this winter holidays has been a journey through history, tradition, nature, etc.. and i've found myself a new 'hobby' and exercise - climbing mountains, or rather, walking stairs. and also discovered some interesting answers..
the journey began right after the last paper..
part 1: 西安
after a night's train ride, and listening to stories told enthusiastically by our new-found friend sharing the same cabin, we were greeted by the ancient architecture of the historic town. our first stop was 骊山.



bringing to you the first mountain!



apparently i didn't register majority of what the tourguide said, but the xian incident does sound like something learnt before in history.

then we hopped around the area visiting the burial ground of 秦始皇 and other historical landmarks before 8th wonder of the world - 兵马俑





百闻不如一见


the first day ended with 华清池








杨贵妃 bathed there.

day 2 was one huge mountain - 华山





although we took the cablecar up, it was still a long walk and many flights of stairs to reach the peaks.









day 3: more tombs and more 兵马俑s






















last stop for the day: 法门寺 before a long busride back to the city



金龟!!


and we spent the night in the city, walking down the street trying and buying local food!







day 4 and last day in xi'an was spent on the 城墙 that surrounds the city, cycled around it for my last bit of exercise before the feast begins.






our last lunch there, looks yummy doesn't it?





and lastly, asia's largest musical fountain, which was under maintenance every tuesday. how lucky =(




and that concludes our xi'an trip.
a long wait at the train station, and another night spent in the train, and my journey continues...