Day 5 - Xian

Day 5 and 6 find us in Xian.  Parting from our guide Sunny this morning was difficult for the girls (and I think Sunny, too).  She was great with the girls - speaking Mandarin with them, buying DVDs in Chinese for them, holding their hands - she was just wonderful!

 

Our plane ride to Xian was uneventful - thankfully.  The girls were a little worried they would get sick again!

 

We were met by Michael and a new driver - from the airport we went to lunch, then to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and then rode bicycles on the old city wall.  Grace and Diane rode single bikes, while Michael rode with Maggie on a tandem bike.  Ruthie and I also rode on a tandem bike.  We didn't have much time maybe 30 minutes - but we had fun.  Anyone planning their own trip be sure to leave more time for this activity!  Ann and Tom relaxed on top of the old wall, did some people watching and took pictures of us riding the bikes.  Granpa scored a deal on a flying bird toy.  On the way in a woman was selling the flying bird toy for 10 yuan.  Ruthie decided she wanted one and then Grace and Maggie decided they wnated one too.  So we sent Granpa armed with 30 yuan to buy 3 flying bird toys...he came back with 10!

 

One of the things Diane and I decided to do was give the girls their own money ($100) that they could spend however they wanted, no questions asked.  It saves everyone time and arguments. 

 

Both in Beijing and in Xian - all the sights are full of people - Chinese on their own spring break tour....don't ask me why but it never occurred to me that there would be hordes of Chinese wanting to see their own national sights - dumb huh?

 

The Mosque is in the heart of a Muslim hutong like marketplace, so after visting the mosque the moms and kids continued walking through the market, while Michael walked the grandparents back to the hotel.  Grace ended up buying a pair of sunglasses - th eother two could not find sunglasses that fit - they were all too big.  I bought a cashmere (I hope!) shawl for about $43 US.  All three girls purchased colorful bracelets made out of string.  We tried a small round bread which had some kind of sweet filling.  After walking a little further we came out by the Drum tower which bounds one end of a very large square in front of our hotel.  The Bell Tower is at the opposite end closer to our hotel.  We stopped at the McDonald's for a snack and later tried to surreptitiously get a picture of a child in split pants!

 

Later we went to another McDonald's for dinner, which was next to an 8 floor department store.  The girls scored some very cute sandals.

 

Since all three girls speak Mandarin - all the locals we end up interacting with are pleasantly suprised and glad that the girls speak Mandarin adn always comment on that their pronunciation is very good, and how much Mandarin they know. - way to go Smith Academy and all the Laoshi at Smith who teach our kids.

 

Joyce