An Authentic Place

Labor Day looming, I was at a loss as to what to do with myself for two whole days! For those of you who know me personally, you are well aware that for this 'workaholic' that is too much free time. So after some delibertation and investigation and help from a colleague, I found myself at
the new Terminal 3 airport, bound for Xian.

The new no. 3 building is enormous, well signed and easily accessible. The walk for inland flights
to the gate is not so long, but I have heard that for foreign destinations, the walk is much further.
Deciding that there was no need to take a tour, I had planned my overnight stay carefully. Listing all the possible places of interest that I wished to see, I asked a native student to write
for me in my notebook the name of all the sites in Chinese, that with an easy point of my finger
I would be able to move around without any difficulty.

A short flight later, around two and a half hours, we arrived in the city of Xian. A simple hotel
had been booked by a fellow staff member, and an airport shuttle made easy access into the centre of the city. One hour later, as I disembarked my first thought was "wow, this is China".
The bus itself stops directly opposite a rectangular structure known as the Bell Tower and to the right a short distance away stands an almost identical model, known as the Drum Tower.
Their stance and impressiveness, hung with Chinese decorations, automatically makes you feel
that you have stepped back in time.

Looking around I noticed that the Taxis were green, unlike the yellow and maroon ones of Beijing; outside a restaurant, all the staff stood to attention as the manager gave them the day's
instructions. The Chefs in their tall hats, looking as stiff as their uniforms, were mopping their
brows against the beating sun. This too was a surprise, as in Beijing till that point, that sun rarely shone!

Looking about I noticed that the streets were crowded, lots of tourists seemed to be milling about with maps in hand, you could see they were not locals for they too were standing and staring about at the happy mayhem. Prettily dressed ladies and girls were giggling as they
walked down the streets, holding pastel colored umbrellas aloft as protection from the sun's
glare. It seemed that even in this city, cyclists were able to load their bikes and to my astonish-
ment I even saw one such gentleman on a motorcycle, with a number of gas tanks, smoking a
cigarette!!

As I walked in the direction of what I hoped was my hotel, having no luggage to speak of more
than a bag, there were lots of advertisements for tour buses leaving for some of the sites that
I had listed on my paper, but even though the price was not high, I decided that I wanted to do
the 'Lonely Planet' solitary tour, for in truth one is never alone, there is always someone to stop
and converse to along the way.

The city had a holiday feel to it, full of excitement and smells. To one side a class of roller skating was being held and on the other a mobile phone fashion show, with young models dressed to kill
walking the runway, showing off the latest handset models! The stalls on the streets sold an
assortment of low priced market stall goods and the food stands were absolutely pressed upon
by eager awaiting clients for their tasty goodies, but first I had to find and check into my hotel,
disengage myself from my bag and set off in search of what I had truly come to visit..........
'The Terracotta Soldiers".