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Xi'an the terracotta army

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 The Big Wild Goose Tower We started the day by seeing The Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an. A monk by the name of Xuan Zang travelled to India to learn about Buddhism. He was away for 17 years but got back with a lot of scrolls and a Buddha figure. He convinced the emporer to build a Pagoda and a monestary. The monestary was huge, but no longer. Today there are still several monks but not with the large fields anymore. The local government has renovated the area around with buildings in the old style from the Tang-dynastybut totally modern and with squares and parks. The terracotta army  Then we drove to the absolutely outer parts of Xi'an to see the terracotta army. Before 1974 this area was just a village, but then two brothers Young dug a well, and then the terracotta army was found. It was originally thought to be a small tomb, but it just grew and grew. Today the village has been removed to make a.beautiful garden with different trees, among other things the fruit trees fr...
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Jangiye and Buddha

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 Train We had to leave early as the train left the station at 9.15, so we left the hotel already at 7 to get through the morning traffic and security. There was no traffic and no queue at the security, so we had plenty of time to wait. But damn, this is just one of 4 train station, but the fast train station, and it was huge, more like an airport terminal. However, we could buy coffee. I paid 40 yuan for dinner, 23 yuan for 20 minute taxi ride and 39 yuan for a cup of coffee! 100 yuan is 90 DKK, 12 EUR 14 USD. So almost the same price as in Copenhagen. The train was a high speed train, max speed 247 km/hour and we drove almost 1200 km, 6,5 hour. We drove past cities, small villages, mountains with a little snow, gorges, steppes with grass and sheep and yaks, and green fields, some small, other really large. Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures without being a nuisance for my good buddy, Gert. But I enjoyed the trip a lot. Jangiye  We checked in at the hotel in a skyscraper...
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China - Xi'an

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Onebagging I'm crazy! Well, it doesn't come as a surprise for many. In this case it's my new challenge onebagging, i.e. Just travelling with hand luggage. I started with onebagging to Pakistan with British Airways, 23 kg. Then India 7 kg in the overhead compartment (carry-on) and 3 kg at the feet (personal item). Air China has a 5 kg limit for carry-on and no weight limit for pOnebaggingem, just a size limit that is equal to the carry-on. Later, we'll fly from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and the limit is 7 kg in total. So, I have weighted EVERYTHING, and carefully considered if a thing is worth the weigh. I have 7,4 kg, but one of the tricks with onebagging is to place heavy things in the pockets, and as the 7,4 kg is including everything except my small handbag, incl. my jacket, so I'll be fine. I started to pack by bag 3 weeks ago to ensure that I got the weight as much down as possible, and that I remembered everything. I have taken a silk inner...
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The Silk Road - the end

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My trip to the Silk Road started 12 years ago with Liselotte. We both wanted to see Bukhara and Samarkand in Uzbekistan, but our husbands didn't want to go to a desert country, too hot for them.  So Liselotte and I went on a "girls tour" where the focus was on handicraft, and, as women only, we had the chance to see how a wedding was done by a poor young woman who showed us the traditions surveyed by the soon-to-be mother-in-law and her sister.  The Silk Road has been a theme for other trips, Northern Pakistan, where I saw how one of the original roads clung to the mountainside with landslides blocking in places - and that was the renovated part. I stood on a good, tar road a bit afar with heavy truck traffic from Western China heading to the nearest harbour, which is in Pakistan. Now my Silk Road-themed trips are coming to and end. I'm about to go to Xi'an, China, and I'll end in Khiva, Uzbekistan, via Kyrgyzstan. I will probably see more places along the Sil...
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