Summer Vacation
Summer vacation has begun!
My parents came to visit me in Shanghai a few days before school was out. They had been traveling in China for about a week before they got to Shanghai. We spent a few days seeing the sites in Shanghai, then we headed off to Xi'an where the famous Terracotta Warriors were discovered.
We did not have much time in Xi'an since we wanted to also spend time in Beijing. Basically we did a one day see everything you can see tour. This included a Buddhist Pagoda, a neolithic village and the warriors.
The village was uncovered in the 50's, and although it was small, I enjoyed it. The village was estimated to be 2,000 years old. I liked seeing the pots and their different styles of art, as well as the small bones of the people they had discovered. It's amazing to see how small they were.
The Terracotta Warrior exhibit is interesting. I really did not know what to expect. The massive quantity of soldiers and horses buried in the ground is what was most impressive to me. Most of the soldiers were just bits of broken clay, that have been pieced back together.
From Xi'an we flew to Beijing, the city of gray polluted skies. I thought Shanghai was polluted until I went to Beijing. The first day rained on us, so we went to the Temple of Heaven Park and Tiananmen. It started to clear up that evening.
The next day was better weather. We headed for the Summer Palace. It's basically a big park with a lake and some old Chinese buildings and towers. It was nice because of the lake and trees. We rented a boat and drove around the lake for an hour. Next we went to the Forbidden City. I have seen all of these things before about five years ago last time I was in Beijing, but the Forbidden City was not very impressive this time. I think after you have seen so many Chinese style buildings, it gets monotonous. We enjoyed a Frappuccino at Starbucks (this was within the gates of the "Forbidden" City. China seems to have more Starbucks, McDonald's and KFC's than America sometimes).
The next day we went to the Great Wall. We went to the same part of the Wall I had been to before. It is all restored and made for tourists, but still very impressive.
My parents left on Friday the 6th and so did the luxury.
My parents came to visit me in Shanghai a few days before school was out. They had been traveling in China for about a week before they got to Shanghai. We spent a few days seeing the sites in Shanghai, then we headed off to Xi'an where the famous Terracotta Warriors were discovered.
We did not have much time in Xi'an since we wanted to also spend time in Beijing. Basically we did a one day see everything you can see tour. This included a Buddhist Pagoda, a neolithic village and the warriors.
The village was uncovered in the 50's, and although it was small, I enjoyed it. The village was estimated to be 2,000 years old. I liked seeing the pots and their different styles of art, as well as the small bones of the people they had discovered. It's amazing to see how small they were.
The Terracotta Warrior exhibit is interesting. I really did not know what to expect. The massive quantity of soldiers and horses buried in the ground is what was most impressive to me. Most of the soldiers were just bits of broken clay, that have been pieced back together.
From Xi'an we flew to Beijing, the city of gray polluted skies. I thought Shanghai was polluted until I went to Beijing. The first day rained on us, so we went to the Temple of Heaven Park and Tiananmen. It started to clear up that evening.
The next day was better weather. We headed for the Summer Palace. It's basically a big park with a lake and some old Chinese buildings and towers. It was nice because of the lake and trees. We rented a boat and drove around the lake for an hour. Next we went to the Forbidden City. I have seen all of these things before about five years ago last time I was in Beijing, but the Forbidden City was not very impressive this time. I think after you have seen so many Chinese style buildings, it gets monotonous. We enjoyed a Frappuccino at Starbucks (this was within the gates of the "Forbidden" City. China seems to have more Starbucks, McDonald's and KFC's than America sometimes).
The next day we went to the Great Wall. We went to the same part of the Wall I had been to before. It is all restored and made for tourists, but still very impressive.
My parents left on Friday the 6th and so did the luxury.
posted by Chris at
6:38 AM
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