Hello Xi'an

Not an extremely eventful day...travel between cities. We took an 1 ½ hour flight from Beijing to Xi’an and then an hour drive to get into the city. On the road, the view varied considerably. Farmland, impoverished houses or apartment buildings, factories contributed to our sights on the road. Xi’an was a capital city of China for 1100 years. Beijing was a capital city for a bit more than 500 years. The capital has moved around some depending on the dynasty in power. I thought we were going to a little smaller city, after being in Beijing with a population of 14 million people. Even though Xi’an is half the size as Beijing in population, I would still consider the 7 million a big city.

Li told us that this area in the western part of China “is more wild like a cowboy place.” In other words, he was saying that the attitude and persona of the place is a little more “rough around the edges” right down to the dialect and spoken language.

We went to the Shaanxi History Museum. There are some seriously old things housed there: old wine and food vessels, vases, tools, and artifacts of various kinds. It was pretty cool, but I don’t have any photos for you.

Tonight we are going to a traditional dumpling dinner and dance performance; apparently that is the famous food and entertainment in this area. You’ll have to see the photos later.

P.S. sorry, no pictures today...glitch in the system not allowing it right now. After two failed attempts, I'm hoisting the white flag and getting ready to go to dinner. TTFN