October Holiday (十月假期)
That's another month(月) in China over! Ive gotten so used to life here that it feels like more than just two months.
So what's happened this month? We went on holiday to a city called Xi'an (西安). It was honestly amazing. 西安 is what you see when you imagine what China looks like.
So after a 19 hour train journey, we arrived in 西安 and went to our accommodation. The only problem is, the accommodation had us booked for 3 beds instead of 18… But, they managed to get us in their sister accommodation instead so it turned out fine in the end.
On the first day in 西安 we had a bit of an explore of the local area. We took a detour from our original plan when we found a market street that sold all sorts of things. From kids toys, to clothes, to decorations, they had everything. At the end of the market there was a Chinese temple. This is the second (第二) temple I have seen while in China and words cannot describe how beautiful (漂亮) they are. The detail used in the painting of the temples is phenomenal. I can't imagine how long it must have taken to build with the amount of detail that went into the temple itself and the statues inside. The inside of this particular temple was very interesting as on the walls it portrayed that seemed to be the equivalent of hell or something similar. I won't describe what these images were but they were kind of gruesome.
After leaving the market we continued onwards (attempting to follow the plan) to what we thought was the Muslim quarter. It turned out that it was just a food street but it was a good experience none the less. This was VERY busy(忙) . Everyone was packed in this street like little sardines. I personally wasn't hungry at the time but the people that were bought food from one of the millions of food stalls that lined the street. I have to admit some of the food was a little too adventurous for me at this point and I hate to disappoint but no, I did not eat the scorpions on a stick that was sold at pretty much every second stall. However while some people went to the Palace, four of us went for a wonder and coincidentally found what was actually the Muslim street. There, I enjoyed some noodles(面条) from one of the stalls while trying to keep out of the flow of traffic as this too was a very busy place.
On the second day, we went to see the terracotta warriors (兵马俑) . We got the bus (公共汽车) in the morning, which took about 2 hours. The terracotta warriors consisted of three pits, each containing something different. Pit 1 was the biggest pit which contained the actual terracotta warriors. Seeing the sheer amount of terracotta warriors was an amazing experience. However the experience was slightly dulled as due to it being the holidays it was very busy. I only actually able to see a glimpse of them because of the volume of people trying to see.
On our last day in Xi'an we went to the paradise park. The paradise park was so beautiful and I would definitely go again if I had the chance. It was amazing to see a garden with such a traditional setting, giving no indication that it is in the middle of a city. After spending a few hours in the paradise park, we went to the giant pagoda. They put on a water fountain show using lights, which really stood out against the dark sky.
Overall, this holiday was an amazing experience. I couldn't ask for better people to go on holiday with and having friends (朋友) with me made it so much more fun even when things didn't go according to plan. I'm looking forward to next month with the St Andrews Ball and I'll see you next month!