Fifi's Xi'an Travelogue, Days 5 and 6

The conclusion of our Xi'an Trip includes visits to Xi'an's iconic Bell and Drum towers, Cherry's Alma Mater, and last but not least, one of my favorite destinations anywhere - the famous sacred mountain, Mount Hua, of Wuxia novel fame!

Fifi's manuscript below:

On the fifth day we to Muslim street. We ate liang pi. My mommy didn't like it, but I did. After that, we walked to a temple called Muslim temple, but my mommy didn't want to go. Then we went to the bell tower. I saw the bell. Next we went to the drum tower. I saw many kinds of drums. And then my mom bought me a pin. It looked like this. [drawing] Then we went to mom's school but we didn't do anything there.

The base of the Bell Tower in the center of Xi'an

Xi'an's famous Bell Tower ice cream!

View of the Drum Tower, from the top of the Bell Tower

The Bell

Depictions of stories line the walls of the bell tower

Base of the Drum Tower

An interesting museum/shop showing nostalgic scenes from 1990s era China! Very neat

A famous pudding dessert from Xi'an - tastes much better than it looks!

Mysterious baby-shaped fruit... even the seller didn't know what it really was!

Pig hooves, I think

Pulled noodles! A Xi'an favorite!

Follow me to the bazaar!

Lamb skewers! But they weren't as good as I was hoping :/

The long path to Cherry's Alma Mater, Xi'an Translator's College

I'm pretty sure they used to actually translate the Chinese word for "Translate" into English... ironic really

One of the last remaining rice noodle shops in the area!

Yum!

A brand new front gate! This wasn't here 17 years ago!

On the sixth day we went to Hua Shang [sic - should be Hua Shan]. First we went on the train from Xi'an to Hua Shang city. Then we took a city bus to the Hua Shang vistor [sic]/ There we bought tickets and decide [sic] where to go on Hua Shang. After we decided where to go, we went on a bus to the bottom of the moutain to go on a cable car to the top of the moutain . We started walking up the moutain right after we get off the cable car. My whole family got tired easily except my brother. We rest after 15 minutes of walking. On the way up the moutain my brother bought a sword that looks like this [drawing].

You can take high speed rail from Xi'an to Hua Shan in just 30 minutes! It used to take about four hours to get here!

 

A very long and beautiful cable car ride!

Amazing trails on the tops of the peaks

Lunch time!

What weather!

A rare family photo!

A monument commemorating Louis Cha, the famous contemporary Chinese novelist who wrote several stories telling of a sword tournament that took place right here on Mount Hua

One of Mount Hua's amazing sheer granite cliffs

Seven Star Sword!

Then we went to a bathroom that was DISGUSTING. When I came out of the bathroom I was about to throw up [drawing. Then my mom bought me a medal [drawing].

After that we went back to Xi'an and went back to Chengdu. I had a lovely time in Xi'an. My favorite part of it was staying in the magnifencent [sic] hotel. =)

*****************************************

And that concluded our one week pilgrimage back to the place where Cherry and I first met!

Fifi's Xi'an Travelogue, Days 3 and 4

The Travelogue Continues as we return to Shaanxi Normal University for the first time since the summer of 2002!

On the third day, my family and I went to my daddy's school named Shaanxi Normal University. My daddy looked around the new campus and finally he figured out that it was [new] so we went to the old [campus] that was close to our hotel. So we wasted minutes in the new campus.

The iconic TV tower!

The main gate of the New campus! It took about 45 minutes to get to the campus from the hotel. I didn't realize it was the new campus until about an hour later!

The new campus has some very nice facilities

Finally something I recognized - Shi Da Road! The district has changed so much in the last 17 years that I didn't realize how close to school I was already!

The road looks very familiar but the shops are mostly all different

The railway ticket office where students would buy train tickets in advance - this spot looks pretty much the same as it did back then!

The rear gate of the old campus. I lived near this gate back then so we went in and out from here!

The hotel/dorm that me and my exchange student-mates lived that summer!

Cherry and I sat and chatted often at this very pond on campus!

The library. I didn't come here often back then, and now the security won't let non-students in, so I couldn't see how it's changed over the years...

Day three was a short day due to Cherry's busy work schedule that day, so we went home shortly thereafter for another swim!

On the fourth day, Shaanxi History Musuem [sic].

First we went without my mom because she was making money. We rode bike there. I learned that the first dynasty in China is the Zhou Dynasty. Did you know that my mom's middle name is Zhou? Her name is Ya Zhou Lian. That's incredible! But in the Zhou Dynasty their [sic] were only barbarians. The Zhou dynasty lasted 800 years before the Shang dynasty took over. There are many dynasties after the Shang dynasty but I want to talk about the Qin dynasty. The Qin dynasty put China together because a long time ago China was split into many contries [sic] thats why the Qin dynasty put China together. But the thing is Qin dynasty only lasted 15 years. The original great wall was made in the Qin dynasty. I learned more dynasties but I want to tell you about something else.

The Shaanxi History Museum is one of the most famous museums in China!

Tang Dynasty style beauty!

Mommy joined us!

Mobiking through Xi'an!

We also went to the Tang paridise [sic]. First we went to the kids playground. There wer huge tops, a bridge with holes and rock climbing. After we played at the playground, we went to a ginormous "hu lu wa" (Chinese gourd). It was made of grass. Then we went to a show. It was a ion show. It was so cool. Then in the evening there was another show about the Tang dynasty. It was about people who are dreaming about the Tang dynasty. The story had 6 chapters. One of the chapters was about the queen taking a shower and dancing. And then the king joined her. After the show all the lights lit up. It was a lovely sight before we went home.

See you next time!