Yesterday I ventured into the city of Xi'an for the first time. According to wikipedia, Xi'an had a population of 8 million in 2005, so it is probably nearing 9 million today. When i got off the bus at the second ring road in south city, I was struck by how modern and busy Xi'an seemed.
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| Looking north across the second ring road. The short building on the left is Xi'an's massive public library. |
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| Looking west along the second ring road. |
I opted to see the old city first. The old city is the center of Xi'an; it took me about 45 minutes on foot to reach the south gate of the old city from the second ring road. The old city is surrounded by huge stone walls and a moat that date back thousands of years to when Xi'an was the imperial capital of China.
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| The moat and city walls that surround the old city |
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| The bridge into the old city |
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| This is a gate to a neighborhood just inside the city walls |
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| Straddling either side of the wall is very expensive real estate. The blocks leading up to and in to the old city were lined with very high end retail like gucci, prada, and others. There were many high end hotels crawling with BMW's and private security guards. |
I didn't have enough time to really explore the old city, so I headed back to the second ring road where I was meeting a friend. On the way back I noticed the many Xi'an metro stations on the street. Xi'an's metro is still under construction so I could not use it to get back, but the line on this street should be finished while i'm here. Xi'an is the first city in western China to have a metro system.
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| Metro station under construction |
While I waited for my friend I explored the 'upstairs downstairs' market. It is a cross between a bazaar and a strip mall with over 200 shops selling everything from clothing to guitars to school supplies. I got many stares at this market, because I was the only white person in a sea of thousands of chinese shoppers. I bought a pair of sunglasses so I could more discreetly stare back at them.
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| Upstairs downstairs market |
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| I met my friend outside of McDonald's. I encountered more foreigner's here than in the rest of my five hour journey into the city. |
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| Pizza Hut - a fine dining restaurant in China |
"While I waited for my friend I explored the 'upstairs downstairs' market. It is a cross between a bazaar and a strip mall with over 200 shops selling everything from clothing to guitars to school supplies. I got many stares at this market, because I was the only white person in a sea of thousands of chinese shoppers. I bought a pair of sunglasses so I could more discreetly stare back at them." Bahaha Davis you're the best.
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