Wednesday, October 10, 2018
Tuesday, October 09, 2018
Tuesday, October 02, 2018
Monday, September 24, 2018
A Walk on the Xi'an City Wall - Part II
From the height of the Xi'an City Wall, I had a fairly good view of the surrounding area. Outside of the wall were quite a few skyscrapers and modern buildings. Contained within the wall were buildings typically of an older era and generally shorter. Some were rather dilapidated and in desperate need of repair. Others had received some renovation but still retained an older look.
Some of the buildings just inside the south wall were hostels. A sign here indicated that this building was the site of the Honglu Guesthouse, built during the Tang Dynasty to accommodate foreign guests and ethnic envoys. How interesting that the area has retained its original function!
I liked how some of the newer buildings reflected aspects of the traditional architecture.
Buildings as seen from the North Wall.
Within the Northwest corner of the city is the Guangren Llama Temple. It was built in 1703 as a Palace Hotel for Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas on their way to pay homage in Capitol. It is the only Tibetan Buddhist temple within the Shaanxi province and the only worship temple for the Green Tara. The bronze roof of the Golden Worship Hall glistened in the late afternoon sunlight.
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| Guangren Llama Temple |
Sunday, September 16, 2018
A Walk On Top of the City Wall - part 1
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| Archery tower on top of one of the ramparts |
I hadn't intended to walk the city walls on this day, but after walking a bit along a park-like path alongside and looking up at the massive structure, I couldn't stay away. Its 40-foot (12 meters) high brick walls with protruding ramparts beckoned me.
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| Yongning - South Gate |
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| A wide and lengthy walk |
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| West Gate (Anding) |
When I reached the West Gate (Anging) which means Harmony Peace, I had the option of descending. Seeing how clear the skies were and how pleasant the temperature was, I decided to push on.
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| Old and new structures side-by-side |
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| Wedding photos |
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| Northwest Watchtower |
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| Bell from 1428 |
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| North Gate at sunset
Just as I reached the North Gate (Anyuan), meaning Forever Harmony, the sun began to set. The flagposts, lamps, bell, and gate tower were now silhouetted against the warm glow of the sunset. It was a beautiful first trip to the Old City. With the address of my apartment written in Mandarin, a taxi driver successfully took me back to the concrete jungle of highrise apartments where I live about 25 minutes away. It was a good first adventure out.
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Thursday, September 06, 2018
Gao Xin Hua Fu
I'll take you through a bit of the complex where I live - Gao Xin Hua Fu. It is located a little less than 5 miles south of central Xi'an in a newer area. My apartment building (#16) is one of the taller ones. It wasn't easy to get in the entire height of the building. I'm live on the top floor of this one!
Vehicles enter outside the complex and into an underground parking area, leaving the complex mostly to pedestrians and some two-wheelers. On the route I take to the main gate, there is a special slightly softer path that is especially nice on which to walk or jog. The complex is large enough that if you would go around the paths, you could get in a fair number of steps. I was pleased to see grass and a fair number of trees, all of which gets regular waterings by workers.
More buildings are still being constructed. Lots of cranes in the area!
Wide walkway to the main gate.
Main gate of the complex. One needs a special card that you wave over the turnstile, much like in a subway station. One can borrow carts or dollies to haul stuff to your apartment.
View right outside the gate at sunset. The street is a fairly busy one. The shuttle buses that take us to school begin the journey right outside the gates and then proceed to pick up teachers in a few other places.
Wednesday, August 29, 2018
In Xi'an - first post
Now that I have internet via hotspot from my phone, I'm getting around to posting about my experiences in Xi'an as a teacher at an international school in this historic city.
On late Sunday afternoon, I arrived in Beijing. The process was a bit longer than anticipated - waiting in line to go through immigration, shuttle train from international to domestic terminals, security screening, and more. I was thankful to see that all my luggage arrived from the 13 hour Chicago to Beijing flight as well as the Milwaukee to Chicago flight. After collecting the pieces, I had to go through another security screening with the luggage. If only there were the perks of Global Entry here. The one medication I was taking with me drew extra attention and further scrutiny, but thankfully they let me keep all the bottles. After another short scan of all the luggage, I then waited in line for domestic transfer. Relieved of my luggage, I quickly went to the gate and was one of the last ones on the plane. Those 2+ hours went by quickly!
In a little over 2 hours, I landed in Xi'an. Alas, two of my suitcases did not arrive with me, likely due to the short amount of time after I dropped off the luggage for transfer. Thankfully the airport said they would deliver the suitcase to the school address the next day. The school principal and nurse were there to greet me. The principal took me to my apartment. After taking a brief, lukewarm shower (the gas hookup needed some attention) by maintenance staff, I went to bed. I sat down on the bed and heard a THUD. It was so hard, I could knock on it. Tired, I gave it a try, hoping that the A/C and nice comforter were enough comforts to override the rock-hard "mattress." Thankfully my down pillow was in the suitcase that arrived with me, so I had another softer item. After a non-so-super sleep, I got up to enjoy the sunrise. I had quite an overview from the 34th floor, the top floor of the building. No, it's not a penthouse.
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| Sunrise from the enclosed balcony on the 34th floor |
I proceeded to unpack and put items away. A few hours later, a gal from the agency the school partners with came to take me to IKEA. Later we also went to the gas company to pay $30 for 2 months worth of gas. A rep from the cell phone company came right to my apartment and set up my service. For $15 a month, I have unlimited data, but after 20 GB, the data is slowed to 3G. The school was able to communicate with the airport to deliver my baggage to my apartment complex, so the evening was spent unpacking that and setting up/unwrapping IKEA items. For a later supper, one of the teachers took me to a shopping mall where we ate at a Japanese restaurant.
The next morning I had to go with a school nurse downtown to a government clinic for foreigner workers entering China as well as Chinese people seeking to study/work abroad. Because we arrived early, my turn in the queue was not long and after going through the multiple stations (ultrasound, x-ray, blood, vision, etc), we were done. In the afternoon, the gal from the agency went with me to a supermarket that also had imported items. Although I was able to figure out most items, she helped decipher a few labels that were only in Mandarin and lacked visual clues. Now that I had a screwdriver, I was able to assemble my couch table. My apartment was coming together. Below are a few photos of each room.
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| Living room and enclosed balcony (a rod can be cranked down so you can hang laundry from hangers). Note the identical building as seen through the balcony window |
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| Dining room table and door entry |
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| Master bedroom with closet |
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| Master bedroom and view |
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| Spare bedroom with slightly less hard real mattress |
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| Spare bedroom desk and closet. I'll try doing my drawing here. |
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| Bathroom with washing machine that is complex and all in Mandarin |
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| Shower with just a short lip - easy for water to overflow onto bathroom floor |
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| Kitchen with two burners and no oven. Refrigerator is very narrow. |
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| Spare room with raised storage. I presume a bedroll could be placed on top of it. The next part of the building blocks out most light. |
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