Sep 2008

I stayed at the Ibis in Xian after having stayed at the Ibis in Zibo this is a hotel of choice. The hotel is located in downtown Xian, 2 Km from the railway station on Heping Rd.

The sites were all close by with most being walking distance. Well for me.
Bell Tower - 5KM
Big Wild Goose Pagoda - 10 KM
Drum Tower - 5KM
Shaanxi History Museum - 8 KM
Xian Stone Forest- 12 KM

After my detour to the sports store I arrived at the Shaanxi History Museum just after 12. The ticket office was closed until 1 pm for lunch. I decided I would see if I could find something that wasn't Chinese for lunch. I had no luck so headed back towards the museum. When I got there the queue was down the street. I couldn't believe it. Anyway I joined the queue and surprisingly it moved rather quickly.

The museum is a large scale museum which has collected 370 000 unearthed historical relics. Entrance to the museum is free, however remember to take your passport to prove you are not Chinese! Shaanxi History museum is great for a stroll through ancient Xian covering prehistory, Zhou to Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Xian is one of the few cities in China where the old city walls are still standing. The walls are 12M high and form a rectangle with a perimeter of 14 KM. The entrance price is Y40.

I hired a bike and rode around the perimeter. The cost to hire the bike was Y20 for 100 minutes and a Y200 deposit. I was a little concerned how I was going to be after the bike ride as the last time I rode a bike was in Laos on the wrong side of the road into on coming traffic. At least here I was a little safer. The only traffic I was going to come across would be walkers or other cyclists!

You can of course walk around the top of the wall if you have some hours to kill. The view is great and gives a different perspective looking down on the city.

Walking down the stairs I saw a lady who looked familiar. I started to wave like a lunatic. Then I started running down the stairs because I wanted to reach the bottom at the same time. Still waving frantically I had 3 Chinese men behind me saying, "hello, hello, hello." Finally I grabbed this ladies attention. It was indeed Sue Wilshire. I worked with her husband, Tony, at the bank. Sue gave me a kiss and a hug and asked if I had seen Tony. Which of course I hadn't. She believed he had headed to their tourist bus. So off I went looking for him. As I got outside the gates I could see him across the street.

It was surreal seeing someone from home after being away for almost 6 months. Tony and I caught up that night for a few drinks.

The Little Goose Pagoda is in the grounds of Jianfu Temple. It was founded to store sutras brought back from India. The top of the Pagoda was shaken off by an earthquake in the 16th century, but the rest of the 43 M high structure is intact. I climbed the Pagoda which was well worth the view although it was raining. The entrance fee was Y50 which also included entrance into the Xian Museum and the opportunity to explore the grounds.

The Xian museum is a miniature version of the Shanghai Museum. Still worth a look around though. There are 130,000 pieces of collected culture relics.

Bell Tower and the Drum Tower are inside the City Walls. The Bell Tower houses a bell that is rung at dawn and the Drum Tower houses a drum that is rung at dusk. The combined cost to get in to both is Y40. Musical performances are held inside both towers. Not worth it! Spend more time in the Muslim Quarter. It is far more interesting.

The Muslim Quarter is in the back streets heading north from the Drum Tower. The narrow streets are full of all sorts of shops. The Muslim Quarter is a great place to buy gifts and souvenirs. They are all fake.

Xian has a population of 3.2M. It was originally called Chang'an. It was a thriving city of emperors, courtesans, poets, monks, merchants and soldiers. It was the beginning and end of Silk Road. I loved it here.

The central block of the city is bound by the City Walls. In the city centre is the Bell Tower.

My time in Xian was not long enough. I had to make the most of it with most days starting at 7.30am and finishing at 11 pm.

With the heat and humidity in China my unruly hair was just a frizz ball. All I could do was to keep it tied back. So I decided I wanted to get it chemically straightened again. The last time I did this was in April 2004 before I left to met up with Dan in Thailand. I swore then I would never do it again because it took so long and I had to stand up to have my hair painted to the boards to get it straight.

This was all forgotten. I'm guessing it's the same as those mothers who swear after the first child birth they will never do it again only to pop out more!

So I spoke with my Chinese hairdresser and they said it should be OK. I then contacted Aretha to get her opinion. I think Aretha's reaction was something like this - "maybe you should get half of it done first, the underneath half, so if it is a total stuff up you can hide it..... and if it is GREAT then you can do the top half." Then I had to find out the name of the chemical straightener they will use. I had to make sure I had a moisturizing treatment and a protein treatment in the bathroom. And finally I had to let Aretha know what products they use before they did it.

I found out from the Chinese hairdresser that they use Wella. Surely they couldn't do too much damage with Wella given when Aretha did it last time she used a straightener for black African women!

Armed with this information I pleaded with Aretha for her approval. I think her reaction this time was - "OK OK OK....
you can get it chemically straightened - but if I was you, I would get the underneath done first, as it is healthier under there, and if it gets ruined, the top will still be OK and it will hide the damage underneath! Then if all goes perfectly, you can get the top done!!!! See, that makes so much sense!"

Well I didn't take all of her advice because I thought that they couldn't do too much damage with Wella and I went to the hairdresser to have my whole head done. When I got there I learnt that it wasn't Wella but Loreal. Same difference couldn't do my hair too much damage!

I arrived at the hairdresser at 4 pm. I thought that they had told me it would take 2 hours. Although I do recall it was about 6 hours when Aretha did it. Anyway I was at the hairdressers until 10 pm! At one stage I had 3 Chinese men blow drying my hair. I got kicked out of the shopping centre by the security guards!

It was funny. In China the power goes off at a certain time in the shopping centre which is why they were frantically trying to dry my hair before the power went off. They didn't quite make it. But here I am in the Salon inside the shopping centre with no light. I paid and then I was escorted out by the security guards.

When I got out there were no taxis. So I started to walk up the hill to the main road. The young guy from the salon saw me and escorted me to the main road. He waited until a taxi was flagged down and then negotiated a fare. Very kind of him!

The one thing I forgot about getting your hair straightened is no washing you hair for 1 week, can't put it behind your ears, no ponytails etc. Now this would be OK, except it is so hot I need to put it up. Anyway I survived the week of rules and now I can wash my hair and let it dry naturally and it is straight! YIPPEE!!

Before I come home I will get it done again, because it's dirt cheap here!