Xi'an was traditionally known as an arts and cultural center, and generally seemed a little less cosmopolitan than Beijing, Hong Kong or Shanghai. Perhaps that's just the parts of the city we visited.
The bell tower of Xi'an. It's in the center of the city wall, but the city now extends far beyond the walls. This was an alert-type tower. We went to dinner at a dumpling restaurant near here that was pretty cool, as the dumplings were shaped like the meats they contained (such as little chickens, ducks, pigs).
When you climb up the bell tower, which isn't that tall, this is some of the view. One friend asked, "What are all the green cars?" They're taxis. Speaking of taxis, imagine a place where everyone moves like a NY taxi driver (pedestrians, mopeds, bus drivers) and that's what Xi'an was like. Referencing two of my favorite amphibians, crossing the street was like Frogger, and riding in a taxi was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
You can walk up on the Xi'an city wall. It extends like this all the way around what was originally the city.
This is a summer palace that Chinese leaders had used. It's just outside of Xi'an. I believe Chiang Kai-Shek got kidnapped here back when he was in charge.
This is called the wild goose pagoda. It's part of a Buddhist temple. We paid extra to climb up this, but it totally wasn't worth it. The view was crummy and since it was a hot day, all we got was dehydrated.
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