Xi'An

Xi'An was our next stop after Beijing. Xi'An is one of the oldest cities in China and was originally considered to be the capital before it went to Beijing. It is rich in history being almost 3'100 years old and is home to almost 8 million Chinese people.

Running almost directly through the city is the Xi'An City Wall. It was originally built during the Tang Dynasty(618-907) and enlarged during the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644). The wall is made entirely of stone, is almost 9 miles long, 50-60 feet thick at the

bottom and 40 feet tall.

There are four main gates to the wall. In ancient times, they didn't have weapons capable of breaking through such a thick rock structure so their only way in was to attack the gates. Each gate had three gate towers which were used for defense as well.

Along the wall are 98 ramparts that extend out slightly from the wall. Each rampart had a sentry building where soldiers could defend against enemies trying to climb the wall. Also, each rampart was built the same length an arrow could fly. This way, soldiers on the wall could attack from either angle.

Instead of walking the length of the wall, you can rent bikes for fairly cheap and ride it instead. This is what we did so we could see more of it at once. It was fun to be riding a bike on a wall so old and that had seen so much history.

On a side note, Andi's mom is friends with the women to the left of Andi in the photo above. They used to be colleagues together several years ago. The women has been in the Chinese Army almost all her life and has worked with several other branches as well. She was able to get us into most places for free because she knew everyone(however in some spots, I have to pay because I'm a foreigner!). She has been friends with the man to my left since they were teenagers. He is "The General!" At one point in time, this man was in charge of half of China's army! He is retired now but everyone still treats him like royalty. We were picked up at the airport by the local police(because he's friends with the chief of police), chauffeured around Xi'An by the local army, and stayed in a army hotel in the best room they had. Once again, it's all about "who you know" in China and your "connections."

Zzzzzzz Part 8

Finally, after almost two and a half months here in China, I am able to continue my Zzzzzz collection(for parts 1-7 see my Facebook pictures)! This was taken on the flight to Xi'An. My sleeping beauty! :P

Hot Pot!!

Several weeks back, Andi and I went back to Wuhu to visit here uncles. While we where there, we went out to a restaurant that specialized in hot pot. Hot pot is a type of stew/soup that is placed on a burner and brought to a boil right at the table. Hot pot has been around for over 1'000 years. It is possible that it started in Mongolia where warriors would use there helmets to cook with. Usually there are two types of stock that are in the pot, one spicy and the other mild. Once the stock boils, many different ingredients can be added and eaten within seconds of cooking.

Here we had two different stocks going with aromatics added for flavor.

You can order from a long list of items that you can add to the stock. Above, starting in the back, are balls of ground pork wrapped in cilantro. The yellow paper-like item on the left is tofu and to the right are mushrooms. The last plate is ground pork.

There are always many different types of meat to choose from. Above we ordered lamb, beef and crab sticks. The meat is always frozen and then sliced super thin. Where the chopsticks are pointing are small egg dumplings which are sitting next to some type of meatball. I unfortunately forgot the type of meat! :P

We also ordered two side dishes. The first was squid with peppers and onions.

The second was the best damn twice cooked pork I've had to date! It came out fajita style, still sizzling on the metal plate, with slivers of garlic and garnished with jalapeno slices. We ordered two of these and a third for home!

I bring up hot pot now because we just had it in Beijing, served in a traditional copper pot.

Sliced lamb.

Tofu. We ordered a lot more items at this meal but my camera was acting up and I was only able to get a couple of photos.

Hot pot is also served with a dipping sauce. We were given a mixture of sesame paste, ground herbs, sesame seeds, chili oil, scallions, and cilantro. If you've never had hot pot, I recommend you check it out at least once. It's a fun experience, especially with friends and a cold beer!

Summer Palace

The Summer Palace consists of a huge lake called Kunming Lake. The palace itself rests on Longevity Hill. Kunming Lake is man-made and on average is about 5 feet deep. In the winter, when it ices over, people use it for ice skating. In 1990 and 1991, the government dredged the lake for the first time in 240 years. They removed a shitload of sludge and found 205 Japanese bombs that were dropped during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Summer Palace

To get to the top of the palace you have to climb through a rock maze.

And sometimes thorough the mountain itself!

Another of these circular doors. I really love them even though they are so simple.

At the top of the hill, you get a great view of the lake. It is fashioned to resemble West Lake in Hangzhou where we went in July. 

At the bottom of the hill are many different sites to see. Above is one portion of the Long Corridor. The corridor itself is 2'388 feet long and has more then 14'000 paintings covering it. The corridor was originally built in 1750 by the Qianlong Emperor for his mother so she could take relaxing walks by the lake and be sheltered from the weather. It was heavily damaged during the Second Opium War and had to be reconstructed.

One of the many painting in the Long Corridor.

The Marble Boat. It's actually made out of wood and painted to look like marble.

You can walk around the entire lake or you can take one of these dragon boats above.

There are many halls that you can go into along the path. Inside of each of these halls are many old paintings.

A huge rock I thought was interesting. I forgot the entire story behind it but I remember reading that the guy had it brought here from another location far away in China and went broke in doing so. If I was going to go broke moving something, it sure as hell wouldn't be a rock!!

There's nothing interesting about this photo except for the fact that there is no one in it. I always feel like I should take the opportunity to take photo's like these. With 13 billion people in this country, this is a rare site.

On the eastern side of the lake is a sculpture of a bronze ox. In ancient times, a bronze or iron ox was used to prevent flooding because it is believed that they have flood controlling powers. It is angled toward the Forbidden City and was most likely placed here to prevent flooding into the city.

The Seventeen-Arch Bridge. It is the only connection to Nanhu Island. On the Island are several halls and temples where Emperor's would come to pray. The bridge is lined with 544 stone lions.

Beijing Traffic...

...is horrible!! These pictures below I took while Andi and I were on the bus coming back from checking out some tourist sites. Here in Beijing everyone tells you to leave at least an hour before you want to get somewhere as you never know what the traffic will be. It is estimated that 4.8 million cars are in Beijing everyday. Within the last couple of years, Beijing has implemented two new laws to help with the traffic issue. One is that if your license plate number ends in a certain number during the week, you can't drive in the city. For instance, if your plate number ends in one or six, you can't drive in the city on Monday. They do this Monday through Friday but not on the weekends and it has also reduced pollution so they say. The second thing they did was implement a lottery system for people trying to get a license plate. If you number doesn't come up, no car for you! Apparently, the majority of plates go to first time drivers, 2% to commercial cars and trucks, and 10% to government vehicles(because the government rules all here!). 

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City is the heart of Beijing and has been for almost 500 years. It was built between 1406 and 1420 and was the home to 24 emperors from the Ming Dynasty(14) to the end of the Qing Dynasty(10). It was called the Forbidden City because only the emperors(and their staff) were allowed to live there and you had to get their permission to enter or exit the city.

Entrance to the Forbidden City across from Tian An Men Square.

The place is fucking HUGE!!! While we were there, the entire left side of the palace was closed. Also, from 66 to 75, you had to pay again to see this section. I have found that in almost every historic place we go in China, you pay to get in and then have to pay again and again to visit other sections. It's ridiculous! We walked up and down the middle parts.

The top three pictures are the entrance called The Meridian Gate.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The palace was divided into two sections: The Outer Court and The Inner Court. The Outer Court was for different buildings that were used for ceremonial purposes. These are the pictures of the insides of them above. The Inner Court was where the Emperor, his family, and servants would live and conduct day to day affairs.

The place is like one large maze!! We made a wrong turn once or twice and got completely turned around. I have no idea how people would have found there way to take a piss at night hundreds of years ago!!

Some sections have almost no people at all.

Other sections you can hardly move!

These large iron pots adorned with gold are littered all over the palace. Hundreds of years ago they were filled with water in case of fires. During the winter, they would build fires underneath them to keep them thawed.

I never figured out what this place was in the three pictures above but it looked cool.

There are many different relics around the palace.

The phoenix and the dragon are huge parts of Chinese culture and can be seen everywhere in the palace(and in China itself).

You'll also see many different hybrid animals that have been mixed with dragon!

A very cool tourist spot but it's one hell of a walk. By the end of the day we

were exhausted!!