CHONGQING - XI'AN

We departed the boat at the city of Chongqing (most westerners probably know its name as Chung King.) If you count the surrounding burbs (which they do) Chongqing is the largest city in China with a population of 30 million! We only spent the day here. We went to the zoo to see pandas and went to a small museum dedicated to General Joseph Stilwell and the Flying Tigers. Chongqing was the war capital of China during World War II. General Stilwell was commander of US troops in this part of China helping them to fight the invading Japanese. He is responsible for building the Burma Road.

CHONGQING AND PANDA PHOTOS HERE

From Chongqing we flew to Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta Warrior Army. The site is outside of the city so we had an interesting bus ride there and back. The area is famous for pomegranates and also grows a lot of corn. One of the drawbacks of being on a tour is not getting to stop along the way and explore or sample the local culture. It was pomegranate season while we were there and there were dozens of stands along the road selling them but we didn't get a chance to stop and buy any. We saw pomegranate trees in various places around China and whole groves of them here. Because the fruit is so sweet, they tie plastic bags around each fruit while it's still on the tree to keep the birds and insects from being attracted to them. It was also fascinating to see what they do with the corn. I don't think of China as being a big consumer of corn but they dry it to make flour and to feed to their animals. Since it was harvest season we saw lots of recently harvested corn. They tie it in long braids and hang it from trees or the eaves of their houses, lay it out on the driveways or rooftops, and string it on lines across the yards.

The site of the Terra Cotta Warriors was discovered by a farmer digging a well. The site of the well is marked in the museum and the old man sits in the gift shop autographing the book you can buy that tells you all about the site. It was discovered in 1974 and they've uncovered about 2000 figures but they've stopped the excavation. (One of our tour companions said it looks the same as it did when he was here ten years ago.) Apparently, when the figures were made they were brightly painted. Much of the color was intact when they were dug up but then immediately began to disintegrate when exposed to the air. They believe there are at least another 6000 figures still buried but are waiting to continue until they believe they can preserve them adequately. Interestingly, this tomb of the first emperor of the first (Qin) dynasty was not recorded anywhere in any historical documents or noted by any stone markings or anything. No one had any idea it was there until it was discovered just 30 years ago.

TERRA COTTA WARRIOR PHOTOS HERE

Though they all tend to run together after time, I think Xi'an was my favorite city in China. It seemed to still have some of what I imagined the cities to be like before the recent boom in the economy. There is an ancient wall around the city (which is true of several old cities in China.) We went to the north gate tower and had time to go for a walk along a portion of the wall. The section I walked had many older 2/3 story apartments backed up against it so I was provided an interesting close up look into the back "yards" of some of the residents.

XI'AN PHOTOS HERE

While in Xi'an we also visited a lacquer furniture factory and the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda with surrounding gardens and Buddhist temple. By now I have figured out that the purpose of much of the touring we did was to provide us with opportunities to buy things! During our trip we visited a jade carving factory, a fresh water pearl jewelry demonstration and showroom, a tea plantation, a lacquer furniture factory, a silk rug showroom, a silk factory, a few art showrooms, and various other shopping areas. Every site we visited had lots of individual hawkers all around ("Hello People") and was filled with shops or rows of vendors. Even on the Shennong stream ride our guide and one of the boatmen sang a couple of songs and then tried to sell us a book about them and a CD/DVD of their songs.

Normally I enjoy a bit of shopping on my travels but that was not true here at all. Sales people were very pushy and hovered over you constantly in the shops; and the whole "bargaining" thing was just plain annoying. They would start out trying to sell you something for 100 yuan and if you walked away or said no they kept coming down on the price (often to a quarter of the original price) and pushing you to buy. Now I understand that some people really get into this and it's all a kind of game but it's not how I like to shop. For one thing, I don't care to buy things just because they're cheap. When I shop I like to take time to look at things, pick through what's there and look for the perfect little treasure, either for myself or for someone else. This kind of shopping is the antithesis of that. You can't just linger and poke through things in private. Every time you look at something or, worse yet, pick it up, you are immediately hounded to buy it. The fun of souvenir shopping is the hunt and discovery, not seeing how much junk you can buy for how little money!

And it's also kind of sad that every thing in China seems to have turned into an opportunity to sell you something. Nothing seems to really have much historic or sacred value any more. The vendors at the Ghost City are selling cheap Hallowe'en masks and the workers renovating the Buddhist temple have their tea thermoses sitting on the Buddha's pedestal. It's hard to say if they have any reverence for anything any more!

Well, enough of that! One night in Xi'an we went to a wonderful Tang Dynasty show with dancers, singers, and musicians. It was great fun and afterward we had a fabulous dumpling dinner!

TANG DYNASTY SHOW PHOTOS HERE

Oh yes, in the "OUR GANG" photos (over on the right) you'll see one of Melinda with a group of Chinese girls. A funny thing about the Chinese, they love to have their picture taken with western tourists. I must be in at least a half dozen pictures with Chinese strangers! These girls approached us and wanted to take their pictures with us. They all took turns taking pictures so I decided to take one too!