Xi'an - I'm so Excited, I Just Can't Hide It!

Hello again!

Guess I was able to post this a lot quicker than I thought haha. I’m taking advantage of some free wifi in Hong Kong. I’m actually posting this at the same time as the one before it so if you are reading this one before the first China one I would recommend going back one blog so that everything makes sense. The Shanghai blog is the first China blog and you will be able to find it by just going back one blog.

No point in Comment Shout-Outs because I answered the previous ones in the Shanghai blog that I just posted and no one has had time to comment yet lol.
The picture I chose for Xi’an is of me standing in front of the terra cotta warriors!! It was the highlight and main attraction in Xi’an so I definitely wanted to make it my pic! You can read more about the warriors below so I won’t ruin it. But yeah it was SICK!!

So Day 2 in China (February 17) was the beginning of my 6 Day/5 Night SAS trip to Xi’an and Beijing. Everyone on the trip was required to meet in the Union at 830 am to acquire our itineraries and check in. Once everyone was there they split us into 3 groups alphabetically and these were the groups we would be with for the rest of the trip as far as being assigned to a tour guide and bus. I was in the 3rd group…the one and only group C! We actually had a really bomb group and I am glad I was in Group C! We loaded up in the buses and headed to the airport. On the bus my friend Ali started singing “I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it,” which was true for everyone so we made that our motto for the beginning of the trip. Groups A and B were both on the noon flight to Xi’an while Group C was on the 1 pm flight to Xi’an an hour later. Some people in our group complained about this because their friends were on the other flight but I was the opposite and was excited because then we didn’t have to keep track of as many people; and we had assigned seats anyway so it’s not like you could choose to sit by your friends. I really like to travel so it was exciting flying on a Chinese airline for the first time and seeing their way of doing things on the plane. Honestly the plane was the exact same, the majority of stuff was in English; the only major difference was the food and beverage service. The Chinese know how to do it man, their airplane food was bomb!! It was actually real food and I didn’t hear anyone in our group complain.

Something you all should know, this was a 6 day/5 night trip and we were all only allowed to bring carry-ons. On all SAS overnight trips you are only allowed carry-ons so that we don’t run the risk of losing bags in transit and being slowed down at the airport. This of course did not sit well with some of the girls, because they were limited to either a backpack or small duffel, and then their purses. Haha it was really funny to see what some people considered priorities for a 6 day China trip, definitely had people from all ends of the spectrum as far as what was packed. I didn’t think it was that bad, but Mike Wall prepared me for this 3 years ago when we all just had a carry-on for the Nicaragua mission trip. Thank you Senor! And of course we had people who didn’t like flying but you always do in big groups.

The flight lasted 2.5 hours and was uneventful for the most part. No one really slept because we were all so stoked about the awesome trip we were starting!! At the Xi’an airport we met up with our tour guides and headed to our respected buses. The first stop of the day was to the Tang Dynasty Art Museum where we received personalized lessons in the art of Chinese calligraphy. Okay I didn’t expect it to be easy or anything but calligraphy is NOT easy. It took me 15 minutes just to get one symbol to where it didn’t look like a baby wrote it (Daryl I’m pretty sure Logan could do this stuff better than me haha). We were told it takes years of constantly writing the language to perfect it. The cool part was that there are only 8 basic strokes that are combined in various ways to make all the symbols; what they don’t tell you is that 5 of those 8 strokes are ridiculously hard. It was really cool getting a calligraphy lesson and a nice little surprise to start our trip off with.

After the art museum and calligraphy lesson we headed to our first meal of the trip. Every meal on this trip was included in the prepaid price and they were all much better than any of us could have hoped for. This first dinner was a Dim sum dinner at De Fa Chang. Okay so De Fa Chang’s is the most famous dumpling restaurant in all of Xi’an and is a multiple story restaurant. We met up with the other 2 groups and sat down to enjoy our meal. We didn’t get to order anything but our drinks and literally as soon as we sat down food was brought to us and placed in front of us. In China all the meals are family style except for the Westernized restaurants so the food is just placed on platters in the center of the table. Our dinner consisted of 18 different types of dumplings with fillings ranging from duck to pork to veggies. I every dumpling I tried which was 17 of them (I gave my buddy my vegetarian one for his spicy chicken one). It’s amazing how unique the different ones were and how awesome they all tasted!

The restaurant was located in the center of the inner city of Xi’an (Xi’an is formatted exactly like Jerusalem with an inner and outer city separated by a wall) and it was crazy! Like I said previously it was the end of Chinese New Year so they were people everywhere. Fireworks were going off like every other minute and the coolest part was the lanterns. They were all over the place, just floating up into the air with the little flame inside. It was like we walked into a movie, I can’t even describe was it was like to see the sky lit up with fireworks, building lights, and hundreds of lanterns. How did we get so lucky? We didn’t expect any of this and it was just good timing that it all happened when we were there. Crazy huh?!?! We had the option of returning to the hotel with the buses or heading out on our own and finding our own way back. I headed off with a group of people to wander around the inner city while the festivities were going on for about an hour then we headed back to the hotel to call it a night. We stayed the night in the Xi’an Jianguo Hotel which was insanely nice and none of us really expected to be staying in such a nice hotel. I fell asleep to the sweet sound of fireworks which is something that was quite alright with me even though some people weren’t okay with it the next morning haha.

Day 2 in Xi’an (February 18th) was packed with stuff. Like I said earlier there is no way I can describe everything in as much detail as I want to but I will do my best. We ate breakfast at our hotel then headed out bright and early to start our day. The first stop was the Xi’an city wall that separated the outer and inner city. We were given free time to hike around, take pictures, and climb one of the bell towers that was used as a guard tower back when the city wall protected the city. There was also this really cool bell we were allowed to ring with the old wooden pendulum that you swung into it. That was cool cause the bell was really loud and it was cool cause it was still mounted on the wall! We were only there for about 45 minutes so we didn’t have too much time to really walk along the wall but we were all able to see enough of it to get a feel for the history and significance behind the wall.

After the Xi’an wall, we headed to the Muslim district of the city to see the Great Mosque and Old Bazaar areas. The district was nestled into a corner of the city and it was weird going from the busy city streets to this religious area within just 25 yards. The Mosque was situated behind the Bazaar and was comprised of rectangular courtyards lined up in a row. Each courtyard contained some sort of wooden or stone alter/statue in the middle with buildings lining the sides and gates separating the courtyards. After touring the Mosque grounds we headed through the old Bazaar area on our way back to the buses. The Bazaar was lined with vendors trying to sell all kinds of stuff. We had some free time to shop around and see what we could find and then try to barter for a lower price. It was really cold in Xi’an that day so a lot of people were buying fake name brand gloves for extremely cheap and warm, fur-lined hats to wear around. The atmosphere was fun because we were with all 100 SAS kids and adults from the trip and everyone was bartering and trying to get the best deal.

Once everyone was assembled back at the buses we made our way out of Xi’an an hour or so to a restaurant on the way to our next destination. The lunch was another traditional family style setting but the food was totally different. Pork and chicken are the main meats served in China and are accompanied with various forms of vegetables, and of course, RICE! I have never been a real big fan of sticky rice but I sure am a fan of Chinese sticky rice! It was so good! Oh and did I mention that we ate every meal with chopsticks?!?! Yeah there is no such thing as western silverware at the places we went to. It took awhile to get good enough to pick up some of the stuff but after 8 days of chopstick usage I can honestly say that I can now eat a meal using only chopsticks! The best part of this specific meal was these potato lumps that were glazed with honey, and not just a hint of honey, like a legit honey coat over them. SOOOOOOO TASTY!!

Everyone was full and satisfied heading back to the buses as we made our way to the highlight of Xi’an…THE TERRA COTTA WARRIORS!! Ok they were indescribable! I don’t even know where to start. Basically everything you have ever heard about them is true. For those of you who don’t know, the Terra Cotta Warriors were constructed by the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (no relation to Jimmy, sorry man haha), Qin Shi Huangdi. They were buried with him in order to protect him after death as well guard his tomb. The estimated 8,000 terra cotta soldiers are a testament to his power and megalomania. Each figure is the same height and every face is constructed completely unique. Our guide told us that if a carver made the features of any face even remotely similar the carver would be killed on the spot. The warriors were discovered by peasants in 1974 while trying to dig a well. In the main and most impressive vault (Pit 1), the majority of the warriors has been uncovered and remains in their typical battle formation in 11 columns comprised of officers, soldiers holding spears and swords, and others steering horse-drawn chariots. The pit is huge! My best guess is around 7-9 football fields lined up like hotdogs (which by the way sounds amazing right now), and a building has been built around it to protect the warriors from Mother Nature. In addition to Pit 1, there is also Pits 2 and 3 which are at different stages of excavations and then a 4 building called the treasure room which has smaller artifacts that were discovered intact with the warriors. Including two bronze chariots consisting of 4 horses each and unique chariot styles. It’s crazy that these were just discovered only 36 years ago?!?! Considered by many to be the “8th Wonder of the World,” it was truly a treat to get to experience these warriors and view them in person. I don’t really know what else to say about the warriors except WOW, I still can’t believe I actually saw them a couple days ago. It’s insane!!!! I will be able to go into more detail in person when I see you all and have pictures but for now hopefully this gives you an idea.

After spending a couple hours taking in the warriors and everything associated with them, we headed out into a small village for a visit to one of the Xi’an Orphanages. The orphanage was very nice compared to some places I have visited and the kids actually had beds with sheets and blankets as well as indoor plumbing in each building. This specific orphanage is currently home to around 100 orphans whose parents are either in prison or who abandoned them at an early age. Two young boys that I met had been found last year around New Years by a police man on the street. The boys were abandoned by their parents and their names and ages are unknown. The best guess by the orphanage is that one is around 6 and the other around 3. It was heart-breaking to see these kids who were simply left by their parents. Just makes you appreciate what we have and the amazing parents God blessed us with. We were giving a tour of the orphanage and then they put on a little show for us. It was really cool to see these little kids excited that we were there. The hardest part was the language barrier. I have dealt with language barriers in Mexico before and usually sign language was enough to get by. Man not with these kids, I have never had such a hard time trying to communicate simple things. It was difficult and frustrating but eventually it got easier.

We had to leave the orphanage shortly after arrival which was lame, we all wanted to stay with the kids! The drive back to Xi’an took around an hour and a half and most people either slept or listened to music. Tonight’s dinner just happened to be the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show. The meal was first and was a 7 course meal served in a Westernized fashion with our own individual plates. Okay this was the best food I have eaten since I left Oklahoma. We had everything from soup to duck to some sort of really tender beef. It was sooooooo good. After enjoying a more relaxed dinner and chilling with traditional Chinese string music playing on the stage, the show really started. The performance consisted of Chang’an music and dance with originated in China’s Tang Dynasty over 1000 years ago. The show was rich with tradition and truly unique to China. It was Crazy Cool and just another example of something cool that none of us expected 2 months ago when we signed up for this trip. The dinner and show lasted around 2.5 hours and afterwards most people decided to just chill at the hotel because we were all beat from walking around all day and seeing everything. It was also nice cause we got to catch bits and pieces of the Olympics in the hotel which made a lot of people extremely happy lol. And this concluded my second day in Xi’an.

I know I could have said more and was really vague in some points but I promise I will explain more this summer when I see you all. If there are any specific questions you want answered just comment and I will do my best to answer it in one of the next blogs.

Love you guys and wish you were all here with me!!

T

“The greatest and best man in the world must say, ‘By the grace of God I am, what I am,’ but God says absolutely…‘I am that I am.’” - Matthew Henry