CHINA 2014: 2 Luoyang and Xi'an

Thursday, June 26, 2014

James and our driver picked us up at 6:15 AM to go to the massive railway station for the high speed train to Luoyang, one of four railway stations in Beijing. The first class seats in our carriage, second of about 17 carriages, were comfortable. There was a business class carriage where seats reclined into flat beds and a restaurant/snack bar carriage. The ride was very smooth, and other than electric poles going by rapidly, the 300 kph (187 mph) we were travelling was not obvious.

We were met at the station by local guide Joe, who immediately lost points by not offering to help with the number of bags we were carrying. After a culinary low point at a tourist bus restaurant our destination was the Longman Buddhist caves. There are over 2,100 caves of various sizes cut into the cliffs lining the river, each containing statues carved into the rock face. The statues varied in size from tiny to many meters high. Across the river are a smaller number of caves and a Buddhist temple. We would judge the awesome display to be second only to the Buddhist caves at Datong. Both sets were carved on the orders of emperors of the Wei Dynasty, and date from about 400 AD. Datong was the first capital of the dynasty, which was later moved to Luoyang Longman as the empire expanded.

We then drove about 80 km to,Dengfeng, a relatively small city of 300,000 with over 100 Kung Fu schools specializing in teaching martial arts. According to Joe a small school has around 800 students and the largest 30,000. Parents pay about 10,000 yuan ($1,700) per year for training, room and board. The Chinese students are there for 12 years, but foreign students only cope with the strict discipline for a year or year and a half. Graduates usually go to the army, the police, or become body guards. There are so many Muslim students attending that a large mosque has been built nearby. We stopped near one school where we could look down onto the parade ground and see groups of students practising kick boxing, sword fighting, fighting with long poles or chains, practising acrobatic manoeuvres, cracking whips and fighting with fists. One would not want to face a graduate in a brawl!

The beautifully appointed Chan Wu hotel turned out to be a disappointment once we got past the exquisite statues, artwork, collection of military weapons and inlaid marble floors. The room was beautiful, but the air conditioning didn't work (it is 35 degrees C outside) but was repaired, and although the sleeping arrangements were OK there were only two of everything from towels to glasses. Little English was spoken, so the problem was never rectified. Dinner at the hotel restaurant would rate about 3 out of 10.

Friday, June 27, 2014

I would suppose the hard hotel beds went along with the martial arts theme The hotel appeared to be full of mothers and children, whose chatter attested to the thinness of the walls. Apparently all are expected to participate in the military routine - loud chatter from the adjoining rooms started at 5 AM, followed by the clanging of electronic bells in each room at 5:30, a pounding on each door up and down the hallway (including ours) at 6, then much ruckus in the hallway until quiet finally settled in. The only one still sleeping in our room was Sela.

As Sela had a problem with a blister from her shoe, we went in search of walking sandles. Joe doesn't live in Dengfeng, so wasn't familiar with the area, however after having no luck at a supermarket we were directed to one of the tree lined streets in this pleasant town to an area of shoe stores, where we completed the mission.

Our next stop was Shaolin Temple, built by the Wei emperor in 495. We trekked for miles through the various temple compounds before a mediocre lunch in a hillside restaurant inside the compound. We were then taken to the train station 1 ½ hours before our train to Xi'an arrived, which is now a city of 8 million. The size of Chinese cities is amazing when one considers all Costa Rica has less than 4 million. I'm told Chongqing alone now as a population of 33 million!

On arrival we were met by guide Mr. Hu before enjoying the hour long drive through the city lights at dusk. We arrived at the Garden Hotel, where we stayed on the 2005 trip through China, however it has gone down hill over the years. Fortunately, Mr. Hu insisted on checking our room after we checked in, and found it was a small room with twin beds. He did battle with the desk for 1 ½ hours before we were finally given a suite with a king bed in one room and fridge, tables, chairs and a folding cot in the other. Sela was nervous about sleeping on her own, so I got the cot!

Once he saw we were settled Mr. Hu left, and we headed for food - we were pretty hungry, as the last couple of days were a low point in the culinary department, but found the restaurant had closed. We tried the bar - they didn't have food. The last hope was the "Western" restaurant, a shabby room with no one there but staff. We ordered a bottle of wine, a beer and a sprite which had to come from the bar, and with it a separate bill that they insisted be paid by cash with each round. Food was separate and also cash. I tried a credit card, but they said the machine was broken.

We'd had it. We got up to walk out and there was some hysteria over Sela having opened her Sprite, which I refused to pay for. Eventually the manager was summoned and he took a credit card impression to open an account for me (apparently the machine worked for that) so we were able to eat the barely passable food.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Mr. Hu had set 10 AM to start for the terracotta soldiers site. The tour was much more extensive than when we were last here, including buildings we had not been in previously, and another location we had to drive to before taking electric carts to see two other digs. By this time it was pouring rain, but Mr. Hu came up with a couple of umbrellas. We were to attend an evening performance at the terracotta site, but it was rained out so we made and early night of it. Dinner was beer and a sandwich in the tea bar at the hotel, this time no problem signing the bill to the room.

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Even though it was another busy day we did not start until 10 AM again. Our first stop was to climb the city wall, which is in perfect condition right down to the guard towers. Sela and Mr. Hu rented bicycles for a 45 minute trip around part of the wall while Marilynn and I explored some of the towers. The wall is flat on top, 12 meters wide. The long side measures 3,400 meters and the short side 2,600 meters for about 12 kilometres in total length.

After a good lunch we the went to the Wild Goose Pagoda, which we climbed last time but didn't feel up to this time. We did walk the grounds and go through the temple. We then drove to the Muslim market, a shoppers heaven of narrow shop lined lanes. We also went into a place that had tanks of cleaner fish, into which you lower your feet to have the fish nibble them clean - we all tried that. The shopping ran into overtime, so we had to skip a visit to the great mosque located near the market and snack from street vendors to make it to a song, dance and musical show at an indoor theatre. Today was hot and sunny - it would have been ideal for the cancelled performance of last night!