We took an overnight train from Beijing to Xi’an. Jenfay and I were in the same “room” as this little girl and her mother. The girl was so hyper all night long that one time, she climbed up to Jenfay’s bunk and dangled her blue socks at Jenfay and I for a good five minutes.
The cute place we stayed at! And Jenfay says hi!
We went to see the famous Terracotta Warriors! We hired our very own English tour guide to tell us about the historical, cultural, and modern-day significance of these warriors. Can you believe that they are 2,200 years old?
Sometimes I feel old, but I’ll never be as old as them!
The people in blue are archaeologists, still working on restoring all the Terracotta Warriors.
Hands down one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
Do I look like him?
We had just come back from seeing the Terracotta Warriors, and we were so tired that we didn’t want to walk 20 minutes back to our hostel. The roads were so busy that we were unable to hail a taxi. Thank goodness for tuktuks! They can be like cars on the road, or like bikes on the side roads, or like people walking wherever. We got back to our hostel in no time!
When we were on our way to Hui Ming Jie, we passed by this, a symbol of Xi’an. I’m not sure if this is the Bell or Drum Tower…
The next day, we took the subway, then a bullet train, then a taxi to the bottom of Hua Shan, a mountain that’s 120 km east of Xi’an. This photo was taken on the cable car up the mountain. Apparently, if you don’t take the cable car, the climb up is 10 hours long, and it is an extremely difficult and dangerous climb.
On top of the mountain! Everything was so refreshing and beautiful up here.
For a mere 30 RMB ($6 CAN), you can test your courage on the cliff-side plank. We all got harnesses so it was quite safe. Jennifer, my friend who’s sticking her tongue out, has some wise words for anyone who wants to try walking on this: “Be one with the wall.”
I actually saw someone else doing this but with his arms completely raised up in the air. I could only manage to raise one arm up and hold the position for half a second. So terrifying, but so exhilarating. Thanks Howard for the snap!
We made it to the end of the plank walk! Good job guys!
There are four peaks on Hua Shan. I can’t remember which peak this is, but the view was magnificent. (I wish it weren’t so smoggy/foggy that day, though.) The locks you see are like the love padlocks that I saw at the N Seoul Tower in Korea. Couples will carve their name on the locks, lock them high on the mountain, and throw the key down to where they will never see again.
We were all so exhausted from the plank and from climbing up countless stairs.
On the third day in Xi’an, we took it easy. We went outside the city walls, visited the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, had some snacks, and walked around. In the evening, we took the overnight train back to Beijing. These three days seriously passed way too fast! I am falling in love with traveling all over again.
oh… it just makes me think of the XiAn trip that I had 2 years ago… feeling nostalgic now. I’ve been to all the places that you’ve been T^T Awesome post btw! keep it up!