Xi'an

Xi'an is a place still surrounded by its city walls. It used to be the capital of China for a long time and personally, I like Xi'an better. It was once the starting point of the trading route on the silk road. There are many muslims living here who are mostly Hui people. When I arrived in Xi'an, I went straight to the muslim quarter for some muslim noodles; it was yummy!

Currently, there are some events in Xi'an concerning some islands that China is claiming, and historically belongs to China too, but Japan claims the opposite. September 18 is also the first day that Japan invaded China, so many places are closed and there are many police cars on the streets. I was even told to hide anything Japanese that I own. Honestly, I don't particularly like Japan either, but I think this is a little exaggerated...and it is used as an excuse for everything. My train to Turpan has been cancelled, the drum and bell towers are closed, the fountain show is cancelled...

I slept on a hard sleeper train to Xi'an. The compartments have six beds and are open-plan. I knew it wasn't going to be clean or anything, but it's the best way to travel for locals, and it's good to come face to face with the country. You can see a sense of community here; people sharing food, playing cards, sitting on your bed when you're not even awake (?!).

On the ancient culture street. I was wondering what he was doing...I still haven't figured out.

People playing Mahjong on the streets...just like in movies :)

I always wanted to try these, because I see them in ancient Chinese movies, but when I asked my mom where I can eat those, she said something like it's fictitious or that it doesn't exist anymore?

It's wedding season in China.

The terracotta warriors is one of the must-see in Xi'an. It was only discovered about 30 years ago; it has never been recorded in any history books. I always knew that every one of them has a different face, but I always thought that they used imaginary faces...but the workers who made them actually reproduced their own face. It's a little scary to think those faces used to be real, and how many people died for those terracotta warriors...some looked happy, some looked sad, some are handsome, some are ugly...

The Terracotta warriors were destroyed by Xiang Yu, and this one is the only one that was found intact. How lucky is this guy?

I'm getting on the train again! This time, it will be a journey of about 35 hours. I'm going to Turpan, which is situated at 154 meters below see level. It's the lowest point in China, and second lowest in the world, it sounds cool, right? I still need to go to the supermarket to stock up :)