Xi'an

I was actually slightly disappointed with Xi'an (西安), I had heard and read many positive comments but my feeling was that the city itself was (to quote a favourite term) 'nothing special'. I had visited previously in November and went to the one site that is worth visiting around Xi'an, The Terracotta Warriors. I returned to explore more of this city, see other sites and line it up as a possible candidate for a place to work.

Xi'an is a hugely important city in history, a capital of ancient civilisation when it was called Chang'an, it has been the capital of many Chinese dynasties and there is much to see and learn from historical times. In the city there are the Big Goose Pagoda, the Small Goose Pagoda, temples, ancient sites, drum and bell towers, a Muslim area with its 'Great Mosque' and the surrounding city walls, built during the Ming Dynasty. The wall is 13.7 km long, with ramparts built at 120m intervals all the way around, the wall is 12m tall and at the base measures between 15-18m thickness. Once on the wall you can hire a bicycle or be shuttled around on an electric bus, similar to a long golf cart. Cycling around takes around 90 minutes including stops to look and photograph whatever you find interesting. I didn't find so many interesting things to photograph on the way around, you have dull office buildings in some places, old crumbling or demolished buildings in others, busy roads most of the way around, only the wall itself and its towers are of real interest, but having said that, it's still worthwhile making the effort to cycle around.

One site of relevance to me in Xi'an is the starting point of the Silk Road, I was not aware of this memorial first time I visited, but when I found out it was there, I decided to check it out. Having travelled along the Silk Road from Khiva in Western Uzbekistan through to the eastern end at Xi'an, I felt it was a felicitous choice to visit and see the so called 'start point' (or is it the end point?) of this famous trading route.


Left: The starting point (or the end) of 'The Silk Road'.

Right: There are more terracotta soldiers in the street stalls than at the actual site!

There is of course so much to see in and around Xi'an and should not be overlooked by anyone on a first trip to China, but perhaps for me, it was just one pagoda too many, I felt at many sites, 'Oh another drum tower', 'another bell tower', 'yet another Taoist/Buddhist temple of same layout and design'. It's another busy Chinese city, the wall around adds some charm to it for sure, but when I heard all these other foreign people who had worked or stayed there say how wonderful it is, I wonder what it was that made it so good for them, did I miss something somewhere ? Perhaps. Or was it just they enjoyed it because it's quite modern, quite 'Westernised', there are shopping centres, boutiques, western food restaurants and coffee shops around everywhere and a 'bar street', the common name given to a street in a Chinese city that contains western style bars. Maybe that's what was so good for these people, the fact they could live a western lifestyle but in a Chinese city ?? Maybe. Then maybe I had created high expectations of the place that were not quite met, whereas as other places I visit with little or no pre-knowledge, often surprise me as being better than I had imagined...

Whatever it was, overall Xi'an is OK, just not quite what I had hoped and dreamt of, but don't let this put you off, don't miss out on Xi'an. After all, it is one of the birthplaces of ancient civilisation and does have nearby, in the Terracotta Army, one of the most famous sites in the world.

Left: Etching of Monk Xuan Zang whose story is told in 'Journey to the West' lived in Xi'an.

Centre: Big goose Pagoda and gardens.

Right: 'Bigo' (chinese pronounciation of beagle !) in the 7 sages hostel.