Part of a series of posts detailing my adventures in China exactly one year ago (well, I’m falling behind slightly, I’ll try and catch up).
Extract from my journal:
Saturday 3rd to Sunday 4th March 2007
Due to having been on the overnight train from Beijing to Xi’an last night, I forgot to write my journal for Saturday, so have a bumper edition to write today!
Saturday was a cold, rainy day in Beijing, so it was a good job we were doing things like visiting museums and shopping, rather than visiting the Great Wall. First up, we visited the Capital Museum, which had various exhibitions chronicling the history of Beijing in an interesting but with rather jingoistic fervour. We also saw a mini-opera, which involved a nun and a monk falling in love. The next museum was the Military museum, full of guns and tanks and stuff – again, with a rather biased spin on things!
We then headed to a run-down corner of the city which is scheduled for demolition (to the indignation of those who live there, but does the Party care about their opinion or welfare?) to an entrance to the Underground City – the network of tunnels built during the Cold War for people to retreat into in case of nuclear bombs being dropped on the city. The tunnels run for miles and are largely disused. It was very interesting in a rather disturbing way, though the parts we saw didn’t seem deep enough to me to be much good if a bomb was dropped directly on the city.
Off to the shops after that, and I bought some Chinese language reference works, and ate a late lunch of dumplings. After tramping around in the rain, I enjoyed relaxing in the warm and dry of Starbucks with hot chocolate and a croissant – ahh, blissful!
Next we headed to Beijing station to catch the overnight train! We were reunited with Joy and Siobhan – Siobhan had felt ill and stayed at the hotel, with Joy to keep her company. The station was an interesting cross between what I’d expect of a train station and an airport. Thankfully we were travelling “soft class”, and it was rather fun to be in a compartment along with Jay, Dan and Joy.
When I woke early in the morning, we were speeding through twilit mountains, which gave way to plains with industrial workings and eventually cities. I even spotted a steam train! What a contrast to Shanghai, where I saw the maglev train shoot past – a contradiction typical of China. We arrived in Xi’an in time for breakfast, stepping out of the station to see the restored city walls ahead.
After breakfast at the new hotel, which is rather nicer than the one in Beijing, we went to the Stele Museum, which is full of these stones and pillars with Chinese writing carved on them, some of it very ancient. We then went to the chaotic bustle of the Daoist temple and the nearby street market. Forget the Westernised shopping streets of Beijing, this felt like real China.
We headed over to the Muslim quarter, including seeing the Chinese-style mosque, which you can look around for a small fee. There was a large group of Muslim ladies, mostly middle-aged, there who were very friendly. They were particularly taken with Patrick, and took turns to feel his muscles – not a sight I ever imagined to see in a mosque! I also bought a chess set in the market.
Tonight is the Festival of Lanterns, and fireworks crackle and bang outside the window as I write. Some of us went to the South Gate to see the festivities, which was great fun, though I had to make my own way back after losing the group in all the vast crowds of people! Tourism isn’t as much fun as a solitary pursuit. And now here I am, back in the hotel, ready for sleep!