The adventures of a self-declared permanent student

Xi'an part deux

Well, another whirlwind day today. It started at the crack of 10 (ok, 9:30 I finally got up, had some breakfast and was out the door at 10). I headed down the street to the Moslem area, wandered the market and got the closest thing to a Christmas ornament that i could find for my mom (you need to attatch a hook, but it's miniature and unique - trust me, i've been to 3 touristy cities and I haven't yet seen these!), it was still too soon after breakfast so I wasn't hungry, although there were all sorts of slabs of animals and delicious nut cakes and such (no pork!). I then entered the "Great Mosque". It was beautiful. Not really a place of worship anymore, but definitely spiritual and very pretty. It's more like a scenic garden with a different cultural connection to China. I saw a great big white guy in one of those brimless caps that the men tend to wear. He may have been wearing it for religious reasons, or he may have just been a dopey guy (i vote for dopey tourist). Anyways, after coming out of more markets (possibly with a burburry purse in tow) I hopped on a bus (with my fingers crossed) and tried to find my way to the History Museum. Now, it took me until Shanghai to discover the joy of student discounts, and pretty much anywhere that offers a discount here in Xi'an, I got, except for the museum, which only grants it to Chinese students. Even thought I'm a Fudan student, I don't "qualify". Oh well, at least i got most of my stops at half price (I saved almost 3 canadian dollars on admissions today, and spent about 10 - but i went a lot of places today). So the stupid museum didn't give me a discount, but i went in anyways. It was great, lots of old pots and bells, but once you've been to one Chinese museum, it all kind of looks the same. I especially like the gravy boat section. They, of course, call them water jugs, but come on! I know a gravy boat when I see one! Anyways, the really big standout feature of this museum was a skull from a homo erectus from 1.5 million years ago with this huge backward-extending skull and these large gaps between the cheekbone and the eye socket. Coooooool. The other thing that was neat with the Qin dynasty secion that actually had 4 of the terracotta warriors removed from the first Emperor's tomb. It's neat because none of them were the same size, their faces were completely different, and it's a popular belief that this is because the hundreds of warriors are modeled after actual people. They also had some beautiful pottery and jade figurines. I lurked behind a French guy and his tour guide (private tour guide - fancy!) to hear a little bit about the Tang Dynasty, but he went shopping and i got bored, so it ended there.

Then, armed with only my map, I decided to go to the Big Goose Pagoda. En route I found this cool garden and park/square area littered with people. It was part carnival, part shopping, part just milling around. It was about 2, and I was a little famished, so I headed to a restaurant. It was a Moslem restaurant, and only one guy spoke english (poorly) so I did a lot of pointing and got mutton dumplings (really good!) and some veggies for $12 kuai, about $2 bucks. These three girls next to me were filming me eating - wierd.... I mean, I did look kind of stupid, but was i really worth the film? I know i've been asked to be in a number of photos, but I know there are tons more that I don't even know that I'm in. Well, I left the noise of the square for a little tea hut in the garden area, and after about 30 minutes, there was a great blast of music. Apparently the square isn't a square, but a big-ass fountain, about the size of a football field. Well, I rushed over (with everyone else) and this football field of fountain began to pulse to the music (it had been dry an hour ago, just the spouts are in the square - so it's not like I missed a football-field sized pool or anything). Anyways, it was awesome, the little kids loved it, I LOVED it, I'm such a dweeb! Well, I then finally got around to the pagoda, a beautiful Daoist sanctuary with this huge tower (the pagoda, I think it refers to the physical structure) which I climbed for a reduced price of 10 Kuai, and I'm not regretting not getting a gym membership now. Holy crap. But what amazed me more was that people my grandmothers age or older were climbing all the way to the top. Jeeze! I took a bunch of pictures, and they had the same set up with incence that the small temple in Shanghai had, so I didn't participate this time, only because it was waaay too touristy and i don't know enough about the religion (PS, if you are Uncle Greg or Aunt Sheila, Christmas wish list: A book on Daoism. I have lots of photos to upload still, but I'd love it if you could help me find out what a lot of the statues mean. Today there were these huge murals that i'm sure were telling a story, i just wish I knew the story). Anyways, enogh of that, I walked for 30 minutes to find the bus home (saw the bus, just didn't know where it stopped) and finally gave up and took a cab. $2 bucks later, I was home. Woo hoo!! So now i'm blogging, looking for somewhere to eat, and planning a trip out of the city tomorrow to the tomb of Emperor Qin (terracotta warriors, and around there is a hot spring and another museum!! Go Gravy boats!). Now, i'm exhausted, so another day!!

PS, I still read the Globe and Mail, and a message to my folks: The only Disney I'm going to is in California (or Hong Kong)! The one in France was pretty cool, but it was France ...

posted by Jenn @ 6:44 a.m.