6.
Landing at Xian
It rained this morning so I think that put
a damper on the activities for the day. First we went to the Millennium
Temple. It was built to commemorate the year 2000 millennium and
contained traveling exhibitions that showcased China's history.
Inside, we saw a gallery about nomadic living such as houses with
wheels and portable tents. Outside in the plaza there was a walkway
that had metal plates for each year of China's history denoting
what happened in that specific year. It was neat to start at the
1990's and "walk through history" all the way down to
the BC years.
 Right
after that we traveled to an outdoor temple called Temple of Heaven.
It was very large and a lot of walking was required. The highlight
of this temple was the "echo platform" similar to the
whispering arches at the Union Station downtown St. Louis. The
platform was situated at the top of other platforms in the "Towers
of Hanoi" style. You could stand in the middle and talk or
yell and hear your echo though it seemed like there was nothing
creating the echo. Another cool thing was that there were 3 paths
and only one was designated solely for the emperor. It was made
out of an ivory-type material and since the ground was wet from
the rain, many of us would run and slide down the emperor's walkway.
After lunch it was time to say goodbye to George and get on an
airplane for Xian. The ride wasn't long at all, maybe about an
hour and a half. I fell asleep on accident and woke up just in
time to eat eggplant and rice. A student named Sam was sitting
next to me and he and a Chinese person next to him started up
a conversation mostly in Chinese, some in English. He did very
well and only asked me to jump in for the really hard or extraordinary
words in Chinese. Xian pilots are very different from other pilots;
they descend quickly instead of bothering with the gentle easing
down of the plane. That was a fun change because it felt like
a roller-coaster type ride.
Immediately after landing in Xian I noticed that it was drastically
different from Beijing. The land is shaped differently and I could
actually see the sky. Our new guide is named Lisa and doesn't
seem as cool as George. The bus is shorter than before and not
as new, plus the driver isn't as experienced. Jason and I had
a running joke in Xian of hoping he stalls the bus every time
he had clutch problems (busses in China usually had a manual transmission).
There's not much to do now, just dinner and check-in. I hoped
the hotel was as good as the Holiday Inn. Beijing set the bar
really high and it would be hard to compete.
Our new hotel turned out to be great - not as good as the Holiday
Inn but still great by normal standards. The room layout and contents
are the same, just a little bit smaller. After unpacking, Jason
and I walked around on the street. The only things open late at
night are some food stands and convenience shops. Xian looks pretty
cool; I couldn't wait to go check it out the next day.
Nomadic house inside the Millennium
Temple
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早上下起雨來，今天得穿上雨衣出遊，先到了「世紀壇」(Millennium
Temple)， 這是為了紀念千禧年而建成，陳列有旅遊展示和中國歷史櫥窗，裡面有一個 畫廊，展出遊牧民族流動的房子和帳篷，在館外有一個人行步道，地
面上有金屬盤，刻有中國的歷史和每一時期發生的重要事情，這個步道由 1990年開始，一路往回走，直到紀元前。
