards) long and about 10 meters (11 yards) wide.

We stayed in a hotel called the Fuhai Mingdu Hotel and Carly said it was the fanciest hotel she has ever been in. It cost us a whole $28 per night to stay there.

The Drum Tower in downtown Xi'an was built in the 13th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. It is over 600 years old. The City Wall was right across the street and we could see it from our window.

On the night before Carly's Birthday, she was talking in her sleep. She woke me up by saying, "There are white people here!"(in her sleep) I thought it was hilarious because we rarely see white people and we always shout it out when we see a white person.

I started thinking about how this must feel to her. People are fascinated by her, especially. There are white adults walking around, but white children are much more rare. People stare and always comment on how beautiful she is. It is good attention, but I know she gets embarrassed.

Here is a video of her getting onto the bullet train. Notice how the Chinese people will just cut right in front of me, even when I have a child with me:

When we sat down, a nice Chinese lady sat down next to us and tried to speak in English. She gave us all kinds of yummy fruit and talked to us about Xi'an.

Here is a video of Muslim quarter:

More of Muslim quarter:

Chinese foot spa:

One of our favorite places to eat. All the fruit we want!

We had an amazing trip and I was so proud that I got us everywhere without getting lost or being late. I was able to get good prices for everything. But, then, when we arrived in Beijing, we walked down to get a taxi. Some man came up and said, "Do you need a taxi?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Come this way." He led us to an area where cars were parked, not a typical place for a taxi. I looked and he didn't have a taxi license plate. He told me he could drive us to our apartment for 300 yuan. I said, "No way! It only cost us 50 yuan last time!" He totally tried to rip us off and possibly wouldn't have even gotten us where we wanted to go. I guess "Black Taxi" scammers are common in Beijing. Until this, I had never been approached by one. Now, Carly and I know to only get an official taxi.