Xi'An

from the last weekend of October 2009

Xi'An was one of the ancient capitals of China, formerly known as Chang'An. It was home to many of the high dynasties of China's peak, including the Tang dynasty. It's famous for the terracotta soldiers guarding the tomb of the first Qin emperor, for Hua'Shan, one of five sacred taoist mountains in China (though there are tons of mountain ranges that are sacred to one extent or another- for resembling brothers, sisters, monkeys, flowers, clouds, Avatar, etc etc). Like many other cities in China today, Xi'An is heavily polluted and a victim of traffic and poor urban planning under communist China, though its city walls and other ancient treasures are surprisngly well preserved.First Stop: Maosoleum of Qin Shi Huang! Estimated to hold over 8,000 clay soldiers, 500+ horses. impressive indeed, and a really incredible accomplishment by any means.
my best warrior pose!
Back in Xi'An city center: a visit to the drum tower, bell tower, and the muslim night market sandwiched between the gorgeous buildings.


Then.. hike up Hua Shan! Resembles the great paintings on rice paper of mountains and trees, absolutely stunning especially when the sun was out. it was popular to purchase locks, chain it to the fence, lock it, and throw the key away so your love would forever be captured on the mountain.

beautiful view!!

me, sitting on a ledge overlooking the valley

Back to the night market for shopping, food, greasy lamb soups, and more fun.

i like the smoke effect in the photo, steam from the buns they were selling (not pictures)
The Wild Goose Pagoda at night. built for Tang Sanzang, the monk that traveled 17 years to and from India to bring back Buddhist scriptures. he was the inspiration for the epic Journey to the West (which i am still reading, on chapter 83...)


The Great Mosque of Xi'an, one of the most famous mosques in China, first built around 700AD.


Biking around the city wall. fun fun! took about two hours, the city wall is complete and around 14 km long. looks so cool to see the ancient buildings and rooftops against the city wall

my butt started hurting an hour in.
another fantastic trip in china!

Gansu, 我的老家

from Early October 2009:

Gansu province was really unique, on the border of Tibet and Xinjiang. Actually, my grandfather is from there, and i have some of his characteristics. especially the large nose. It is on the Western edge of the Chinese Empire, and thus the area has a large population of minorities- especially religious minorities- muslims, tibetans, etc.

We went to the mogao grottoes, where the massive Buddha statue’s foot was as large as I was. Sadly, no pictures allowed. The Buddha caves were filled with statues, scriptures, and wall paintings. It was so magical to see these Indian influenced caves the earliest ones) with peacocks drawn in, as peacocks are exclusive to india. Some caves had a wooden ceiling painted on, and to prevent fire, and water patterns drawn in between the beams
grottoes
the ginormous buddha sat in that temple, his head more or less reached the top tier of the wooden beams. and the colors were so well preserved from hundreds, maybe nearly a thousand years ago.
paintings, similar to what were in the caves!

The desert:
Trekked two hours into the desert, the camels were fun and obedient, had an amazing dinner made for us on the spot, hiked up a sand dune. Watched a breathtaking sunset. Crawled/ slithered down the sand dune.


remnants of the great wall, on the western edge of Gansu. i coulda jumped over that if i wanted to...

We went to linxia to visit a muslim community. The kids were adorable, and some wore their shoes backwards. We visited a pretty grimy and dusty street market, but the people there were so warm and curious about the American way of life. They didn’t believe I was American because I wasn’t white! Haha it was so refreshing to see this totally different lifestyle of China, where most people didnt look Han Chinese but had larger noses, lighter hair, ruddy skin.
this guy was real tough with his HUGE sunglasses. i had to get a photo with him. a mosque in Linxia, reminds me of the great mosques in Istanbul and Iran
adorable boy that loved the attention he was getting from all of usselling tea in the street market. my mother says the man on the right looks shockingly similar to my grandfather

Then.. went to the Labrang monostary, a Tibetan complex of great significance. We spun the prayer wheels, went inside these lavishly decorated interiors with rich silks and fabrics, that burned yak butter candles.

monks in training running in the background. i really love this photo
prayer wheels

Finally made it to the sangke grasslands, visited a nomadic family and their horses and sheep and stuff. The kids were going nuts over a ball that we brought, and we left it for them to play with. Last we drovev a little further down, danced the Macarena with these teenagers/ 20 somethings, they taught us their dances and songs.

BEIJING 北京

so.. its MARCH 2010! and its been two months since I left the greater China area. i did promise myself i'd finish all these posts so i might as well have a complete collection of my study abroad experience on one site. something to look back on when im 80 and can no longer travel, or when im 30, broke, and unable to afford traveling beyond the mcdonalds down the street.

Great wall:






Forbidden City: shoulda woke up earlier to get in when there were less tourists. the site loses its effect when there are hundreds of people crowding into the same alley or building youre trying to get into. still grand nonetheless


^love to have seen this on a less smoggy day where the air wasnt supersaturated with pollution. alas, Mao wanted "a forest of smokestacks" around Beijing in the 50s to show how industrialized the nation had become.




Temple of Heaven:

a high point in Ming dynasty architecture, where the emperor sacrificed a lamb (or was it a goat?) on the winter solstice for good fortunes

Summer Palace: finally the air cleared up after a night of rain, and it was BEAUTIFUL! not stuffy like the forbidden city. dozens of temples, palaces, pagodas, and walkways scattered throughout the playground for Empress Cixi. she bankrupted the nation with her marble boat.





Snack Streets: selling some pretty weird stuff, crickets (ehh too crispy), scorpions (tasted like kebab seasoning), starfish (dry and gross), and some other critters along those lines.