About Xi'an:
This city used to be known as Chang'an in ancient times and was the capital for at least 11 dynasties, which covers a range of 1100 years. It is also the place where Qin Shi Huangdi, the first emperor, originally founded and unified China back in 221BC. Xi'an is the home of great relics such as the well-preserved city walls from the Ming dynasty, the Wild Goose Pagoda, and the 8th Wonder of the World, the Terracotta Warriors. Xi'an can be shopping paradise for locals as well as tourists. There are many modern shopping districts that mirror those in major international cities. Excellent local specialties and markets can also be found by the Great Mosque and Muslim Quarter.

Highlights:
-Arrived in Xi'an around 10am.
-Checked into Home Inn, a very comfortable and clean hotel conveniently located by clothing markets and department stores.
-Jenny left without a proper goodbye shortly after we arrived at the hotel because she had to help take one our group members to the hospital*. :( Before getting off the train, we had to force Jenny to keep her tip money because she was seemed very uncomfortable about accepting it. She really tried her best to help the group despite of the company's limitations. *Annmarie hurt her leg in Thailand and it unexpectedly flared up just a night ago so it needed immediate treatment.
-Met our new tour group, and the tour guide Tomic, at noon.
-Tomic led our group to a local laundry woman to drop our clothes off. Half of us had big garbage bags of mountain stink to wash.
-Afterwards, we took taxis to the Wild Goose Pagoda, a simple and sturdy structure built back in the Tang Dynasty.
-Inside the attraction, Emery and I found more beautiful stone name stamps and bargained the price down to what we asked for but ended up not buying it. It was kind of rude but they really were trying to scam us, offering lousy "student" discounts and trying to convince us that the stamps were made of precious stones (Emery told the vendor that he didn't know much about stones so it wouldn't make a difference anyhow.)
-We also had a very basic calligraphy class and were given time to look at beautiful Chinese paintings done by students from Xi'an's art academy. One of the tour group members accidentally got splashed by ink when the calligraphy instructor showed off his favorite brush and everyone giggled like school children for at least 10 minutes until Tomic gruffly told us to settle down.
-The group was given free time after viewing the pagoda. Emery, Scott, Becky-Jay, and I hung out in our hotel rooms talking until 6ish then we headed off to our dinner destination spot, an award-winning dumpling restaurant at the center of the town, across from the bell tower. We walked through an underpass to get there, pointing out all the unusual fashion and racy ads we could find along the way.

*I'm doing a separate entry on this awesome restaurant*

-After stuffing our bellies full of gourmet dumplings, we explored the souvenir shops on the second floor of the building. We all got to practice our bargaining skills although it wasn't necessary much of the time because the prices were already extremely low. Emery bought 6 decks of special playing cards printed with famous beauties and generals. They are quite nice but I don't think it's for all the Chinese poker we're going to play on this trip...
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Shared Expenses
Jenny's tip 400Y (200Y each)
laundry service 72Y
cab fares 30Y
Wild Goose Pagoda tickets 50Y (25Y each)
ice cream 10Y
dumpling place 196Y (98Y each)
souvenirs at nearby market 30Y
soda 4Y

total = 792Y approx. $116US

* Wednesday, May 6, 2009