Xi'an (pronounced She-On) has been what I've been looking forward to ever since I signed up to go to China for one reason:
Mount Huashan
One of China's five Great Mountains, the Number One Precipitous Mountain Under Heaven, with over 100 deaths per year, at 7000+ feet, and World's Most Dangerous Hike.
Bring it on.
30 RMB to go on this hike, which is less than 5$. Such a steal... If you want to go. Many people probably wouldn't even do this if they were paid. haha. It was a tad bit sketchy, because all they do is take your money, hook you into a harness attached to two hooks, and tell you to only move one at a time, and then just send you on your merry way, all by yourself. haha. The scariest part of this hike was trying to go down. There was a built in "ladder" to get you down to the actual plank part. And you had to pass people trying to come up while you were going down. The entire plank also, you had to pass people. So not only did you have to be on the plank, but had to fit two people onto those three tiny boards so you could pass each other. We got very comfortable with a lot of strangers. haha.
This is about as scary as it gets folks. Three old, rusty, wooden boards nailed into the side of a mountain, with only 2 rusty hooks to keep you from falling 7000 feet. And I was above cloud-nine. Literally.
So I was just way too excited to post these in order, but Mount Huashan was actually our third day in Xi'an. Our first day we visited the Bell and Drum Towers, the Great Mosque, and Muslim Quarter, which were all pretty close to our hostel which was very convenient.
The Bell Tower
is basically your cliche Chinese building, and it was awesome and had some gorgeous views because it was right in the middle of the city.
Muslim Quarter
a bunch of street shops and vendors.
The Drum Tower
was awesome because we got there right when they had a performance! It was so cool!
Great Mosque
was so gorgeous. We were almost the only ones inside, and it was just very quiet and peaceful. We spent a ton of time taking portraits just because it was so pretty inside. I had to try to teach the other girls how to do the "fierce" face, because apparently I'm really good at it. hahaha.
Terra-cotta Warriors
The Terra-cotta Warriors were so amazing. And they're considered the Eight Wonder of the World for good reason! But we probably wouldn't have thought so if we hadn't met some amazing people along the way. We were getting lost at the train station, trying to find the bus we were supposed to take, when we ran into a white couple who spoke ENGLISH. (we're a rare breed here... lol) Valerie and Brian (Bree-en) are from Ireland, and they were going to the warriors too! So we all searched forever and finally found the right bus. We chatted with them the entire bus ride, and found out all about their lives.
They have been living in China for two years because Brian works here. They have two children in their twenties, neither of them are married yet, but they were both coming to visit their parents next week because it was Valerie's big 50th birthday! When they were 16 they started dating, and dated all through high school, and then got married when they were 22, had their first child at 25 and in July they will be celebrating their 28th wedding anniversary.
They were absolutely the sweetest couple ever. And what made them even more sweet than we could imagine - when we arrived at the Terra-cotta Warriors, they paid for a tour guide, Jenny (who had just gotten her hair cut and she was very proud of it) and they offered to let us join them! So we spent the entire day following Jenny with them and learning all about the warriors. I just can't get over how much I love them. It was like having an Irish mom and dad for the day.
So that was vacation number one! We've all gotten sick with a cold now, but are still trying to take on Guilin. Stay posted for Vacation Stop 2!
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