Xi’an – My Dream Vacation Destination!!!

Ever since I saw a documentary on the Terracotta Warriors of Xian, it became the place I wanted to visit. Well, the first place that has always been on my list is Egypt, but Xian looked more easy to visit since we were living in China back then.

I was bugging hubby to take us there for a long time and one day out of the blue,he informed us that his colleagues had planned a trip to Xi’an and after a little bit of coaxing hubby made arrangements for us to join the gang! We could have chosen our favorite airlines for the trip, but since it was last minute, we could only manage train tickets.But if you are visiting this place from overseas, check out the International flights that connect this city or the ones nearby

Being a person who can pack a bag or two for vacation within the shortest possible time, I set out to gather clothes, food and other essentials for the 3 day trip.

By 5pm, a happy couple, a toddler and an elderly MIL set out on our dream vacation. The train station was by far the neatest and we arrived just a few minutes before our train was due.It was a 15 hour journey covering approximately 1200 kilometers.

Once inside the train the sun started going down and it was time for dinner and have a good night’s sleep to recharge ourselves in preparation of all the sights we were about to see the next day…

Morning dawned dull and rainy and we passed through bridges, fields, and more fields that were submerged in water from the rains and name boards and places which we couldn’t read and finally around noon we reached our destination.

We were famished by the time we landed and also slightly tired yet our minds were alert and eager to take in the scenes and sights of the new place.

After checking into our rooms and freshening up, we set out on the first step of dream vacation.Our guide, a nice young lady had made all the plans for us and I was hoping to visit the terracotta warriors at the earliest.I was slightly disappointed to hear that she had made some other plans for the rest of the day.

A nice lunch at an Indian restaurant at Xian was like a blessing in disguise and with our tummies filled with the delicious Indian food,we set out to see the famous Wild Goose Pagoda.

 

The pagoda’s original height was 54 meters but due to several natural
calamities the size reduced and was and was extensively repaired by the
Ming Dynasty.The Pagoda now stands to a  height of 64 meters. The whole
city of Xi’an can be viewed from the top of the Pagoda..

There is a legend behind the name of this Pagoda.It goes like this…

There are 2 sects of Buddhist monks. One is vegetarian and the other is a
meat eating group. One day the meat eating monks could not find meat
and they prayed to Buddha to provide them with some food. Immediately,
the head bird of the wild goose flock that was flying above broke its
wing and fell down. The monks were so startled and believed that Buddha
was trying to tell them to be more pious. So they vowed to stop eating
meat and built this Pagoda where the goose had fallen!!!

This is also called the ‘Big Wild Goose pagoda’ or the Da Yan Ta and is not to be mistaken with another pagoda called ‘ Small wild goose Pagoda’.

We were bone tired after dinner.No sooner we fell asleep, I was awakened
by the alarm signalling the dawn of another day.Hurriedly, we  got
ready to go out and explore more of the city’s charm.

The next day was gloomy but we were in a very cheerful mood.The first stop was the Banpo Matriarchal village which is  an excavated habitation site of a matriarchal clan of the Neolithic period.This museum was actually built in 1958. This site has within it the whole village in a sprawling area of 4500 square meter.This place gives us the feel of an aboriginal village.This village belongs to the Yangshao culture and dates back to about 6,000 years.

We dined at a simple restaurant and I was not so much into having an elaborate lunch as I was eager to see what was next on our list.The next stop was the Huaqing Hot Springs.