Travel Journal 4

February 3, 2013  -  Sunday

Today we plan to view Xi’an’s famous wall (which happens to be one block from our hotel!).

                                                                                                                    

John Dwyer in High Road To Tibet, writes of it:

“I wanted to walk on the grand walls that surround the city.  Xi’an’s ramparts are rare as most city walls were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.  I accessed the walls via some stairs near the South Gate.  From the top, the wall was as wide as the main streets below, and people used bicycles and motorized buggies to navigate its length.  Xi’an’s city walls are over thirteen kilometers long and a marathon is run on it every year. 

The (restored) walls were over seven hundred years old and had been started when Xi’an rivaled Rome as the greatest city on earth.  Each ancient watchtower along the way had been thoroughly converted into a souvenir shop or calligraphy store.  It was a novel experience to be walking on the mighty walls of an ancient city but after thirty minutes, it just got monotonous and boring.  Much of old Xia’an had been torn down by now so, as the writer Colin Thobrun noted, the walls were like the armor casting for a soldier who has long since passed away.” 

We all got together and had rice crispy treats while Randy went out and bought umbrellas!  We left our hotel in a steady drizzle and walked across the street and through a park, then across the moat and up into the old part of the city.  We eventually located an access to the wall, paid our fee and climbed many stairs to its top (Deb, Hannah, and me).  We walked along the top of the wall for over an hour gazing at the old city to our right and the new city to our left!  It was an amazing contrast. 

Some places on the old-city side are obviously expensive apartments and homes!  We saw a number of roof-top restaurants and gardens.  Some homes were quite opulent!  The outside of the wall features a moat with a city park between the moat and the wall.  It was beautifully kept and cared for and featured exercise equipment and ping pong tables.  In nice weather this would obviously be a wonderful area for walking and leisure.

The wall is massive!  It’s top is like a huge highway!  It was obviously prepared to be a defensive stronghold!  It is immaculately kept.  We were almost alone on the wall due to the rain.  At certain points, massive arches release city traffic to the outside of the wall.  These areas tend to be metropolitan areas with shops and restaurants and parks.

     

The moat continues the whole way around the city. The upcoming Spring Festival Days - anticipated.

           Every so often there are buildings on the wall.   You could drive five trucks side-by-side up here!

The old city side…                                                           The new city side… 

Capitalism at work on the wall – rent a bike? 

We met up with Randy and Jessica again and they took us down an interesting street in the old-city section.

         

Arch at the entrance to the street-mall.  A historical tower in the same area.

         

Debbie found a fan shop and – with Jessica’s help – bartered the woman from 95 yuan to 30 yuan per fan!  Gifts for her sisters and sisters-in-law are now in the bag!

Next, we walked about ten blocks in hopes of seeing a famous bell tower, but it was closed for repairs.  I was disappointed.   [The picture is from the internet.]  It’s in the center of a very busy traffic circle!  There are three levels of shopping beneath this intersection!  All pedestrian traffic is routed underground to reduce congestion on the busy intersection.

It was built in 1384 during the Ming Dynasty and is constructed of timber and brick.  It includes several large bronze-cast bells from the Tang Dynasty! 

NOTE:

China is adept at handling pedestrian traffic.  We often see pedestrian bridges in center-city areas.  Several times we have seen massive round pedestrian bridges that cover an entire traffic circle, thereby keeping traffic flowing. 

Crossing intersections is very dangerous here.  Motorcycles and bicycles and motorbikes and carts and three-wheel-taxis along with buses, trucks, and cars are all fighting for space!  Often, pedestrians will clump together for safety and then just cross the street with horns blaring their anger for this intrusion! 

Then we bought subway tickets to take us back to the train station.  We had a long wait and enjoyed some KFC French fries and Dunkin Donut treats while we waited.  Hannah and I took a walk.  While we were gone, Randy, Jessica and Debbie moved to another seat and enjoyed watching our reaction.  It went on a little too long for Hannah;  when we finally located them, she was overcome with tears.  L

Finally, we boarded our bullet train and enjoyed a warm, fast trip back to R’s city.

Sanmenxia had received several inches of wet, slushy snow!  Two bus rides delivered us back to her apartment where she had been working hard on our supper of jiaozi (dumplings).  Today is a mini-holiday that precedes the big Spring Festival.  It is traditional to eat dumplings on this day!  They were delicious – as always! 

         

This dear lady has treated us like royalty and she doesn’t even know us.  Unfortunately, we can’t speak with her without Jessica’s help!  She and her husband have given us a place to stay and are feeding us all of our meals.  They are not Christians yet, but we hope that through Randy and Jessica’s ongoing interventions, they will someday come to know the Lord.  Randy prays before every meal;  they sit quietly as we do so.  It’s amusing to me because Randy prays right out for their salvation!  Of course, they can’t understand, so they have no idea what is being said!  J

 I spent the evening working on the day’s journal entries.  Deb, Randy, Jessica and R played games.  

[Footnote:  A little over a year later, Jessica led her sister and niece to the Lord!!!!]