My Funny Valentine . . .

I wish!!! Just that it being Valentine's Day it seemed the appropriate choice to continue my lame "theme" of heading up some of my posts with song titles!

Anyway, I commented recently that I was onto the lower tier of places to visit in Xi'an. It seems I was wrong. Laura must have been saving one of the best for last. We went to visit the mauseleum of one of the Han Emperors - Jingdi I think his name was. I'll have to go back and check all the Chinese names that I've been writing. The Han dynasty was from around 220BC to about 200AD; I'm not sure of the dates, but comparable with the height of the Roman Republic and Early Empire. They traded silk with Rome and I think that's when Xi'an (then Chang an) assumed its position as the start of the silk route. It was a great trip. The whole museum is under the tomb. The Han built huge artificial hills over their tombs so they're easy to find (and most have been robbed over the centuries) but there was lots to look at in this display. They did the same sort of thing that Qin Shi Huang did but at about 1/3 scale, so there are thousands of miniature statues of people and animals. The people's bodies are terracotta but the arms were wood and they were dressed in silk, so the only thing left of most of them is the naked bodies. I had to chuckle when I noticed that the looks on the eunuchs' faces were definitely sad compared to the others!!!

Much of the museum is glass floored so you're walking over above the actual trenches where the excavations have taken place. There was also a good audiovisual display explaining some of the significant points, with a headset giving an English translation of much of it. All in all, very cool.

Today I finally fulfilled my ambition of walking right around the city wall. I got up on the South Gate (Nan Men) and walked along anticlockwise, so South to East to North to West, then back along the South wall to finish. It took about 4 hours to walk the 13.8km so I've walked about 8 hours today! Good though. It was interesting to see the different character of the inner city in each direction. The south seems much more upmarket, with swish bars and tourist focused areas. The buildings there are often modern but in traditional style. The East and North seem to be undergoing a lot of urban renewal, but I think the whole of the inner part (inside the wall) is pretty desirable real estate. I took lots of pictures along the way to try to capture the feel of the place.

Last night we went to a bath house. It was an experience like nothing I've ever had before. I don't think I've ever been naked in front of so many people! Still, it was great getting a massage and doing the whole steam and sauna thing. Later I got slaughtered in Ma Jong, as I expected, since the Chinese game is very different to the way it's played in the West, and I couldn't read any Chinese numbers above 4. I can now! Needless to say, I was not the fastest player at the table. Laura's mother was the most skilled but Laura was perhaps the luckiest, coming out the clear winner. I was a poor 4th in a field of 4!

This might be my last post (maybe one more) because I fly home on Monday. It'll be sad leaving because I've really enjoyed my time in Xi'an and in China generally.