Xi'an

Day 4 -- March 19, continued

After this tour we went to the airport for our flight to Xi’an. An A-400 Airbus, full, took us on the hour and a half flight to Xi’an where we checked into the Kempinski Hotel (German), a vast structure with huge rooms and public areas out in the middle of nowhere. We picked up a local guide, Yao (yay-oh, not Princeton or Harvard), in Xi’an. His English was excellent and his knowledge of the city quite complete. He had majored in tourism at the local university -- they take tourism very seriously. In the evening we went to a huge dinner theater where we had a multi-course Chinese dinner served by the usual army of slaves utilizing the typical lazy susan in the middle of the table. They have dumbed down most of their local dishes to suit what they perceive as western tastes -- I wish they’d let us sample some of the dishes with the authentic seasoning.

The show was what I imagine a Chinese interpretation of a Las Vegas show to be: all-girl orchestra in beautiful costumes, female singing star, dancing and acrobatics with a cast of hundreds -- especially for the tourist trade. Décor and show were over the top, of course. Xi’an is a large city and still growing, as is all of China. One of our main memories will be of the massive construction going on here. They are hell bent to relocate all of their citizens and to tear down all of the old, old villages. Huge new buildings are springing up everywhere. Hundreds of them in every city in various stages of construction dominate the landscape. Jimmy says the national bird of China is now the (construction) crane -- you’d better believe it.

Xi’an is the ancient capital of China -- the first capital of the unified cities/states. And, of course, it is famous for the terracotta soldiers which the emperor had constructed and placed around his tomb to guard him in the afterlife. It is quite a sight to see them all lined up in the pits where they were found. The slaves who built them hated the emperor so much that they destroyed all of the soldiers they had so painstakingly built -- smashed them in place and burned the wooden rafters that held up the roof.) They were buried in what became farmers’ fields, and a farmer digging a well in his field discovered them in 1973(?) and now archaeologists are carefully digging them up and putting the pieces back together. They were made in sections with detachable heads and hands. There was a mold for each soldier -- each body, head, face is unique. After the terracotta was shaped in the mold it was dried, then fired in kilns. The clay was dug on site, so digging and sorting and piecing must be very difficult -- it all looks alike! There are over 2000 already dug up and restored, several hundred in pieces and in process, and they estimate another 6000 still buried. They are in ranks of foot soldiers, archers, charioteers (the chariots were made of wood and did not survive -- only the impressions are left,) generals and other authoritative figures (only a few of these), cavalry, etc. It is a ‘wow’ experience to see them and the scope of the installation. All these terracotta soldiers didn’t do much of a job of protecting the emperor -- he died after only a few years on the throne.

We had gotten a really early start and were at the museum when it opened -- a really good thing to do since it was a Sunday and the place quickly filled with tourists, both Chinese and foreigners. Our good luck continued when we got to the airport and were on our way to Chongqing in a Boeing plane -- it may have been the last one out before the flights to Chongqing were all delayed due to fog, rain and lousy visibility. We (our group and one other) arrived at the boat on time (5:00) while the remainder who were scheduled on a later flight didn’t make it to the boat until 12:30. We had time to tour the boat -- quite elegant -- before it set sail for its first voyage as a Viking tour boat. There are 201 passengers on board (capacity 264) and 125 in crew. These attractive young Chinese fall all over themselves waiting on you. We had our first of many over-feedings at 7:30 and went off to bed, exhausted once again. I’m going to have to start being more temperate around the table -- but it is so much fun to try everything. Wine flows freely -- the quantity is greater than the quality, of course, but it is fun to have it on the table. Gaily neon-decorated dinner boats passed in gaudy array several times during dinner -- quite a sight.
The boat left the dock around 2:00 a.m. or so and we’ve begun our adventure on the Yangtze, a huge, twisting river with commercial shipping of every variety.

Day 5 -- March 20
Yangtze and FengDu

We glided almost soundlessly down the river, meeting barges, container ships, ships with truck trailers on them, fishing junks, ferries, all kinds of boats passed us or were passed by us. Some cargo was exposed, some was not. Speculating what was on the boats consumed me. After lunch we went ashore to FengDu, a relocation city only 10 years old, which was built to house people whose land and homes were sacrificed to the Three Gorges dam. They say the people were happy to move to the new town -- they received new apartments as compensation for moving from their homes. I will try to find out what these people are now doing to earn a living -- I think a lot of them are hawking tschotkes to tourists! The vendors are all over you in every town and every attraction. It’s not in the western culture to do this or to endure it, so we find it offensive. But that doesn’t matter a whit, now does it?

At the park we were entertained by a group of retirees singing everything from traditional Chinese songs to Clementine, Jingle Bells and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. They were accompanied by a small orchestra of five men playing the ubiquitous two-stringed instrument bowed by a loose bow and fingered without frets. They appear to be handmade and the players self-taught. They remind me of mountain fiddlers. The singers were enthusiastic and engaged us in a sort of conga line and some impromptu dancing. What a hoot! We then went to the mall -- hundreds of one-room stalls with mostly clothing -- some being made or altered on the premises. Shopkeepers who seemed to have little business entertained themselves playing cards or mah jongg. And, of course, the hawkers were everywhere, too.

Back to the boat and time for welcome cocktails and captain’s dinner.