On The Road: The Sweet City of Xi’an
Source: B.D.'s World at flickr
It seems like I only have time to write these blog entries in the airport, as I sit once again in an airport waiting to catch a flight. I’m leaving the wonderful city of Xi’an and heading to Shanghai, which should be exciting.
As expected, the hotel in Xi’an was VERY nice. I only had three nights here, but I did manage to sleep until 2 in the afternoon one of those days on the very comfortable bed. I also took the opportunity to get a massage done at the hotel spa. I went in with a sore back, and I came out ready to fall asleep without a care in the world. Probably my first ever real massage, as all those neck and back people don’t seem to make any of my pains go away.
It was one of those hotels that made it very easy to not have to leave the hotel if you didn’t want to. It offered a luxurious room, pool, spa, night club, choice of several restaurants on site. The service was top notch.
Enough about the hotel. The city itself is obviously a rapidly growing city. They don’t just build one condo at a time here, they build 30. There are large areas of the city devoted to shopping, and so if shopping is your thing you could spend several days getting lost in all the shops. Since I stayed in the center of town (the old city is surrounded by a huge wall), I did a lot of walking. There was quite a lot to see and do within walking distance.
One thing I need to mention is a mall called “Xi’an Computer Mall”. Now you might think the term “Computer Mall” might be a bit of an overstatement, but I assure you it is not. Imagine a large department store (Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Sears, you name it). And imagine that store is 6 floors. Now imagine all they sell is computers. Wall to wall, top to bottom, laptops, desktops, and computer parts. The mind boggles at the very thought. Why don’t they have anything like this in Toronto? Or even North America? This isn’t like a super-big Best Buy or something. Best Buy sells CDs, DVDs, home theatres, washing machines, and video games. This MALL just sold computers. Two floors devoted purely to laptops.
Driving in China is an interesting ballet to watch. I used to say about the Philippines, that lines on the road were just a suggestion not a rule. Well in mainland China, traffic lights are regarded as a Christmas decoration, and oncoming traffic does not scare people. I’ve seen cars and motorcycles driving down the wrong way of a one way street, people of all ages just walk into an intersection without regard to how busy it is, slow moving bicycles with carts attached taking up one lane of a raised expressway filled with cars doing 120 kph, and cars turning left that force their way through the intersection across five lanes of busy traffic. And when one successfully does that, the five cars immediately behind follow across in a chain causing everyone to have to stop and let them through.
Very interesting to watch, but I would never want to drive here. I think the rapid development from a rural society, known for being a country of bicycle riders to suddenly everyone owning a car has been a difficult adjustment for China. I wonder what the traffic fatality rate is here compared to Canada.
Sitting in the front seat of a cab, I actually had a taxi driver ask me NOT to put my seat belt on while he was putting his on. Umm, I wonder why he would object to that?
I spent one day on an organized tour here in Xi’an, visiting a few sites the most famous of which is the Terracotta Warriors. I actually met the man who discovered them while digging a well on his family land (Mr. Yang), and got a picture and autograph. So while a handful of the statues may be at the ROM in Toronto right now, I got to meet the man who essentially turned Xi’an from a sleepy town into an upcoming economic powerhouse. I hope he is well taken care of by the government. I am willing to bet 95% of the tourists that come through here are coming to see the clay statues he found while digging that well.
Anyways, I hear them calling my flight number. Next time you hear from me, I’ll be in Shanghai!
Xie xie.
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