October 14th : Xi'an still

Day 2 in Xi’an is also our last day in Xi’an. And not a moment was wasted.

While it is not common to see christian or catholic churches with golden altars and spectacular steeples, China is not without a religious history and has freedom of religion now too. Today Lily introduced us to the Buddhist history in Lily-style - detailed and passionate. A thorough recounting.

The story is epic and there is probably a movie about it that explains it better than my memory of her translation. The main thing to understand is that there was this guy with an interest in becoming a Buddhist monk. He asked for and was denied the Emperors permission to travel out of China to research and learn Buddhism but he went anyway. The young man spent 17 years following the Silk Road to India, traveling around India and coming back to China. During his time away he was assisted and supported by a number of special people, he wrote the scriptures of Buddhism down and he carried them home - mostly. Some were lost when they fell in the river or some such. On his return he managed to get the support of the Emperor after all. His job became to translate all the scriptures into Chinese and establish a temple. That temple is in Xi’an and the art that decorates it tells the story of his life, his journey and the teachings that he brought back to China. The pictures are carved in wood, jade and shiny metals. There are various Buddhist sculptures in each building and of course like many old religious places, there is no shortage of gold or gold leaf.

At this time about 40 monks call this temple their permanent and full time home. The grounds are peaceful, serene. The gardens are well manicured and birds fill the trees. I saw a cat run by… and that has been a rare thing in China.

Attached to the monastery is a gallery where we partook in a demonstration of calligraphy. The teacher showing us the “old” way and the new characters in Chinese, before explaining the significance of many of the creatures found in Chinese art. Many of the pieces are painted by the monks and donated to the gallery. The sales of which provide the temple/monastery with money for upkeep and their daily expenses.

You betcha I bought art. It’s one of my favorite things to buy when traveling. For me, it was the simple cat paintings that caught my eye. Playful and mischievous. (I will update with a picture when we get home and it finally finds freedom from the little cylinder that has housed it up until now.)

It was time to stretch our legs. We didn't do it that often in this trip, but when we did, it was kind of epic... Hiking a dune or a Great Wall, riding a horse or in this case, a bike. 

The Xi'an City Wall is a rectangle around the oldest part of the city. Inside, there are still building restrictions and you'll not see skyscapers. Outside, the sky is the limit. Lily hired Mark and I a couple of fixed-gear mountain-ish bikes and we departed, with instructions to meet back at the beginning in about 90 minutes. The road was bumpy! All those ancient stones are not worn smooth, but instead have chips and breaks, some are missing and others are just the wrong size. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful day, chance to take in the city from a unique perspective and racing like little kids in places that were almost deserted. Sights included a temple with golden roof, about a half dozen Chinese bride and grooms having wedding pics taken and 14km of elevated views.

We lunched at a restaurant famous for being the best dumpling place ever and were not disappointed. Dumplings in all shapes and colors, all fillings. One, two, three courses. Including sweet ones with mashed up walnuts inside. 

Finally, we were off to the largest Mosque and Muslim Street; a market place brimming with color, sound, smells and all manner of things you don’t need to buy. I, of course, did need to buy. Under the guise of shopping for gifts for others, I once again had my eye on chopsticks and scarves. What it is about these two things, I have no idea. I just know that I’m drawn to them again and again. And Mark’s suitcase is very accommodating… as is he.

Of course there were the random but obligatory selfies with young Chinese girls. They started the conversations by asking if they could practice their English. Invariably it was only with Mark and more often than not, the conversations were very short before they just asked if they could take a photo with him! After a while, he started asking for photos with them in return. You'd never believe us otherwise. 

This was the last stop before our drop off at the airport. In a nutshell, our dearest Lily was going to check us in, walk us to security and wave us goodbye before finding a quiet place to go for 2.5 hours, until her next clients arrived. Not only is she quietly super smart and kind and a genuinely lovely woman, but she is a very hard worker. I watched from the back seat of our car on the way to the airport as she took out paperwork on the new clients and began to memorize it, right down to the health details that were mentioned by client in an email to China Highlights.

I’d hire two of her if I could find them! Lily will have my respect and love forever. Should we ever return to the Xi’an area, I’ll be requesting Lily and only Lily will do.

Are you thinking of traveling to China? Is the Terracotta Army on your bucket list, like it was mine? Ask me for Lily’s contact details. Even better, I can put you in contact with Ruby the amazing travel agent and she’ll have you organized and having the time of your life before you know it. 

We arrived in Guilin a bit later than expected.

Hello Jason! Our new guide - a young man with sparkly eyes and handsome smile - and the kindest looking driver yet, were waiting at the exit of the airport. The airport was amazing. Not similar in style to Denver International but perhaps similar in feel or character. Modern and suave. Clean and pleasing to the eye. We learned from Jason that the airport has been open just 10 days… hence the 40 minute delay in luggage retrieval. Hey, at least the luggage arrived, right? :-)

Our hotel in Guilin? Holy cow. Niiiice!

The Guilin Park Hotel is on the river. Its 3 star but more than what I am used to still. On the 3rd floor we enjoyed moving into our new room, overlooking the pool. The only “issue” I would say was the bathroom. Nothing actually wrong with it… It’s just that it triggers every anxiety dream I have ever had. Let me explain (if you don’t mind a little TMI):

My recurring anxiety dreams always center around the same issue. I’m out in public trying to find a bathroom and there just isn’t one that offers enough privacy. Either no cubicle available, the door won’t lock, when I shut the door another opens in a different location or people can still see me. Our hotel room had a bathroom that featured glass walls. Sure, sure, there was a curtain, albeit sheer. But essentially that meant a sheer curtain between the bedroom and my private affairs and quite frankly that is just not enough. Eh. Luckily for me there is a womans bathroom on every floor and I can make do. I’m nothing if not adaptable - and quite Type A.

First world problems.

I’m fine. Thanks for asking.