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Meant to be my last bigger trip within the Borders of the Peoples Republic I happened to visit the Ancient Capital City Xi’an followed by an old town hopping in the very south west of China called Yunnan Province. The trip ought to last 10 days before we came back to Shanghai on the 25th January. It was a quite important day for the Chinese as it marks the beginning of the Year of the Ox and therefore the start of Chinese New Year itself. Coincidently I’m born in the year of the ox which returns every 12 years, as there are 12 different Chinese zodiac signs.
So Felix, the other Austrian from Vienna EBA, Greg and David, two Belgiums, and me went to Xi’an first of all to see the world famous Terra Cotta Warriors that had been discovered by local people during digging a well. Although it was really impressive I expected slightly too much of it. Nevertheless we spent two nice sightseeing days there fully packed with Chinese tradition and characteristics. It was remarkable that somehow all of us had the feeling that the Chinese language was easier understandable in Xi’an in comparison to Shanghai where the local dialect sometimes is giving us a hard time.
Additionally the dumplings there were 很好吃 (very delicious) owing to being Xi’an’s most famous culinary output. On Sunday evening we took the plane to Kunming serving as the capital city of Yunnan province which’s south-western part counts to the Mekong region.
…is actually only a fictional name of the county in the north of Yunnan province just to attract tourists. It’s very close to the border of Tibet and therefore places an important hub for travellers. The altitude is already slightly above 3000m.
We saw a huge Buddhist monastery where more than 600 monks are supposed to life. After only a one-night-stay we went back to Kunming by the sleeper bus for more than 12 hours (which was a horrible ride…). From Kunming our plane to Shanghai awaited us where we arrived on the 25th under heavy fireworks to herald the Chinese New Year.
