Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
November 14, 2013
So thanks to being sociable and staying up having a few beers last night with the folks at the hostel I managed to crash out and not wake up until half past eleven, meaning it was far too late to head off to the mountain. After easing myself into the day with a couple of coffees and a plate of young garlic shoots and stir fry pork I took a look in a few books at the hostel for things to do with my day.
I decided on a place called Daming Palace National Heritage Park which was just a short bus ride outside the city walls. After spending an hour wandering around aimlessly in search of the magic bus stop that didn’t exist I finally stumbled across a stop about half a mile away that had the right number bus showing on it and eventually got myself to the entrance to the park.
The entrance is a reconstruction of the original gate to the palace that used to be there called Danfeng gate and its a fairly imposing site. Daming Palace was the Imperial Palace of the Tang Dynasty in the old capitol of Chang’an. It was the Royal residence for over 200 years but sadly not much of it remains anymore. Once inside all that remains are a few ruined walls and the original lake and island that used to be the gardens within the palace. There is a miniature version of the palace within the grounds and it must have been quite a sight in its day as the complex was huge by the look of it. There are a few exhibition halls dotted around the site which contain excavated relics from the palace which were canny and the lake at the far end is nice and secluded.
The whole place feels a little strange at times looking from inside the park out. I’ve never been to the states but its a bit how I imagine central park to feel as the park itself is quite a size and all around its surrounded my massive high rise complexes and a lot of construction work that is currently going on in Xi’an. It’s a nice place to get away from the noise and hustle and bustle though and it was good to spend a few peaceful hours wandering around on my own and chilling out. Watching a few guys flying kites and checking out the halls of relics and sitting in the sun.
I headed back to catch a bus just as the sun was going down and as I hopped on and took my seat I looked back at the gate and realised they light the whole place up at night. It looked really cool but my feet wouldn’t take anymore so I stayed on the bus and popped back in the hostel grabbing a couple of cans on the way. My train ticket for tomorrow to get me to Luoyang has finally arrived and thankfully my washing is done and dried as I’m rapidly running out of clean clothes and starting to smell like a Yeti!
I sat and chilled for a while with the American lads I met the day before and bumped into a French girl called Marine who is an absolute loon! She’s been traveling since 2010 and is working her way through China before finally heading back home to Paris at the end of the month.
We popped out down the road for a bit of street food and she bumped into Dr Han, a guy in the street who runs a massage clinic who fixed her neck and back yesterday. We dragged him over to share a bit food and a beer with us then popped to the shop over the road to grab some more cheap drinks. This time we settled on a half litre bottle of local rice wine for 80p which is 50% vol! It’s like rocket fuel. I recommend trying it but wouldn’t drink it every day as I’d be blind within a week, it’s lethal. We shared the bottle with Dr Han then for some god forsaken reason decided to buy another bottle to take back to the hostel with us and basically sat and got wrecked, had a laugh and shared a few stories and chewed the fat. It was a cracking night and I can’t remember getting to bed unless someone was maybe kind enough to carry me up there. For some reason I always seem to inadvertently get drunk the night before I have to catch a train….one day I’ll learn this isn’t necessarily the way forward for making sure I catch my trains and transport!
