Tuesday morning I got up nice and early to head to the airport to head to Xi’an (she-ann) for two days. Upon landing, I jumped on the bus to head to town and find my hotel. Unfortunately when I got off the bus, the directions that they gave me to the hotel weren’t that great, so I ended up in a different hotel. It was just as good. After unpacking a few things, I grabbed my backpack and headed out to walk around town. I saw an interesting fish market and then got to see the Bell Tower, Drum Tower, the Muslim Quarter, and a lot of interesting little streets. I then met up with one of the guys that I’m working with over here and he and his wife showed me around a bit. We went to the Bell Tower, some museum with a bunch of calligraphy, and the Great Wild Goose Pagoda. Unfortunately the Pagoda was closed, but we got to watch the the dancing fountain in front of the Pagoda. It was better than that dancing fountain in front of the Bellagio.
On Wednesday I booked a tour for the day so that I would be able to see a bunch of different sites. I was afraid that I might not get enough time in each location, but I was more than happy with the amount of time allotted. We started at the Great Wild Goose Pagoda, then headed to a factory to see how the Terracotta Warriors were made, from there we went to Huaqing Pool. After this we had lunch and then headed to see the Terracotta Warriors. This is what has made the city of Xi’an famous to tourist in the past years. Xi’an does have a rich history though as it was the capital for 13 dynasties! I’m extremely glad that I took the tour as I met a lot of interesting people and got to talk with them. There was one couple from England that started their trip in Moscow and were on their way to New Zealand, then to Australia, and then to Malaysia. Their entire trip is going to take them around three months. It sounded like a great trip and it something that I would like to do some day.
Thursday morning I again got up early to head to the airport and catch a flight to Shanghai. More on that later.