High in the Jet Steam and Deep in the Ground – Xi’an
Sunday, October 28th, 2007
Photo: Do Not Touch! The Terracotta Soldiers…
For the ‘best of’ Northern China Photography – click here!
For all snapshots of Xian – click here!
For all snapshots of the Terracotta Soldiers – click here!
My last stop on my tour of Northern China was the small town of Xi’an. Of course – small in China is a population of 8 million people. Most people fly from Beijing to Xi’an, however we decided to take another route…the train. When I booked the overnight train to Xi’an, I really didn’t know what to expect. I actually enjoy taking overnight trains – it’s a good way to see a different side of a country, interact with some locals, and see the countryside. The Beijing train station was massive – making Grand Central in NYC seem like a toy railroad set. Luckily our guide, Roseanne, helped my father and I through the maze of the station and confusing overhead boards which only displayed information in Chinese. She took us all the way down to our train and made sure that we were on the right car. Sure – we could have done this ourselves…but my lord, it would have been full of stress and second guessing! She waved goodbye to us and we were off to Xi’an.
Photo: Young boy that loved my camera!
The train was amazing…clean, comfortable, spacious, and modern. It was all about the numbers…it was an 11 hour ride to Xi’an, each car had about 10 sleeping compartments. The sleeper cabins had 4 bunks and each bunk had a little head set and their own individual flat screen TV at the end of the bunk. Each train car had 2 bathrooms on each end (one western, and one squatty potty). Finally, there was 1 attendant per car so help you with anything you needed and to ensure that the car was clean. The linens were clean and comfortable – this train was pristine. This was the first thing that really exceeded my expectations in China – and to top it off it was a bargain. About $60 for a ticket…that was my hotel room for the night and my transportation. I would highly recommend this mode of travel between these two heavily touristed cities.
We met our new tour guide and driver at the train station the next morning after a good, comfortable night’s sleep. We had a free day today and we were looking forward to some down time after our 3 days of hiking. Our hotel was an older, business hotel – but large and very nice. After a lazy morning, we talked to the concierge and got a map of the city – or course it was all in Chinese – so he had to translate for us. There was a large park nearby that we could walk to – so we decided to get out and stretch our legs. As we started walking down the street I had a funny sensation sweep over me. This was really the first time in 5 days that we were really let loose in China with no tour guide/translator or driver – and I felt alive again! In my travels I’m not used to being driven around everywhere and having everything planned out so well. I have become accustomed to spontaneity and freedom in my travels – and I guess I didn’t realize that I was missing that until I set out on the sidewalks of Xi’an. As we walked down the street there was not another Caucasian person within eyesight. This was not a touristed area, it was simply a local neighborhood, finally – I was seeing the real China! We found the park entrance and went in enjoying the brisk fall air and breeze. Once again, visions of pumpkin pie danced in my head – I just couldn’t shake it! 
The park was large and had a variety of areas. There was an amusement park, a number of pagoda’s and lakes with little paddle boats and plenty of benches and lovely trails. It was full of energy and couples with kids as well as university students and businessmen. Once again – there was not one Caucasian in the park besides us. We walked around and simply observed – my favorite past-time. I had my camera so we were able to capture some nice shots of the picturesque park and lakes. We sat around a pagoda for a while, just watching people coming and going when we noticed a man with a kite. As my eyes followed him, he went to talk to some other older men sitting on a bench. I noticed they were all looking up, so I followed their gaze. Up high in the sky was a small little dot. As my eyes focused in on it I realized the dot was a kite – flying high up in the stratosphere. Photo: Look very closely – you will see two little black dots in the sky…those are kites!
I never imagined that kites could even go that high – it looked like it could be in a jet stream it was so high! There wasn’t just one up in the sky, there were about 3 of them – all being controlled by the men on the bench. We sat and watched these men fly their kites with the skill of professionals. More men came to join them and we were able to watch them launch more kites up into the jet stream as if there was no such thing as gravity. They would ask others in the park to hold the kite and then they would run off and get good winds signaling the ‘helper’ to let it go and up it went. My father and I kept getting a little closer to the action. I think my dad secretly wanted to be a ‘helper’ and launch a kite. My father is a retired engineer and all things having to do with physics of course draw him in. The Chinese men were aware of us watching with intent and some of them even tried to strike up a conversation with us…in Mandarin…which quickly deteriorated into charades between us as none of us could communicate with each other!
I went off to take a few more pictures of the park and the lake and left my dad mesmerized by the kites. When I came back 10 minutes later I saw him with the old Chinese guys and they had given him a kite to fly. I have no idea how this exchange happened – more charades no doubt, but it made me very happy. 
When you travel, you learn how to break down barriers and incorrect stereotypes and it makes you realize that we are all just people trying to get along and find happiness…no matter where you live. I was happy that my father was a part of this process. After an hour we finally moved on from the kites and the skillful men. But this experience had hooked dad. He talked about how he had enough room around his home in South Dakota to fly a kite – so from then on out we were on a mission to get dad outfitted with a kite and reel that would send a kite into the jet stream of South Dakota. We made a few more stops in the park to listen to locals perform music and soak in the non-tourist atmosphere. As we were walking back to our hotel a young girl about 6 yrs old saw us on the street and as she passed us she said “hello”. The first English we had heard from someone in the last 3 hours. The younger generation is learning English in school, and apparently are the only people we could find to communicate with! The afternoon in the park was probably my favorite day that I had in China because I felt like it was the first time that I would get a real feel for China, the people, and their everyday life.
The two sections of the wall connect and there is a woman at that connection taking tickets to move on to the next section – if you don’t have a ticket, then you can pass through to Simatai. Dad and I had signed up for trekking on Jinshanling the first day which included walking to the beginning of the Simatai section and then turning around and coming back. Day two we would drive over to the Simatai section and hike that to the steepest section of the wall. In hindsight – I would recommend to simply pack a lunch and do the trek from Jinshanling all the way to the end of Simatai instead – it would be much more satisfying since you go from point A to point B. Regardless, we still had a great time focusing on one section at a time.
Once again we were blessed with a picture perfect fall day. The leaves were changing providing a colorful palette of backdrop for photos. There were a few photographers at the wall when we got off the cable car taking sunrise shots with large lenses that made me envious…yes – I had bad case of camera envy! The only other people at the wall at this time in the morning were the hawkers. Hawkers are the local villagers and farmers that climb up to the Wall and attempt to sell their tourist goods. This can range from books, to cold water to beer and postcards. I must admit, the views were amazing, but having hawkers glued to you was about enough to give you trekking rage! They pretty much forced themselves upon you whether you wanted them there or not. I think their sales strategy was that you would pay them to leave you alone…which I suppose was rather effective! They followed you…just a few steps behind – nimbly jumping down steps and running circles around you reminding you to ‘be careful’ with every step. Their English consisted of “Please buy from me” and ‘be careful”. I’ve been traveling long enough to know that this is just how things work in the world of tourism – people try to sell you things any way they can. So, when we had two hawkers attach themselves to us I was prepared to deal with it. We were like big dollar signs to them – plus, since my dad was older they wrongly assumed that he would need assistance up and down the steep inclines and crumbling stairs. After a while though, I did try my best to communicate that we wanted to walk alone and eventually they stayed about 100 ft. away from us and allowed us to walk in solitude. It was like having a restraining order on a stalker! 
Photo: The Great Wall of China - Mutianyu Section
Photo: Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium surrounded by smog and construction
Photo: Guard in front of Tiananmen Square
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