The adorable stewardess on my airport shuttle to Xi'an. she's wearing blue contact lenses and pink eyeshadow
fruit seller ignoring the rain
The Bell Tower
the gateway to hostel hell
Jia Jia (pronounced Zsa Zsa), our Terracotta Army tour guide, pointing the way to Ban Po Village, a neolithic village outside of Xi'an
i like being able to see the pattern of the mat this was placed on while it was being made. 6000 years old. wow.
the neolithic site was discovered in 1953.
possibly the world's first steamer.
fishy, fishy...
fingernail indentation was probably an original idea when these were made.
paintings by local farmers that we were invited to purchase at interesting prices
surely that isn't...oh, it is.
remains of a house
grave
4 very short young women
an egg tree. insanity!
the terracotta factory, home of innumerable garden warriors
a general! bows correspond to stars, so he's a four bow general. only the highest ranking soldier gets to put his hair into two buns.
the bun on his right means that this guy was infantry
that one looks funny!
making the minis
the oh so carefully stacked figurines ready to be hardened in the kiln
discards - strange, considering how carefully they're placed in the kiln, i wonder how so many are damaged? ;)
the line up
only $2,000 US!!! + shipping!!!
the heads are solid and are made separately. Originally, this was because each head was a representation of a real person.
this really says it all!
the pits. hee hee. no really, they are called pit one, two and three.
just in case we are overcome with the urge to buy something.
the introdction movie. 9 screens providing a 360 degree view of the spectacular.
bronze chariot. this was found smashed and was restored. 1/2 life sized.
bronze canteens. for some reason, these really made it real for me. they are so emblematic of human needs.
the lighting was very tricky in here. we weren't allowed to use flash, but for most views, flashless photos were just a dark blur. I did my best!
a real general
an archer
poignant. these are sculptures of real people, 4000 years ago. the figures act as a ladder from the past to the present.
area that has not yet been restored.
they look like they might break out a hacky sack at any moment.
a captain (box shaped hat) and his horses.
and all the king's horses and all the king's men...
yay! the main pit, not pitt.
just a few weeks ago, some crazy guy dressed up as a warrior and jumped in here. he wasn't found until after closing time. apparently, it was his dream to touch the figures. all he got was a fine.
the work goes on. only a small fraction of the army has been found. it is very expensive to excavate, so the work progresses slowly.
ok, this is the least pornographic pic of this phenomenon. in china, rompers have a belly button to lower back slit in them. the child's entire lower area is exposed. he is just held away from the parent's body when he starts to eliminate waste. I use the male pronoun, 'cause i've only seen boys wearing these. i think they are a not-so-subtle way of bragging that you lucked out and got a boy. think of the embarrassing childhood photos!!!
i verified with the vendor that the furs on the left are "ruff ruff". happily, those on the right are not "miao miao" but rather fox.
pomegranate stand. there are pomegranate field all over Xi'an. they cost a yuan each and on the tree, each fruit is covered with a little plastic sleeve to protect it.
the street sweeper. mechanized labor has not caught on in a country with such a ready availability of manpower.
my original dorm room at shuyuan. not pictured: overwhelming varnish fumes, mosquitos
next dorm room. the difference is in the details. wood floor, shelves, cover on the ceiling light bulb, lockers, no varnish fumes or clouds of mosquitos.
the turtle brings good luck
the washroom
3rd courtyard of the hostel. in front of the cafe/bar.
pizza hut in characters!
i'm not quite sure what this was about. she was posing in a store-front while crowds of people were taking her photo.
the buck
the bell tower during the day
local beggar. loads of them here. in beijing, they are not allowed inside the ring road. the police forcibly remove any who attempt entry,
the drum tower.
buying dried kiwi. delicious!
the market, muslim quarter, Xi'an
motorbikes go everywhere.
so strange to see a chinese woman wearing hijab. she belongs to the hui ethnic group.
yummy sticky rice treat.
not so yummy mystery meat treat
dinner for the construction crew.
i followed the advice of the disgusting food guy and found the street food with the longest line. unfortunately, it's all meat, so i'm unable to verify his theory that it should be the best.
filled pancakes. a second dough layer is pasted on the top and then the whole thing is fried.
roasting
the minaret of the great mosque - disguised as a pagoda. cool.
just an example of neon in china.
the drum tower
i love the red balloons.
the city walls near south gate.
the Big Wild Goose Pagoda
waiting for the light and water show to start.
still waiting
it's started!
rockets!
that big black thing in the upper left corner is a loudspeaker. boy, was it loud! mostly classical music, but some strident announcements.
from one of the walkways in the midst of the show.
now's when daring individuals would race across, trying to time the start of the fountains and not get soaked.
still safe
we got a little wet
en garde!
the free photo of a guy paying for a photo of a guy in costume.
arranging for a mini-van up to hua shan. Shan means mountain in Chinese.
pigs to the slaughter.
entrance to the hike to Hua Shan.
from left: random guy who wanted picture with us, michael, me, kristof, chinese couple who treated us to lunch, alon, barbara
taoist temple
at the fortune tellers abode. taoist temples have fortune tellers. unfortunately, none on hua shan spoke english. drat!
courtyard
albino man making beautiful music
barbara convincing ticket seller that her california driver's license is really a student card and getting in for 90 yuan instead of 100.
puppy at one of the first cafe/shops. he looooved kristof
little door at the foot of a peak
personal shrine of guy who lives on the mountain
and there he is.
that's the chinese couple in the lower right. for perspective.
rest break
those bags are filled with recyclables. very lightweight but still reminded me of the porters on the inca trail.
those twigs are vital reinforcements. :)
monk
i just love hairy woman cave.
that is the south peak of hua shan
the lion dog on the right is always male and has his paw on the world. the left is female and has her paw on an infant. nice. also, they are never exactly the same, there's always some difference in addition to the paw rest. one might have a visible tongue while the other doesn't, etc.
all of this red is from locks and ribbons. the padlocks are for luck, love, or a wish. some look very old and are inscribed. the ribbons are also for luck.
beautiful spot for a swim
but what does that sign say in its worn chinese characters? don't enter the water while electricity is on. nice of them to warn us.
eggs in tea
dusk
another temple. all of these are actually occupied by real monks. people really live here. what an interesting life.
really really ugly
odd fruit at one of the stops. you spit out the seeds, which is most of the fruit. tastes like sugar.
this is true.
preparing for the night climb. the gloves are for holding onto the chains along the path.
one of the more exciting sections of the path.
night
another rest break. dinner of dried kiwi, rice crackers and moon pies.
guys playing cards
this is where they're playing. they live here.
guy amusing himself by killing moths at a rest stop.
these are the signs along the route. not very helpful. ones reading: North Peak, hostel, toilet, restaurant, etc. might have been easier to decode at night.
this sign was at the top of the East Peak. No jumping. Of course, we are 1999 meters above the ground.
our room at the guesthouse. 1am. eating noodles and then lights out.
dawn
i want to use this as the wallpaper on my desktop. so soothing.
those green coats are the ones that are for rent on the mountain. we came very close to sleeping on a pile of them on the top of the mountain. that was option b if there was no guesthouse on the east peak.
sunrise seen through the everpresent haze of pollution
the white vs. grey clouds seemed very symbolic on 4 hours of sleep. very zoroastrian.
the sunrise was a dud, but the clouds were amazing.
the best photo of the sunrise.
just for the fun of it - diagonal
a lovely little pagoda.
breakfast. just what the body needs after a hike lasting 8 hours.
our railing.
the south peak. there was some partying going on over there. we could hear music and laughter in the morning. too bad we didn't make it there. that was my original destination. 2042 meters.
this is where we spent the night. the "toilets" are around to the left. a stone slope to a pit. interesting.
the feeders ensure that there is plenty of bird song to make the morning feel peaceful.
here's one of the trickier bits of the path. we came up this at about 11:30pm. pitch dark. exciting.
it doesn't look as bad from below. believe me, it was bad.
that tree leads a precarious existence.
the gorgeous man who gave me coffee!
oooh, the ribbon!
someone's watching me...
never mind. i didn't want that ribbon anyway.
fellow night climbers. one's who started at midnight and arrived for the sunrise. it takes talent or exhaustion to sleep on three tree stumps.
the toll for the staircase was a photo with these two ladies. i really really wonder where all of these pictures of me will end up.
i just love the pictogram for slipping.
where i've come from
fearless bird
the necessities of life. the satellite dish.
hmmm, i wonder what this guy is engraving...
i can't quite make it out...
ohhh! How sweet! Christine and Greg 9/10/2007
locked together for the foreseeable future. those locks aren't going anywhere. notice the rust on the bigger one to the right.
that's our spot.
this was a fun path in the dark. there's a very steep dropoff to either side. We couldn't tell just how steep at night, but we knew that we were walking a ridgeline.
no wonder the stairs seem dangerous to me. it's my huge western feet!
another photo op. each of these people wanted pics with me, so i made both of them pose for my camera.
one of the better rest stops.
flying fish ridge. people get up there and do primal yells. quite fun and funny. the mountain's a good place to scream.
i love the red stars.
i certainly have beautiful rememberance.
no striding!!!! whatever you do, don't stride & remember, no watching while walking, no walking while watching. tee hee hee!
yes, of course i climbed up.
the north peak.
map of the mountain. i could have used this last night. we only had the tourists map, which is an artist's rendition of the mountain with characters giving the poetic names of the sites. no english and no indication of how to get to the different sites.
ridgeline path to central peak.
the last climb of the day for me.
and it's to the top of a whale!
view from the whale's back. i can't believe that i made it all the way up here. it looked so impossible from the base.
ladies playing cards.
on the edge of a cliff.
table of chinese medicinal products.
i wonder what dried lizards are good for
i took the cable car down. just to be perverse.
cable car station on north peak.
my climbing gloves. one yuan was never so well spent. i really really needed them.
another area of the trail that we climbed in the dark.
it's so helpful to have the plaque on the door to tell me that these are squat toilets. of course, there are 10 squat toilets and no western toilets, so the plaque might be a bit unneccesary.
my bus back to xi'an.
recycling
garbage
the local bookstore. borders has some competition! ;)
corn drying.
guys doing their thing
a double date.
melon on a stick. it's very refreshing in the heat.
people waiting for the bus. hui woman, student, army recruit, businessman. china is awesome.
this was outside of a hospital, so i think that they mean that they are there for you from birth to death, throughout your life. Chinglish is so odd.
jackie chan's image is all over the place.
the olympics store at the airport
the can says it all.
i got a scratch lottery card with my dried broad beans and water on the flight to chengdu. no, i didn't win. drat!
