"The talents in the south, the generals in the north, and the loess in Shaanxi buried the emperor." This folk proverb is catchy for every local tour guide. This place has gathered the essence of 13 dynasties in Chinese history, the vision of 13 dynasties, and the influence of 13 dynasties. This is the second destination for every foreign friend who comes to China for tourism. The first is Beijing 。
On March 3, 2007, I set foot on this legendary loess land and came to the city I have been dreaming of for many years—— Xi'an 。
This is a small city, which is different from the majesty and majesty of the ancient capital I had always imagined. At noon on the 3rd, Xi'an was ushering in the first heavy snow of this year Xianyang There are silver covered fields and mountains on both sides of the road from the airport to the city center. It's a bit of relief to escape from the stone forest and see these.
The reason why I haven't been to Xi'an is that the old company in the past few years has twice a year to travel, one time nearly and one time far away, and I always prefer to go to see by myself rather than with travel groups, so I haven't been there. Now I am relatively rich in working holidays. After making full preparations and studying, my two friends and I finally put on our backpacks and set out.
I know that I am a relatively petty bourgeois and pay more attention to the accommodation conditions. Under the condition that I can book a round-trip ticket with a discount of 30% or 40%, I made a four-day and three night round-trip travel plan for double flights.
Sitting on the morning of March 3, 2007 Magnetically Levitated Train Take the company's FM9203 morning flight to Pudong Airport, fly to Xi'an, and arrive at Xianyang Airport at 11:00 at noon. The special bus of the hotel waited for us at the domestic arrival and went directly to the hotel to check in. I chose the Fukai Hotel located in Xi'an New City Square. I saw the standard four-star hotel on the Internet. When I went through the formalities, I paid attention to it. I didn't see any star signs. The hotel's facade was also small, but it was relatively clean. The standard room was large, with nearly 30 square meters, Although I still have a bad feeling in my heart, I am still satisfied.
Put your luggage away, go out and take a taxi to our first stop, Shaanxi History Museum 。 Taxis in Xi'an are very cheap. The starting fee is only 6 yuan. Three or four people travel in Xi'an together. It is more convenient to take a taxi in the scenic spots in the city than taking a bus. However, the traffic in Xi'an is very bad, so their vehicles are driving very slowly. There is almost no life danger when crossing the road. Moreover, there are few traffic facilities in Xi'an, no matter how many signboards or traffic lights there are. Because we had done our homework in advance, we directly ordered a car to drive to a road behind the museum. There were various snacks and they were very cheap. At noon, we ordered salt cut sirloin, signature spareribs soup, dumplings, noodles, and so on. We had a great time. It only cost more than 40 yuan, which was absolutely worth the price.
After solving the problem of belly, you can go straight to the museum. Please remember to bring your student ID cards to friends who think they are still young and can pretend to be college students. It doesn't matter if they are in adult education. Most scenic spots in Xi'an can buy student tickets, which can save considerable figures.
The Shaanxi History Museum is divided into four exhibition halls, from prehistory to the Qin and Han dynasties, then the Sui and Tang dynasties, and finally the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are eight national treasure level cultural relics in the hall, and seven of them are on display. One of them has the most inscriptions among the cultural relics unearthed so far. From the appearance, because of the rust stains, its appearance is not good. If you had not listened to the interpreter's explanation, you would not have paid attention to it, You don't need to hire an interpreter here. You can rub others. No one will drive you away. It's a good way to learn knowledge and save your pocket.
An hour and a half later, I came out of the museum and walked about 20 minutes to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, the symbol of Xi'an. The first generation abbot here is said to be Master Xuanzang of Tang who went west to get scriptures. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is seven stories high. It is famous for a relic enshrined in it. However, I feel disappointed. I can't feel the breath of an ancient temple in it. It is full of modern civilization everywhere. I can't see the usual and indispensable halls such as the Great Hall. Instead, it has built the largest music fountain in Asia on the North Square, I don't know what the local planning department thinks about building a fountain in a water scarce place like northwest China, which was built in front of a thousand year old temple. But when I climbed the tower, the fountain was open. From the tower, I could see that it was really impressive.
With a little regret, I drove to today's third stop, the Forest of Steles Museum, which is said to be a must for 30 foreigners. It has preserved and collected a large number of authentic works of domestic calligraphers, such as Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, Wang Xizhi, Kangxi, and Tang Xuanzong. It's really dazzling. However, my favorite among these forest of steles is the post of Prince Guo Yunli in the Yongzheng Dynasty, His characters are forceful and forceful, and the font is meaningful but impressive, which can't be connected with the people I know in history. Hehe, it can be seen that history has left us many mysteries.
After coming out of the forest of steles, we climbed up the ancient city wall from Wenchang Gate. It was half past five. The rain and snow had stopped. The sky was still cloudy. At high latitudes, the sky was always low and seemed to be within reach. We walked along the city wall to the south gate and down to the South Street, the most prosperous street in Xi'an, just like Huaihai Road or Nanjing Road in Shanghai, and strolled along the South Street, It wasn't long before I arrived at the Bell Tower. I didn't have the desire to climb the tower. I just watched from a distance. I went to the Muslim snack street near the Drum Tower to solve our dinner. I ate the famous pie in Xi'an and the mutton soaked bun for a long time. My God, my stomach in the south can't digest the northern steamed bun, and I dare not praise such delicious food.
It's a walk back to our hotel from here, and the first day's trip is over. Back at the hotel, I contacted the next day's one-day tour of the western route. When I asked about the price, I was shocked and nearly doubled. Later, I learned that Shaanxi Tourism Administration has readjusted the tickets of various tourist attractions since March 1, almost doubling them, so the role of student cards is even more obvious.
We only paid the fare and tour guide fees, because I didn't want to go to every scenic spot on the western route. I didn't go to Xianyang Museum, Maoling, and Folk Village. Of course, the tour guide would be unhappy, but we insisted on our own ideas, because Xianyang Museum and Shaanxi History Museum are basically the same. Maoling is the tomb of Han Emperor Liu Che, but has not been developed, What I show you is actually the tomb of Huo Qubing buried with him, so it is unnecessary to visit the folk village because it belongs to the later man-made landscape.
On the western route, I went to the Qianling Tomb, the Prince Tomb Tunnel, the Famen Treasure Hall and the Famen Temple.
On the way back later, I thought that the only thing worth seeing on the whole western route was the Famen Treasure Hall and Famen Temple. The Qianling Tomb is the tomb where Empress Wu and her husband were buried together. Apart from the wordless stele, there are few historical sites to see. The Prince Tomb is actually a tunnel leading to the tomb, and there are no authentic works to see.
Famen Treasure Hall is the essence of the day. It is most worth seeing that there is a collection of the king of Buddhist tin rods. The four strand twelve ring tin rods also contain a relic of Buddha Sakyamuni, which is a phalanx. In order to protect it from being stolen, three other fakes were collected together when it was found.
The western route can only be accompanied by local one-day tour groups. Because it is far away from Baoji and Xianyang, and the scenic spots are scattered, none of the tourist routes can reach all of them, and there is no horizontal traffic connection between the scenery, so the best and most helpless way for self-help travel is to follow the group.
Returning to the city center at more than eight o'clock in the evening, I ate the steamed bun soaked in gourd head in Shichun. In fact, it was mainly a place to eat viscera. The large intestine in Spring was very famous, and the soup was delicious.
On the third day, I got up at 8:30 in the morning, left at 9:00, walked to the railway station, took the local state-owned tourist line 5 to Huaqing Pool and Terracotta Warriors, which is the most important trip to Xi'an this time.
The railway station in Xi'an is very messy. There are many self-employed people who go to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses to pull you. For safety reasons, we suggest that you take the tourist line 5. The price is not expensive. Every ten minutes, it is very convenient. The first station is Huaqing Pool. In fact, our real goal is the Military Admonishment Pavilion in Lishan Mountain. We go down from Huaqing Pool to the mountaineering entrance of Lishan Mountain directly, without choosing a cableway, Because we didn't plan to climb to the peak where King You of Zhou smiled at the war scenes for Bo Bao Si. We just wanted to climb the mountain and look at Chiang Kai shek's hiding place during the Xi'an Incident. We thought that the Pavilion of Military Admonishment was far away. In fact, we arrived within half an hour. After listening to the introduction of other guides, we could overlook the Huaqing Lake from here, It's just another courtyard of a royal garden. The whole scenic spot is divided into three parts. One is the tourist area, where Yang Guifei took a bath. The second part is the cultural relics protection area. What I saw was building in a big way. The third part is Chiang Kai shek's walking pole in Xi'an. So I can't think of anything worth seeing in this scenic spot.
Since it was still early to climb to the Military Admonition Pavilion, I still wanted to finish it, so I continued to climb up for a while. Finally, I stopped at the Yezhao Pavilion. From the back, I could see most of the whole Lishan Mountain. Because of the snow in the previous day, most of Lishan Mountain was still covered with snow, which was very magnificent.
Enough rest and stay. Go down the mountain and have lunch at the gate of Huaqing Pool. It's very expensive, but I can't help it. As for the tourist attractions, eating is to be beheaded.
There will be many taxis that want to take you to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses. The three of us will only pay 8 yuan, which is very affordable. But the driver will take you to a factory that buys Lantian Jade to collect a kickback. We are very cooperative to get off, go in for a turn, get out, and continue to set out. Since there is no loss, it is not impossible to help the driver.
Finally, I came to the dreamy Terracotta Warriors and Horses. I didn't arrange any itinerary all afternoon. I threw myself into it. It was really spectacular, really ingenious, really amazing, really worth visiting and paying homage.
We didn't come out until about 4 o'clock. I don't want to say more about it. As a Chinese, I think the Terracotta Warriors and Horses in Beijing and Xi'an are really worth our time to appreciate and feel the breath of more than 2000 years ago.
When I returned to the hotel in the evening, I could actually take the flight that night back to Shanghai, but I had a relaxing schedule, so I had an extra night's rest, slept in the next morning, checked out at 9 o'clock, and took the shuttle bus from the hotel I had booked earlier to the airport to end the trip.
He is no longer a stranger to Xi'an. I know I took his breath with me when I came back. I hope I can see more historic sites and breathe more prehistoric breath when I come next time.
