June 11-12, 2010 ---- After four days in Beijing with the General Tour, we all were ready to fly to China's ancient capital, Xi'an. Xi'an is located in central-northwest China, and it had been China's capital for 13 dynasties or 1,100 years. It's one of the must-see cities if you ever visit China.
Day 5
We left for the airport early to take our flight to Xi'an. I didn't really know anything about this city until joining this trip. We flew with Hainan Airlines, and I would say that it was the best domestic airline I have ever flown with. They served us a big snack and constantly served drinks. I tried coconut juice and found it pretty interesting.
Flying through China's sky was really nice in that we could see the country's landscape from the air. We flew over cities, mountains, farmlands, river, desert, etc. Once we reached Xi'an, I could see the developing city was having a lot of construction going on. There were a ton of sky-high condos everywhere.
We had a local tour guide everywhere we visited. The tour guide in Xi'an was very nice. She took us to check in at Shangri-La Golden Flower Hotel. It was a very nice hotel located in the middle of everything.
Xi'an Museum
Our first sight in Xi'an was Xi'an Museum. Here we had a special arrangement to join curators and handle and examine ancient artifacts they recently found in the country. The room was located in the back of the museum, and we all had to put on gloves that they provided before touching any artifacts. Then we went in the museum to see more valuable ancient objects.
At night, we had a buffet dinner at the hotel. It was the BEST dinner we had in China. Everything was so perfect, and we got to try so many exotic dishes.
Day 6
Big Wild Goose Pagoda
We started our day early at a Buddhist temple, Big Wild Goose Pagoda. It was built in 652 during the Tang Dynasty to collect Buddhist texts that Xuanzang, a Buddhist monk, got from his journey to India. If you have heard about "Journey to the West" novel, you probably know the story about the Monkey King helping a Buddhist monk to travel along the Silk Road to India to obtain sacred sutras/texts.
The story of the Buddha is carved in jade on the walls inside of the temple. We also paid extra for tickets to climb up to the top floor of the pagoda. It was very nice to see Xi'an from there.
Medicine Market
The tour guide took us to a furniture factory and then to a local market selling medicines that people have used since ancient times. I found it scary because they used snakes, geckos, dog's and deer's penis, and many more disgusting animals. We didn't really spend much time there because we didn't use that kind of medicine and didn't want to buy anything there.
The Terracotta Warriors and Horses
The most amazing tourist-attraction in Xi'an is the Terracotta Warriors and Horses. It's a must-see museum if you are in China. It is the biggest museum I have ever seen. It was built over the tomb of the first emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, which was filled with treasures for the emperor to use in his afterlife.
The museum consists of 3 parts, but we went in only 2 parts because it was stunningly huge. There were thousands of life-size terracotta figures of warriors and horses lined up. The museum still has ongoing work. I think it would take them a long time to get it completed.
Our day in Xi'an ended fantastically at the Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum. The next day we had to fly to Shanghai and travel by a private van to Suzhou to enjoy the city's gardens....
