Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
Weather outside cleared up. Peter and I got good advice from the haole Manager here at Shuyuan Hostel (really speaks good Mandarin, been here for a year), to walk along the outside of the wall which has been turned into a park (sandwiched between the wall and the moat).
From the hostel we turned right to exit the South wall and right again for the park. It's a very nice park surrounding the entire Xi'an Wall, lots of trees including pomegranate trees. As I mentioned before the parks in China are very much utilised by the people for their playtime, relaxation time, sleeping time, social time, singing time, etc. Walking through the park we see a lot of the local folk doing their own or group thing. There's the practitioners of different tai chi methods. There's the singing groups accompanied by different instruments like the erhu (2-stringed bowed instrument), violin or the chinese flute. Grandpas or Grandmas playing with their grandkids - I've seen a lot of the grandpas babysitting their granddaughters/sons. Lots of them exercising: martial arts, ping pong, badminton, etc.
What I like about Xi'an (which I hope the US or even just Maui county could do) is they have provided a whole stretch of the park full of exercise tools free for all the park goers. They have man-powered machine versions of the treadmill, leg squat, stationary bike, spinning disk, tricep/bicep pulls, ab benches, leg massager, push up bars, and so on. There were so many of these things along the park where the local people use. No need to pay gym fees, wear spandex pants, etc. They even provide a number of ping pong tables with a metal net, all you need to bring are your paddle and ball.
We realized, even before from reading about China, that they emphasize preserving health more than the treating of disease. Most of them believe that if one's health is maintained then there will be no disease. Hence, all these exercise activities provided for all its citizens.
If Maui county provided these machines in all the parks, a whole lot of our obese Mauians or Hawaiians will gain back their health.
Watching these people exercise in the park makes me feel that they love to do this together because it brings them much closer to each other. It gives you such a good feeling to see them, family, friends, acquaintances, have fun together in an active way.
We didn't realize how far we have walked from the South Gate to the West Gate until we saw the gate. We entered the city from here and walked towards the middle of the city.
Xi'an city has wide sidewalks, very clean, tree-lined and well maintained. Even the main avenues are full of trees. Their traffic signal lights lets you know how many seconds before it changes. The walk signal even does the walk motion. :-D There are some areas where they do not have cross walk signals so you will need to do the "chicken crossing the street" thing - you know, try to avoid the vehicles and not get run over. He, he... (They really speed here but if you can't get out of their way they will try to avoid you.)
Along the West street walking towards the center, Bell Tower, we found an interesting gate which we thought led to the Great Mosque, which turned out to be a shopping area still not fully constructed. There was nothing to see there and we both realized how far we have walked without even having breakfast. As Peter said, "we should find something to tide us over," we turned into the main West street and right at the corner was a restaurant selling steaming buns. What timing! He bought just one each of their 2 different buns. We ate half of each to try - one turned out to be really spicy and one just right. I ate half of the not spicy and not much of the spicy. The bun was good though.
Peter and I learned that "life is just like a basket of steaming buns, you'll never know what you get until you bite into it," after eating a number of buns without knowing what's inside.
After getting something into our stomachs we continued our walk and found the Drum Tower, a few meters across from the Bell Tower. Paid to get in and up the Towers (went to the Bell Tower after lunch) as it afforded us great views of the city.
Behind the Drum Tower is the Beiyuan Muslim Street where you can find lots of stalls selling dried fruit and nuts, and other assorted food stuffs (bought assorted snacks enroute), and restaurants (all of them didn't have electricity when we went by but were still open for business).
We walked and meandered through the streets. So many interesting food along the way. Then we saw a small alley full of souvenirs we decided to turn into. Finally found their version of the Tiger Balm for sale there, at first the cost was 35 yuan ($5) but Peter haggled and got 12 yuan ($1+). We could probably get even less but we gave in. Anyway, it costs about $7 in Maui so getting it for less than $2 is pretty good deal.
We followed this alley and ended up in the Great Mosque (which we decided not to go in, it would have been 35 yuan to enter) - after a while you get tired of visiting places that almost look the same. Continued through until we exited right behind the Drum Tower.
From there we went via the underground passageway to the Kai Yuan Mall for our lunch. This time we had a simple fare of sprouts, kau yuk (bun), and a fried pancake-type full of chives. Ate some of the snacks we bought at the Muslim Food street.
Just before heading back we visited the Bell Tower (since we already paid for the two Towers' combo tickets). Rain was pouring by the time we left the Mall to get to the Tower (luckily it is connected by the underground passageway). It had great views of all the 4 main streets of the city. We took a short detour to the Post Office to mail my postcard, then returned back to the hostel. We might go out later this afternoon, if the weather permits.
Tomorrow noon we leave for Nanjing.
Weather outside cleared up. Peter and I got good advice from the haole Manager here at Shuyuan Hostel (really speaks good Mandarin, been here for a year), to walk along the outside of the wall which has been turned into a park (sandwiched between the wall and the moat).
From the hostel we turned right to exit the South wall and right again for the park. It's a very nice park surrounding the entire Xi'an Wall, lots of trees including pomegranate trees. As I mentioned before the parks in China are very much utilised by the people for their playtime, relaxation time, sleeping time, social time, singing time, etc. Walking through the park we see a lot of the local folk doing their own or group thing. There's the practitioners of different tai chi methods. There's the singing groups accompanied by different instruments like the erhu (2-stringed bowed instrument), violin or the chinese flute. Grandpas or Grandmas playing with their grandkids - I've seen a lot of the grandpas babysitting their granddaughters/sons. Lots of them exercising: martial arts, ping pong, badminton, etc.
What I like about Xi'an (which I hope the US or even just Maui county could do) is they have provided a whole stretch of the park full of exercise tools free for all the park goers. They have man-powered machine versions of the treadmill, leg squat, stationary bike, spinning disk, tricep/bicep pulls, ab benches, leg massager, push up bars, and so on. There were so many of these things along the park where the local people use. No need to pay gym fees, wear spandex pants, etc. They even provide a number of ping pong tables with a metal net, all you need to bring are your paddle and ball.
We realized, even before from reading about China, that they emphasize preserving health more than the treating of disease. Most of them believe that if one's health is maintained then there will be no disease. Hence, all these exercise activities provided for all its citizens.
If Maui county provided these machines in all the parks, a whole lot of our obese Mauians or Hawaiians will gain back their health.
Watching these people exercise in the park makes me feel that they love to do this together because it brings them much closer to each other. It gives you such a good feeling to see them, family, friends, acquaintances, have fun together in an active way.
We didn't realize how far we have walked from the South Gate to the West Gate until we saw the gate. We entered the city from here and walked towards the middle of the city.
Xi'an city has wide sidewalks, very clean, tree-lined and well maintained. Even the main avenues are full of trees. Their traffic signal lights lets you know how many seconds before it changes. The walk signal even does the walk motion. :-D There are some areas where they do not have cross walk signals so you will need to do the "chicken crossing the street" thing - you know, try to avoid the vehicles and not get run over. He, he... (They really speed here but if you can't get out of their way they will try to avoid you.)
Along the West street walking towards the center, Bell Tower, we found an interesting gate which we thought led to the Great Mosque, which turned out to be a shopping area still not fully constructed. There was nothing to see there and we both realized how far we have walked without even having breakfast. As Peter said, "we should find something to tide us over," we turned into the main West street and right at the corner was a restaurant selling steaming buns. What timing! He bought just one each of their 2 different buns. We ate half of each to try - one turned out to be really spicy and one just right. I ate half of the not spicy and not much of the spicy. The bun was good though.
Peter and I learned that "life is just like a basket of steaming buns, you'll never know what you get until you bite into it," after eating a number of buns without knowing what's inside.
After getting something into our stomachs we continued our walk and found the Drum Tower, a few meters across from the Bell Tower. Paid to get in and up the Towers (went to the Bell Tower after lunch) as it afforded us great views of the city.
Behind the Drum Tower is the Beiyuan Muslim Street where you can find lots of stalls selling dried fruit and nuts, and other assorted food stuffs (bought assorted snacks enroute), and restaurants (all of them didn't have electricity when we went by but were still open for business).
We walked and meandered through the streets. So many interesting food along the way. Then we saw a small alley full of souvenirs we decided to turn into. Finally found their version of the Tiger Balm for sale there, at first the cost was 35 yuan ($5) but Peter haggled and got 12 yuan ($1+). We could probably get even less but we gave in. Anyway, it costs about $7 in Maui so getting it for less than $2 is pretty good deal.
We followed this alley and ended up in the Great Mosque (which we decided not to go in, it would have been 35 yuan to enter) - after a while you get tired of visiting places that almost look the same. Continued through until we exited right behind the Drum Tower.
From there we went via the underground passageway to the Kai Yuan Mall for our lunch. This time we had a simple fare of sprouts, kau yuk (bun), and a fried pancake-type full of chives. Ate some of the snacks we bought at the Muslim Food street.
Just before heading back we visited the Bell Tower (since we already paid for the two Towers' combo tickets). Rain was pouring by the time we left the Mall to get to the Tower (luckily it is connected by the underground passageway). It had great views of all the 4 main streets of the city. We took a short detour to the Post Office to mail my postcard, then returned back to the hostel. We might go out later this afternoon, if the weather permits.
Tomorrow noon we leave for Nanjing.
posted by Mimi | 9:00 PM
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