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Sunday, July 15, 2018

Final Post from China: Beiyuanmen Street

Doesn't it look delicious?
After walking the walls of Xi'an, our tour guide asked us if we wanted to go to Beiyuanmen Street, a famous shopping street in Xi'an.  She asked the day before, and I said no.  I was too tired.  She asked the day before that.  Same reason.

But this time I relented.  I'm not much of a shopper.  I bought all my souvenirs for the trip already (at the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, of all places).  We did have a little time to kill before catching the high speed train back to Beijing to catch the nonstop flight PEK-LAS in the wee hours of the morning.  Besides, our tour guide was great -- all three of our tour guides on this trip were great -- and I was getting the distinct impression that she would be in severe trouble with her agency if we did not check off all the boxes on the planned itinerary.

So off to Beiyuanmen Street we go!


This is the place to go for cheap souvenirs and street food.


Not sure of the point in wearing red mouse ears, but there doesn't have to be a point, does there?  Especially when the ears match the Coca-Cola.


Statuary is always a photo spot:


One thing about buying cheap souvenirs over here?  You know they're locally made, in-country.  For once, that "Made in China" label means you're buying local.


What's up with that one T-shirt there?  Let's zoom in for a closer look, shall?


Obamao?  The perfect souvenir for your friend on either side of the political divide!  Trusted friend and kindred spirit to an important ally?  Or communist front?  You decide!

Right after our guide let us know that we needed to get moving to get to the high speed train on time, I saw this:


A fish pedicure spa!  I am so angry at myself for not agreeing to go Beiyuanmen Street earlier.  If we had only 30 minutes to spare at this point, I would have treated myself to a fish pedicure, where a tank of fishes nibble off the dead skin on your feet as if it were fish food.  Actually, it is fish food for these fishes.  Considering the fact that I am prone to thick callousing on my heels, these fishes would have stuffed themselves senseless like I have been at these 30-course dinners I keep getting fed while over here

Bad time management killed the fish pedicure.


Time to be whisked back to Beijing via high speed rail.  This concludes my China trip.  It was a great trip.  What was most surprising was that the relative normality of the place.  Yes, a few of the dishes were a bit "challenging."  I did not try the duck feet, for example,  Or the sea cucumber.  (I'm not that big on land cucumbers, for instance.)  But other than some extreme food items, this was not a strange new universe.

My other observation was how wealthy China is.  Large luxury brand SUVs on the road.  More so in Beijing in Xi'an, where there were more Audis, Lexuses (Lexi?) and Mercedes on the road.  Xi'an was dominated by Buicks aplenty, with fewer Audis.   And the taxis were all mid-sized Hyundai Elantras, not little Fiats or Citroens, or those horrible tiny Chinese-made "Chery" cars that you see all over Latin America.

Yes, I am sure there is poverty in rural China.  But the "eat your food there are starving children in China" era ended awhile back.  Chinese children are fat like us Americans.  Maybe the visit was well-choreographed by professional tour guides -- and there definitely was some of that -- but China clearly has a large and growing middle class.  A large and growing middle class that likes to play tourist in their own country.  Everybody simultaneously!  But you get to shove back and elbow your way through, too, so it's all cool.

The next travel blogging will be from exotic Western Pennsylvania next month.  See you there!

Walking the Walls of Xi'an

There are other options besides walking the walls, but I chose walking
I woke up in Xi'an.  My next night's sleep (not counting the airplane) will be in my own bed in Las Vegas.  This is my last day in the People's Republic of China.

Before we check out of the hotel, let's have one last look at my hotel on Xi'an, the Hilton.  This is the front reception desk:


The sitting area across from the reception desk, the other side of the lobby:


A "Terra Cotta Warriors" style chariot, flanked by two cranes because why not?


Let's have a closer look at one of the cranes, which is standing on a turtle-lion-dragon:


Walking out of the Xi'an Hilton for the final day's adventure:


A trip to the Xi'an ancient city walls.


Don't let all the buses scare you.  There's plenty of room atop the walls for everyone.


Xi'an is a tourist town.  This is the height of tourist season.  And the city walls are a tourist attraction.  Need proof?


And, yes, there will be a tourist crowding milling around the gate.  We came in through the East Gate.


Where there was a bell.


Not quite Philadelphia, but still nice.


But once you are away from the gate, and despite the fact that the sun will be poring down on you on the first truly sunny day in China, the crowds will be light.  It will be a pleasant, lightly-touristed experience in this Chinese tourist town.  (And by "Chinese tourist town," I mean "'Chinese-tourist' town" far more than I mean "Chinese 'tourist-town,'" if that makes sense as written.)


The walls are well-marked.  And like in the rest of Xi'an, as well as Beijing, lots of free and clean public restrooms, as is evident from the sign above.


Lots of guard houses along the walking route, since these were functional defensive walls for a long time, not too long ago.


The tall buildings are the newer city outside the walls.  Lower-rise construction is found inside the walls.


It is interesting that there is the nice bit of greenery at the northeast corner of the walls, since there is a beautiful ribbon of green parkland just outside the city walls on most sides.  Rarely is there parkland inside.


We could visit this guard house.  Except that it's closed.


Here is a nice view of the green ribbon of parkland that is outside the city walls:


And here's more:


Here's a view looking inside the walls at the old "lower-rise" city:


That's enough.  Back to walking:


Guard house ahead:


Plenty of bicycles built for two:


Getting closer to the north gate, which means traffic is picking up.


Wedding photography alert!


Looking down outside the walls again.


We walked from the east gate to the north gate, which would be one-quarter of the total length of the walls.  A complete rectangle would be eight miles, so this is a two-mile trek.


There is a "moat" of sorts around the walls.


Which I only learned too late has boat cruising available.


Crank up the drawbridge because we are done with walls of Xi'an.


I'm almost down with this peripatetic-paced pass through the People's Republic of China.  Well, two important tourist cities within the P.R.C., at least.

Hua Qing Palace Grounds

This became the site of a Tang Dynasty palace because there were natural hot springs on the premises.
Sounds like a good reason to place a palace here.
Still exploring the north side of Xi'an.  Next stop:  the Hua Qing Palace grounds.


There's a lot to see here, even on the periphery of the palace grounds, in the park area before you enter.


Still in the parking area here:


And there is this cool statue/fountain, honoring a dance from an emperor's favorite consort.


Time to enter.  There is always an ornate gate to pass through.


The grounds are very green and relaxing.  This is good since the sun is coming out for the first time this whole trip.  It's been very overcast (but not raining) the entire time up to now.


You can take a cable car up to some temples at the top of the mountain.  Our guide is referring to them as "tourist temples," but I don't think she meant the term to be as derisive as it sounds to western ears.


Or maybe she did.  I'm exhausted at this point, so we stay in the lower grounds area, rather than taking a cable car up to the "tourist temple."


I cable carred at the Great Wall.  Now if they were offering funicular service, I'd have reconsidered.  But cable cars/aerial trams?  Been there.




And this is the star of the show:


The Emperor's Favorite Consort.  Barely dressed.

And this was her bathing pool.


Not that big, but bigger than my hotel tub.  And the tub in my hotel room is pretty decent sized.

I found this sign intriguing:


This was the first and only time I saw a sign with this directive in China.  Usually, pushing and shoving are actively encouraged at all tourist spots.

Anyway, this was the emperor's bathing pool.


Crowds were modest.


This was a surprise.  An area devoted to Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Chinese nationalists, the ones who fought a civil war with the communists, lost, and went into exile in Taiwan.


This was his meeting room.


Time to leave the Hua Qing Palace grounds.  Not much time before I need to catch the dinner show.


The show was a dance spectacular about a Tang Dynasty emperor's lifelong love affair with his chosen empress.  Some of the show performers used the dining area as a passageway.


The city of Xi'an might be living off the Qin Dynasty Terra Cotta Warriors right now -- at least its tourism trade is -- but the city itself loves the Tang Dynasty.


Soon it was time to be seated in the theater.


And the show began.


And the show ended.  The dancing was not my thing, but the accompanying traditional Chinese music was excellent and enjoyable.


All in all, it worked out better than lunch.  When I ended up in a Qin Dynasty period costume.


One of my rules of vacationing is when you are offered a funny costume, wear it.  I may reconsider that rule.