Xi'an! Capital of 13 dynasties, home to 3.4 million people, Louis Vuitton to Muslim Quarter market - its boggling. We arrived to find our hotel in a maze of Vegas-esque neon, noisy crowds and trinket sellers. So much for our ignorant and romanticized version of Xi'an as the Silk Road outpost with a few stray camels thrown in - this place is a huge, hustling contemporary city. We paid homage to the Terra Cotta Warriors, road bikes for 8 miles on top of the old city walls built in the Tang Dynasty, visited Temples of many persuasions and spent hours in the markets, eating shopping and looking atextraordinary faces from all over Asia. Tomorrow we fly to Shanghai to find an English speaking TV for the election returns.
Happy Birthday Romare!
Mardis and Bobby