Xi'an Upgrade!

The wi-fi here in Xi'an is sloth-like at best, so here's a quick update:

Xi'an is great! Beijing's population is about 20 million people (20!!). Take away 11 million or so, and a city of 9 million feels like a little town in Vermont! We have completely lucked out with the weather. Today was hot, but but there was a big storm right before we came into the city, and so the pollution that had plagued the Fulbright group that is traveling about 1.5 weeks ahead of us has not been a problem.

I started out the morning with a 5 mile run with my roommate, Caitlin. She's in training for the Chicago Marathon, so she sort of kicked my butt. We found a new beautiful park, so it made for a nice run.

Xi'an was the ancient origin (or terminus) of the Silk Road, so this morning our lecture was about the history of the Silk Road. It was interesting for me because I have never learned any Chinese history, but I think others found it fairly basic.

After our lecture we had a delicious lunch. (I need to write a post solely devoted to food here, but not tonight.) After lunch we went to this market outside a mosque, and it was shop-'til-you-drop time. Seriously, we spent 3 hours there. I bought some goodies for lots of people, AND another bag to carry them home in. When you go there, you are expected to bargain hard for what you want and aim to pay 50% or less of the original asking price. It was fun, but stressful! I think I managed to get some good deals, but I think that walking around with blue eyes and freckles labels me as a major sucker, so who knows.

For dinner tonight we went to a dumpling restaurant that has been around for 100 years. My belly is currently stuffed with dumplings. The best ones were pork, but there were even a few sweet dumplings with sugar in them!

Wild Goose Pagoda at night

Dumpling Heaven!

After dinner we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda which, despite being an ancient relic, is also the site of this Vegas-like outdoor water/light/music show. Parts of Xi'an feel very vacation-y like we're all at the beach. I think it's the weather at night and the feeling that everyone is just out strolling around like they've got nothing better to do. Much of what we've seen is very new and clean, and the architecture mimics the old dynastic architecture that has burned or been ruined over the centuries.

One last thing. When we got to our lovely hotel here in Xi'an, we learned that our old hotel in Beijing was a 1-star hotel. This hotel in Xi'an is 4 stars. Major upgrade! Unfortunately we're only here for 4 nights, but I'll take it!

Tomorrow we are heading out to see the Terracotta Warriors. They are part of an ancient burial site for some Emperor. Since, like I said, I don't know my Chinese history, I don't know which Emperor, but I will learn it tomorrow and post it here.