April 27, 2011
And Louis Vuitton and Armani and Gucci and almost any other high end designer you can think of, and they wear a lot more of it here in Xi’an than they did in Beijing. Whether it’s because this is the place where western contact began those many centuries ago I know not, but they are certainly more stylish here, and there is a much more “western” feel to the city. Gone is the panty hose/leotard-short skirt/dress look and it has been replaced by stylish dresses and bare legs. Women look like they’re all headed to some party with their best dresses on. Spike heels are far more prevalent. While the women are more stylish, the men are more casual. Jeans and slacks have replaced the suits. At the same time we see far less “country” dress than we did in Beijing. The massive crowds coming in from the provinces to see Mao’s tomb and the forbidden city are gone and Xi’an feels much more like a city where people live and work. Certainly the climate must play into the mix. We’re running about 20 degrees warmer here than we were in the more northern capital. The air quality sucks, but other than that, it’s a far more interesting and attractive city than Beijing.
We went up the bell tower yesterday and watched traffic from above. Cars jostled with buses coming from different directions for their space. Ownership of a given space seems to belong to those strong enough to assert their will. The same philosophy seems to be the de facto rule for standing in lines at the supermarket, hotel lobbies, waiting for elevators, or where ever groups congregate. If you get your space you had better be ready to defend it because you will be tested. People will just walk up and stand in front of you. If I was home and somebody did that it would really piss me off, but again I really try hard not to invoke those social conventions that operate where I live. I try to adapt to the social conventions where I’m visiting. It’s just too easy to say: “It’s rude” or “it’s wrong.” I don’t understand why things are that way. Maybe it’s just the overall crush of so any people, but I don’t have to understand. It’s not their job to adjust to my sensibilities, it’s my job to adjust to their way of doing things. To be sure, the learning curve can be a little frustrating, but travel is all about adapting and learning. That’s why I love seeing so many different places. It causes me to get out of my little comfort zone and helps me understand that in this world there are so many different ways that people have made life work for them. Not right, not wrong. Not good, not bad. Just different.
The most intriguing part of watching the traffic from the bell tower was seeing how people on bicycles, and motorized versions of the same navigate those multiple lanes of merging traffic. Coming down a given street of three lanes of traffic, they have to stick to the right or get run down by the zig-zagging and speeding cars. Then at the traffic circle around the bell tower, they’ve got to get across those lanes and into the merging traffic coming at them laterally from that 90 degree angle. Not only that, but they’ve got to get across those lanes into the right lane to avoid the zig-zagging and speeding cars coming at them from the different directions. There is no helmet law here, or maybe it’s just not enforced, like the smoking law. (My favorite situation was the man sitting in a chair with the “No smoking” sign just above his head as he puffed away.) and to see whole families, that would be mom, dad and the one child, on a motor scooter dodging traffic is harrowing even for the observer.
Then to see them going the wrong way down an equally busy street made us all just watch and say to each other, “Did you see that?” What with all the dresses and skirts, women ride side-saddle on the motor scooters and that seems particularly imbalanced. But again, it’s all a matter of what works for a given culture. To be fair, we didn’t see any accidents. Everybody understands the rules and as much as everybody is trying to protect their little turf of traffic space from cars, trucks, buses, etc. taking that away from them, when it happens people just let it happen without killing or maiming each other. Although we thought there would be multiple accidents, at the last second the motor scooter stopped just short of being run over, or the car jammed on their brakes when they realized that their spot had been co-opted.
We went to Pizza hut for lunch yesterday. The four Norte Americanos decided we wanted to see what all this buzz about how Pizzza Hut in China was different from home was about. Well, it’s still Pizza Hut, or so we think, since none of us have been to one at home. But, in all honesty, it tasted good. We all enjoy our dinners, but two meals a day of rice, peppery lamb, broccoli chicken, spicy beef, and the other individual dishes which are technically different but, in the end, are all beginning to taste the same. We’re hoping that as we get into the ethnic areas of the west, we’ll find the cuisine to be different. Stopped by the Baskim Robbins for some ice cream after dinner which tasted good.
Our morning was spent riding a tandem around the 9 mile city wall. Looking down upon the city from 40 feet or so gives a unique view to the entire inner city. It took us two hours to circumnavigate counting stops to rest sore butts and tired quads, neither more important than the other. Oh, yeah, we also took some photos just to give some justification for our stops. Along the way some nice music wafted from speakers strategically placed at intervals which set the tone very nicely. Some of the music can be very jarring, but this was all instrumental and pleasantly soft. Certain stops gave us a view of the town below that the city fathers would prefer you didn’t see, dirt courtyards and buildings which housed people who don’t shop at the stores mentioned at the top. The wall is kept really clean with waste cans along the way disguised as ancient bells. Were it not for the word “Push” written you’d think they were heavy iron bells. At times we heard roosters crowing from rooftops, while at others we saw beautiful gardens located in courtyards between the houses at the second story level. The paving was bumpy and the tandems ancient, but we all managed to make it around. Along the way we were greeted by smiling faces. We called hello, pronounced knee-how, and were rewarded by laughter and pleasantries. Vistas of high rise living quarters all packed together like so many lego blocks gave us wonder about how miserable it would be to live in such dense living space, and at the same time to think it’s pretty cool that people have really decent housing. We could see the large number of parks which has led Xi’an to be called the Green City. People were doing Tai Chi below us adding to the peacefulness and calm.
We then went to the Muslim quarter to see the grand mosque which is built in the Chinese style. If you didn’t know it was a mosque you’d think it was just another complex of Chinese buildings. The name for the Muslims is the “Hui” people. Translated it means, “go back home.” They came with the silk trade and stayed adding a further cosmopolitan flavor to this already diverse city which we have thoroughly enjoyed. Lunch was a Muslim meal, a lamb stew in a bowl into which we had already broken up pieces of a bread that resembled a large English muffin which had gone hard. Ben, our guide, kept telling me I had to make my pieces smaller, the size of peas. I told him the peas in my garden grew really big. The meal made an excellent change from the usual fare. The 10 of us who partook were happy we’d chosen to eat here, and made us look forward to the changes ahead.
We leave tonight on the overnight train to Langzau. It departs with Chinese Railway efficiency at 10:30 and arrives at 6 a.m. or so tomorrow so it will be a shorter ride. We’ll leave behind us crowds of tourists (hopefully) and the must see things on tour company itineraries. We’ll replace them with the more remote western areas. We have three more overnight trains including tonight. Ben tells us that the train here to Xi’an was the best we’ll have and that they will get progressively worse as we go further west. The overnights require a little more organization. We have to have our suitcases down by 8 in the morning. We can keep our rooms until noon, but at that time we have to keep with us whatever we need for the day and for the train ride. We don’t have access to our suitcases until we reach the hotel the following day. In the case of tomorrow, arriving so early in the morning will require a little more organization still.
For whatever reason, my beard seems to generate a lot of conversation which is an unending source of amusement to Saci. He’ll poke me and say: “they’re talking about your beard,” and laugh. People pull at their chins while talking to their friends, all the time giving furtive looks in my direction. Maybe it’s the whiteness of the thing. Who knows. Saci’s sense of humor continues to engage the group and everybody loves him. When Minh was off from the group yesterday and we were getting ready to leave, Saci announced that Minh was looking for a new wife. He says everything with such good spirit that nobody gets upset. Unlike the other gringo who has offended two of the women. I asked Fran who is our age and who was born in Austria if she was alive during the Anschluss (sp) she got offended because I made her seem older. She was born during the war, and I was just referring to the joining of Germany and Austria. Megan got upset with me when I asked her if anyone had ever told her her voice was distinctive and sounded like Julia Child. This was Carol’s description, not mine, but she has the tact not to say anything, whereas I just come out with it. Oh, well, Carol still loves me :-)
We’re trashed after our bike ride. Our calves have recovered from the great wall climb, now we have to regain our quads and knees which were turned to jelly pushing the old rickety bike around the wall. All part of the grand adventure. Each day has something special to it and with the group we have, we obviously made the right choice in opting for this trip on this date. Lise, Nellie and I are the geeks who are wondering/concerned about what internet connections we have ahead of us. Oh, well. That too is part of the adventure.
Hope to talk to you soon,
Carol and Jim
