Bowstaff skills, Nunchuck skills, and now I got Sword skills too

We took another overnight train to get from Beijing to Xi’an, the next stop on our China trip.  At one point Xi’an was called Chang’an, and it was home to the first Emperor of China.  This first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, unified China by defeating the 6 other Warring States at the time.  He standardized its currency, measurements and writing.  He also completed huge infrastructure projects, laying miles and miles of canals, roads, and the first version of the great wall.  Unfortunately he was also quite a tyrant who liked to burn books on good days and bury scholars alive on bad ones.  Before he died he had an army of terracotta soldiers built for him to accompany him into the afterlife.   This subterranean army is the main reason we came to Xi’an.

The Army of Terracotta Warriors is about an hour out of Xi’an so we caught a minibus from the city to get there.  The site itself is pretty big and split into 3 different pits.  The first one is the most impressive with over 6000 horses and soldiers in battle formation.  Other parts of the museum let you see bronze chariots, chrome-plated weapons, and different types of soldiers (a kneeling archer, a standing archer, a cavalryman, an officer, and a general) up close.  The detail is absolutely incredible, especially considering that they are all well over 2000 years old.  What’s also remarkable is that no two faces of the soldiers are alike.  We’ve seen some pretty amazing tombs over this year of traveling, including the ones in Egypt in the Valley of the Kings, but to have a full standing army built to go with you into the afterlife is pretty badass.  Say what you will about the ruler, his influences on Chinese culture as we know it are still felt today.

When we got back to Xi’an that night we walked around the Muslim quarter.  There is a sizable Muslim population which has been around for hundreds of years here.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that Xi’an is the beginning of the Silk Road, though I’m unsure if that’s the reason.   Either way, the Muslim quarter is a pretty cool part of town and that’s where we ended up having a massive dinner of cumin-doused street-meat-on-a-stick and beer.  Pretty good combination if you ask Phil.

The next day we decided to go to Hua Shan (Mount Hua, pictured above).  I climbed this mountain 6 years ago and liked it so I thought I’d take everyone there to do it again.  For those who don’t know, Hua Shan is the most sacred of the top 5 Taoist mountains in China.  It’s one of those legendary, mythical places where immortal Taoists hang out and meditate, dispensing the truth for those who are willing to be disciples.  It also holds an allure for those of us who are into Kung-Fu movies and stories.  Supposedly, the Hua Shan sect’s style of swordplay was invincible as they knew the Nine Swords of Dugu style (I know, awesome, right?).  A great movie illustrating what I mean is Swordsman II starring Jet Li and Brigitte Lin.  The Chinese believe in this thing called Chi (or Qi) like in Tai Chi.  It’s kind of like a life energy, sorta thing.  Anyways, Hua Shan is supposed to have a lot of sword Chi.  So seeing as I’ve been up the mountain twice, my sword skills must be pretty killer due to the absorption of the sword Chi.  We took the gondola up to the North Peak and from there we hiked another 45 minutes to get to Golden Lock Gate.  The views were stunning, and Hua Shan is truly a granite beauty with striking vertical rock faces.  Poetry and Taoist proverbs are also skilfully carved into the mountainside.  It’s regrettable that we didn’t have enough time or it would have been nice to do the whole 6 hour hike from the very bottom without taking the cable car.  Unfortunately the bus ride to and from XI’an was a gong show and took way longer than expected, so maybe next time we’ll bite the bullet and hire a private driver.  If I went up another time though my sword skills would probably be outta this world.  I dunno if I could handle that much power.

On our final morning in XI’an before heading back to Hong Kong we rented bikes and cycled the old city walls which took about an hour.  Xi’an is one of the few cities in China whose ancient walls are still left standing.  They are over 500 years old and from the Ming Dynasty.  The bikes we were able to rent also looked like they were 500 years old and from the Ming Dynasty.  While Phil was cycling the pedal completely came off his bike.  Luckily he didn’t crash and fall so the historic wall wasn’t damaged.

After Xi’an we hopped on a flight back to HK for a few days before Phil and Talica went back to Vancouver.  There really isn’t much to say about that except that we partied like it was 1998 (the first of many years that Phil and I went back together to HK).  A lot of his friends from Halifax were in town, and a lot of my friends from Vancouver were also there.  This conglomeration resulted in a pretty powerful combination which then resulted in Talica and Di doing the robot for about 4 hours in this club called Volar.  Supposedly I was belting out Justin Bieber (that’s Steve Jue and Christine Pang’s fault for introducing him to me) as well.  Good thing I didn’t have a sword in my hand while I was dancing Bieber styles, I don’t think Volar or any of its patrons would have survived that.