Happy New Year! Erich and I celebrated in true Chinese fashion...freezing half to death and hardly recognizing the day is any different from the one before or after it :) We did, however, depart from Beilun to explore some parts of China. I mean, how can you live here for at least 2 years and say you've never been to see the teracotta warriors or the Great Wall? We figured we might as well check it off of our list while all the Chinese locals are working and it's too cold for tourism to be very high. Boy were we right! Xi'an and Beijing were absolutely, bone chilling cold...but the days were crisp and clear, the air quality was at it's highest, and we had plenty of room to explore and see everything without other tourists elbowing us along the way.
The first leg of ourholiday journey was Xi'an. Here, we trekked to see the teracotta warriors...amazing. My favorite part of the whole trip by far. To see the massive task these people undertook thousands of years ago was beyond comprehension. And it's all still a work in progress...after all, the site was only discovered in 1974. We saw plenty of ruins still being uncovered and archeologists putting together the pieces as we visited. The most interesting thing to me was the personality and individualism put into each warrior. No two are the same and their stances/facial expressions tell a story about who these people were and the times in which they lived. We were in awe and spent enough time there to let our fingers and toes go numb before catching the bus back to our hostel. A truly amazing experience.
Xi'an is not just known for theterracotta warriors, the city was the old Western capital of China. The ancient city wall is still standing and surrounds the city proper. Erich and I bundled up, after a night of teaching local Chinese men how to play card games like spoons and mushroom, to rent bikes and ride along the top of this city's fortress wall. It took about 90 minutes to bike the entire perimeter and it was a refreshing way to see Xi'an from an elevated view. We had the opportunity to see the locals preparing to celebrate the Chinese New Year in a few weeks...we are so excited to see the elaborate decorations, fireworks and food!The trip to Xi'an was short but sweet. We took an 11 hour train ride from there to Beijing for the next leg of the trip. The train was fine...nothing luxurious and we slept most of the way. The highlight was sharing a room with a man from Tibet who spoke some English and pardoned the little (and broken) Mandarin Erich and I try to speak. He was so calm and peaceful in the way he spoke and shared pictures and stories of his home. He kindly gave us a large bag of yak meat and a box of Tibetan tea...after which Erich and I panicked..."What do we have to give him in return? Our backpacks consist of dirty socks and toothbrushes..." Cultural faux pas #1: Never travel without small gifts to exchange in China. We offered a miniature terracotta warrior figure we boughtas a souvenir in Xi'an, and he (likely knowing it was a mass produced tourist lump of clay), "left" it on the train as he exited in a few stops. Kind man, kind heart.
Anyway, we arrived in Beijing fullof excitement...we had 6 days to see all we could, visit with Erich's aunt and uncle who were flying in for a few days, and compare Beijing to its rival Chinese city, Shanghai, which we have visited 3 or 4 times already. A friend of a friend kindly gave us a run down of the city our first day in. Among the many stops we made, she took us to the "meat street" vendors. You may have seen Anthony Bourdain or more likely Andrew Zimmern perusing these stands on TV. "Sir, some seahorse? Perhaps a centipede? These bull testicles are of the highest quality!" Needless to say, I ate some vegetable dumplings and steered clear. Erich, on the other hand, was in heaven. He tried a few meats and let Anna and I squirm at his considerations.
We were so happy to see some familiar faces the next day! We met up with Erich's Aunt Sheila and Uncle Bob, who were kind to brave the wind and cold to spend some time exploring with us. They really made it feel like the holidays for us and we cherished the 3 days we spent with them! First stop was the Forbidden City on what ended up being our coldest day traveling. Imagine being in a place where, only a few hundred years ago, only the emperor and his royal staff were allowed. We tried putting it in perspective and compared it to being allowed access to the private quarters of the Vatican or the President, but it still didn't compare. Some of the actions and decisions (for better or for worse) made in the places we were standing have changed Chinese and World history as we know it. Everything we saw and felt there was quite impressive.
New Year's Day was spent exploring the Summer Palace of the Empress and getting to the Great Wall. We could not have asked for a more perfect day...the sun was beaming down on us, the skies were clear as ever and blue as can be. It was still cold, but the wind had disappeared and made it bearable to be outside for more than an hour at a time. After a 2 hour drive outside of Beijing, we arrived at a section of the Great Wall. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was pretty dead there. I guess those are the perks of traveling to the Great Wall #1: on New Year's Day, and #2: in the middle of one of the coldest weeks in Beijing. I was expecting throngs of tourists and having a difficult time getting a photo without all of the people swarming...I was glad to be proved wrong :) As we approached the ascent, we were informed and saw photos that, yes, this was where Bill Clinton had also visited. (They love that man in China.) The view from on top was breathtaking. We could see rows and rows of mountains in the distance...made me wish I was back in Colorado. The wall meandered and wiggled its way on top of the peaks surrounding us and there was a peaceful calmness as we walked along this wonder of the world. It was magnificent and we are looking forward to going back and hiking it or maybe camping out along the wall.A little mythbuster action (on behalf of Erich) concerning the Great Wall of China:
1) Yes, you can see the Wall from space. However, you can also see many other manmade structures...bridges, major highways, etc.
2) There are not a load of dead bodies (of those who constructed the Great Wall) buried under the wall. #1: If this were true, it would affect the structural integrity of the Wall. #2: Ewww, gross, who does that?
3) Much of today's current Great Wall was rebuilt in the 1980's. The original 2000 year old wall only exists at the base of the current wall.
4) There is no ONE Great Wall of China. It is in actuality several walls that branch off and separate from one another. If anyone has claimed to have hiked the entire Great Wall from end to end, they are lying to you.
Thank you, Erich.
Last days in Beijing consisted of exploring weekend markets, museums, temples and of course, Tianaman Square. I was hoping for some kind of action on the square...even if it was just street performers and vendors. Nope. It really is just a huge parking lot with an evil history...with Mao watching over (both literally and figuratively...his portrait is hanging at one end and his mummified body is on display for viewing on the other end). The security is more than I have ever seen in all of China combined. Guards everywhere, 10 cameras on each lamppost, metal detectors, police vehicles cruising the perimeter...you'd think Mao himself was about to rise from the dead and wreak havoc on the Chinese again. Was the security like this before 1989 as well? It was both the most uneventful and potentially eventful place we visited.Returning back in Beilun, we really felt more "at home" than ever before. After seeing some more of China, we appreciated where we live and the people in our town. There is a comfort in small towns (of 600,000 people) that you don't get in the big cities. Yes, we got our fill of ethnic foods and consumerism in Beijing and Xi'an, but there's something about the smile of taxi drivers who know your name that we can't find anywhere but in good old Beilun :)
