I flew from Beijing to Xi'an yesterday. I actually ran into Wei and his wife at the airport, which was pretty funny.
Anyway, when I arrived at the Xi'an airport I caught a bus to the center of town (where I was staying). The air was quite poluted (Beijing was polluted but this was worse) and the city did not look like much. Miles and miles of warnout shops, with no one buying anything. It was rundown like that outskirts of many cities. There was a nice park down the center of the main street that went on for a mile or so. Eventually we approached the historical city walls. I was optimistic that the inside of the old city would be cute, like most historical walled cities. Well I was wrong. Cute was not the right word. But I was transported into someplace I knew well. Well a few places. First, it strongly reminded me of Times square with wall to wall people and shopping everywhere. At least it was the Times Square of my youth which had both posh shopping and cheap stuff next to each other. But this was so much more. The center of things were these hystorical bell and drum towers. And the street food being sold everywhere, wow! I picked up 2 noodle dishes (Xi'an is famous for there noodles) and some bread for dinner, and they were delicious.
The next thing it reminded me as I walked a mile from the bell tower and found a large shopping neighborhood, with some of the best art shopping I have ever seen. This was more paris, than soho, but definitely a different style, and much cheaper. (The main street also seems to aspire to be a champs elysees, with high end shopping, and a broad street).
Later I wondered through the muslum quarter. It was like the shook in jerusalem, but with many more people, and a dizzing array of street foods. This is the end of the silk road, after all.
My hostal is right in the central square by the bell tower, and lets just say it has all the urban charms of the city. Its loud. Not that comfortable, but alive with energy. I chatted for about 4 hours with a Kiwi living in Xi'an last night, and that was cool.
The one thing this place needs is a subway. I think the archeologist might want to stop that project...
