Concrete Plans

Today I'm just going to outline my holiday plans for the period before I come back to the UK. Be jealous. Be very jealous. After a lot of shifting, sifting, advice and an absolutely disgusting amount of maths, I've kinda, sorta come up with something that looks like a travel itinerary. I use the word 'concrete' extremely loosely, as - since I've just been informed that flights in China are cheaper the closer you get to the date - I haven't booked anything yet. But yeah, consider this a free history [and tourism] lesson!

So first off I'm planning on going to Xi'an.

Here be 西安

Xi'an is, essentially, where a lot of sh*t went down in the past, and  one of the most important places you have to go to if you actually want to be taken seriously when you say 'I've travelled around China'. It was the capital of China for about 1000 years, and is where Qin Shi Huangdi, the first Emperor of China, reigned. If you've forgotten who that is, just watch Hero or The Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. So, as the paranoid, I'm gonna say slightly superstitious 1st Emperor of the whole of China from 221BC, Shi Huangdi had his Terracotta Warriors commissioned from the weapons he confiscated from his enemies. Today, they are the number one attraction in what some tour guides and even historians are calling western China. Looks pretty central to me, but I'm just gonna roll with it. I suppose it's pretty west compared to everything else going on in China.

Besides the Terracotta statues, there is also the Ming Dynasty tombs and Drum and Bell towers to explore. Xi'an city wall is also the oldest, most complete CITY wall [yeah, we all know what other wall I'm referring to here] still standing in China, having been built during the Ming Dynasty [1368-1644]. Apparently Xi'an also has a great Muslim quarter, the Muslims having arrived very early on as Xi'an is the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, an ancient trading route running from Europe to China through Asia. It's mainly the street food that everyone raves about though.

From Xi'an I will be taking a really long night train [roughly 13 hours] to the modern capital of China Beijing.

Thar' be 北京

We all know what Beijing is and what it's about, but a little reminder is always nice. China's second largest city after Shanghai, Beijing has been the seat of power in China since the Ming Dynasty. Another nice little fact Wikipedia informs me, is that Beijing is really flat and only has 3 hills. I guess that's why so many people cycle there. Obvious top attractions include the Great Wall, the Forbidden City [the largest ancient palatial structure in the world], Tiananmen Square and the more recent Bird's Nest Stadium.

There's plenty else to discover in Beijing of course, as there always is with a major city. The city has many narrow, winding streets called hutongs, something only found in Beijing. Apparently very nice for a wander, but very easy to get lost in as many are not marked on maps. The Southern Gong and Drum lane is one such street and is the most famous and one of the oldest hutongs in Beijing, as well as being very popular with foreigners. The Beijing Ancient Observatory also caught my eye, but that's mainly because I'm a history geek. Also I think it's free to get in. As I'm only in Beijing for 4 days and 3 nights, I found Wikipedia's travel guide very useful for organising my trip, especially in terms of prioritising - 3 Days in Beijing.

After a quick zip back to Dalian and a few days rest, I'm off to my final destination in the frozen North of China, Harbin.

Here lies 哈尔滨...and 北京 again

China's northernmost major city, Harbin has a lot of Russian influence, as well as being famous for being the best place to study in the north-eastern part of China. It's really cold in winter though. If you read one of my previous posts [下雪，下学] you would know that my reason for visiting such a place in the middle of winter is for Harbin's famous Ice Festival. 

I don't really feel the need to show you anymore pictures, so I'll tell you what else there is to do, you know, in case you're thinking of visiting for some reason. There are a suspicious amount of religious buildings, such as the Synagogue [it's actually called the New Jewish Synagogue, but I thought it's Jewishness would be evident from...Synagogue] the St. Sophia [Orthodox] Catherdral and a Confucius temple or 文庙 [wenmiao]. There's also a lot of Russian architecture, which I have absolutely no interest in as well as the Stalin Park, which I'm strangely curious about. Also, I've heard people go swimming in the Songhua river during the deep winter. Now that I gotta see.

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