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| CHINA - THE SILK ROAD - MAY 2005 |
| To read about the next part of our tour, click, More........... |
| We decided that a trip to China should be made with a tour group because we have limited time available, don't speak a word of Mandarin and can't understand a single Chinese character, not even the toilet sign.
So we went with Intrepid. |
The first impression of 'the Northern Capital' is that everything is HUGE!! From the airport expressway along the massive ring roads to the gigantic apartment blocks that line every road; the main thoroughfare that runs east-west across the city (Chang 'an) is three traffic lanes, a bus lane and a bicycle lane each way with side walks so big the taxis use them as another lane of traffic. It's said that Beijing is the termination of the Silk Road but it's only true in the sense that a lot of the stuff transported over the Silk Road ended up here. I guess the tour groups start in Beijing so they can see the most accessable parts of the (reconstructed) Great Wall and the Forbidden City. The former is worth the hike, the latter is pretty ordinary. |
| Beijing is very smoggy. Unless they clean up the air, athletes will have a hard time breathing in 2008. It seems like the populace is in training for being nice totourists. We didn't receive one sneer, and, albeit aloof, most people we met were friendly and helpful.Don't be surprised if, in an attempt to clarify the air, the government does something drastic like close all the factories for a month prior to the games. |
| We caught the overnight 'hard sleeper' to;
Xi 'an. My brother had visited the site of the Terracotta warriors about six weeks before I did. He said Xi 'an had little to recommend it except for the warriors. On the contrary I found the city interesting and entertaining. I suspect it depends upon the group you go with. Debra took us directly to the Muslim quarter for one of the best breakfasts I've ever had. The city walls are 10 km long and the best way to see the city is to hire a bike and look down. Every day there's something happening. If you walk outside the south walls you'll see lots of locals exercising on the monkey bars that are established in every park, or, as we did, take a turn around the ballroom dance floor. Drum bands on the walls, classic chinese opera in the parks, tai chi classes around every corner, and bigs mobs of middle aged chinese take advantage. Best of all, they'll invite foreigners to take part in whatever they're doing; I had a great time drumming with a group next to the Silk Road sculpture. |
| Xian enjoys equal fame with Athens, Cairo, and Rome as one of the four major ancient civilization capitals. If possible try to get a hotel near the main square - it's always full of locals flying kites, walking their dogs (it's a furphy that chinese eat their pets), supermarket employees doing aerobics, on and on, something different every night. Reluctantly, we caught the overnight train to the worst thing that could happen to a soldier or a bureaucrat during the Tang dynasty - Jiayuguan. |
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