Wednesday, April 26, 2006
April 25: Xi'an
This morning I finally got to speak with my Tibetan travel agent, Lobsang. My flight is at 7:45 AM or so on Saturday, which means I absolutely, positively, need to be in Chengdu this friday. I bought a ticket for tomorrow night - this time, a 'soft sleeper', and for less what it cost me Beijing -> Xi'an. Leticia (from Paris) came along, and we proceeded to see the sights in the city.
Sight #1: Bell Tower. The most distinguishing characteristic is, I think, the display of alcohol inside. The Chinese are drunks, and have been for a thousand years. On display is a glass bottle of some sort of green swill (maybe absynth?) that the inscription claims to be 2100 years old. They say it's wine. Even France doesn't have wine that old.
Sight #2: Drum Tower. I could have done without.
North of the Drum Tower is the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an, which is home to the ethnic Hui population (numbering about 30,000 according to my guidebook). Hidden among the hutongs is the so-called Great Mosque, and is apparently the largest mosque in China (and Leticia says it's the second oldest - she has different guidebooks!). The whole thing is pretty interesting - Chinese-looking muslims praying in Chinese-looking buildings that are, nonetheless, a muslim temple. The minaret in the centre looks like a pagoda!
Beside the mosque is long, winding hutong filled with shops. Small shops, selling small trinkets of various kinds. They also sell knockoff Gucci, Louis Vuitton and North Face gear. And silk items of various sorts. If you seem interested in anything, they'll quote you an outrageous price. A sucker will pay it, but a sharp trader will bargain.
For example, I bought an item that was originally asking 120 kwai for 40 kwai. How? Let me illustrate:
Vendor: says 120 (or rather, they write it down on a piece of paper to avoid confusion).
Alex: What! No, too expensive. Me shueishung (student, and that's not proper pinyin either).
Vendor: how much? give best price!!
Alex: 20 kwai!
Vendor: oh, no, 20 kwai low!! I lose money!
Alex: no, no, you no lose money
Vendor: Okay okay 80 kwai!
Alex: too expensive! 25!
Eventually if you hold your ground you can get whatever they're selling for a fraction of what they asked. A few times, Leticia was looking at things and I negotiated on her behalf - I think she bought a purse for 15 kwai when the vendor was asking for 40 or 50. After a while, you get to enjoy this activity.
We also checked out the stone tablets museum, which is impressive for the sole reason that it's enormous and the tablets are very, very old. You can see the evolution of Chinese writing, although I find it hard to appreciate it fully because I don't read or write or speak or understand any form of Chinese. However, the fact that there are so many huge stone tablets full of writing says something about the state of the Chinese society and economy at a time when Rome was gone, western Europe was nowhere, and Byzantium was really the only game in town in the West (if you can call it that).
Tonight, more sights in Xi'an and I leave for Chengdu tomorrow night, on another overnight train. Flying to Lhasa on Saturday morning!!
Sight #1: Bell Tower. The most distinguishing characteristic is, I think, the display of alcohol inside. The Chinese are drunks, and have been for a thousand years. On display is a glass bottle of some sort of green swill (maybe absynth?) that the inscription claims to be 2100 years old. They say it's wine. Even France doesn't have wine that old.
Sight #2: Drum Tower. I could have done without.
North of the Drum Tower is the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an, which is home to the ethnic Hui population (numbering about 30,000 according to my guidebook). Hidden among the hutongs is the so-called Great Mosque, and is apparently the largest mosque in China (and Leticia says it's the second oldest - she has different guidebooks!). The whole thing is pretty interesting - Chinese-looking muslims praying in Chinese-looking buildings that are, nonetheless, a muslim temple. The minaret in the centre looks like a pagoda!
Beside the mosque is long, winding hutong filled with shops. Small shops, selling small trinkets of various kinds. They also sell knockoff Gucci, Louis Vuitton and North Face gear. And silk items of various sorts. If you seem interested in anything, they'll quote you an outrageous price. A sucker will pay it, but a sharp trader will bargain.
For example, I bought an item that was originally asking 120 kwai for 40 kwai. How? Let me illustrate:
Vendor: says 120 (or rather, they write it down on a piece of paper to avoid confusion).
Alex: What! No, too expensive. Me shueishung (student, and that's not proper pinyin either).
Vendor: how much? give best price!!
Alex: 20 kwai!
Vendor: oh, no, 20 kwai low!! I lose money!
Alex: no, no, you no lose money
Vendor: Okay okay 80 kwai!
Alex: too expensive! 25!
Eventually if you hold your ground you can get whatever they're selling for a fraction of what they asked. A few times, Leticia was looking at things and I negotiated on her behalf - I think she bought a purse for 15 kwai when the vendor was asking for 40 or 50. After a while, you get to enjoy this activity.
We also checked out the stone tablets museum, which is impressive for the sole reason that it's enormous and the tablets are very, very old. You can see the evolution of Chinese writing, although I find it hard to appreciate it fully because I don't read or write or speak or understand any form of Chinese. However, the fact that there are so many huge stone tablets full of writing says something about the state of the Chinese society and economy at a time when Rome was gone, western Europe was nowhere, and Byzantium was really the only game in town in the West (if you can call it that).
Tonight, more sights in Xi'an and I leave for Chengdu tomorrow night, on another overnight train. Flying to Lhasa on Saturday morning!!
# posted by Alex Perel @ 4:54 AM 
