My latest article for Intrepid Travel has just been published in their online journal.
It’s about the city of Xi’an. I’d never heard of Xi’an until I went there with Intrepid’s China Experience tour. It’s included on the tour because of its proximity to the Terracotta Warriors, but Xi’an turned out to be so much more than that: cycling the ancient city walls, the Muslim Quarter, the city lights, dumplings for dinner, and another ancient mausoleum.
Hop on over to Intrepid and have a read.
HOW XI’AN BECAME AN UNEXPECTED HIGHLIGHT OF MY TRIP TO CHINA
All words and images by Alison Louise Armstrong unless otherwise noted
© Alison Louise Armstrong and Adventures in Wonderland – a pilgrimage of the heart, 2010-2018.
Adventures in Wonderland 
Stopped by over there, shared and commented. Great article and photos.
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Thanks so much Paulette xo
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A wonderful article. It’s funny we were just talking about Xian today ay my writer’s group and now here is your article. A place I dearly wish to visit and even more so now.
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Thanks so much Darlene. Xi’an was a complete surprise to me. And the TC warriors just amazing! I really had no idea.
Alison
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Another excellent Intrepid article! Question: Are those clay figures in the Yangling Mausoleum of the Han Dynasty to scale like the terracotta warriors are?
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Thanks Kate. I really should have mentioned it – the Yangling figurines of people are miniature – like dolls. Curiously the animals are bigger; from ducks and chickens to sheep dogs pigs are close life size. I think I left out the size because of word count – max 1000 words, but I could have at some point added int he word miniature. Oh well. It is what it is.
Alison
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This makes me wish I had spent more time in Xian. I was there in 1990, just after the Tiananmen Square massacre travelling on the trans Mongolian express we only had a 1 day stop to see the warriors and I agree with you they are truly amazing and I loved my early morning walk around a park and being invited, by a very polite Chinese man to be his dance partner as the music played a quickstep… All sorts of activities going on. I also would love to go back to China, but don’t think that will happen now. But I have lots of photos and lovely memories and I’m enjoying following your adventures
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I’m glad you’re enjoying my adventures. It sounds as though even your brief visit to Xi’an was good. I love the way they dance and sing and make music in the parks. And yes there really aren’t enough words for the experience of the TC warriors.
Alison
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Great article Alison! It reminds me that l know so little about China. Xi’an sounds very appealing . I could be enticed to visit just for the dumplings (which would necessitate joining in on community aerobics).
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Thanks Caroline. I know little about China too, and this trip was a real eye opener for me. Xi’an was quite wonderful, but I’m afraid the dumplings not so much lol, though they are a specialty of the area. Give me gyoza any day.
Alison
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I’ll go read the article, but I just wanted to say I felt the same way you did about Xi’an – that it was so much more than the warriors (although they were pretty darn cool!). I loved bicycling on the wall, visiting the Muslim quarter, and I absolutely fell in love with dumplings in that city (probably my favorite dinner in all of China)!
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I for sure was blown away by the TC Warriors, and loved the Muslim Quarter and cycling on the city walls, but the dumplings not so much. At least the place we went to they all seemed a little under cooked, but came in a very wide variety of flavours and shapes which definitely made the meal interesting.
Alison
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Interesting … they really blew me away and I was most definitely not a dumpling fan beforehand. Oh, well. you got plenty of other delights!
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I enjoyed Xian as well. That is where I fell in love with dumplings – for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I actually went out of my way today to eat dumplings. I’ll give it read.
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Thank Jeff. I did not fall in love with the dumplings, but definitely had some other street food in Xi’an which I really loved – some find of deep fried pastry thing filled with green onion and egg – yummy and very filling. And the Chinese hamburgers were not bad,
Alison
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Excellent article Alison’s so many astounding places to discover.
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Thanks so much Sue. China was quite amazing. New discoveries everywhere we went. So much stuff I’d never heard of!
Alison
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congratulations on your
creative, skillful publication 🙂
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Thank you David.
Easy to be creative
when Xi’an had
so much to offer.
Alison
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My boy and I learned about the warriors at a museum here in CA a few yrs back. Just fascinating. Great pix.
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Thanks Diana. I did know about the warriors before I went to China, but not much else. Seeing them in person was probably something I’ll never forget. The scale is mind blowing.
Alison
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You have opened my eyes to visiting China Alison. Congratulations on your article in Intrepid Travel…excellent!
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Thanks LuAnn. I spent 4 weeks in China, 3 of it on the Intrepid tour. The whole experience was amazing. China is not easy travel, mainly because of communication, but it’s certainly a hugely fascinating country.
Alison
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well-written Intrepid article, Alison. 🙂 I understand at the time, the servants were actually buried in some parts of that 90+ sq. km. masoleum at Xi’an.
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Thanks so much Jean. Yes, there were servants buried in the mausoleum. I vaguely remember something about the concubines with no children were buried too.
Alison
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Definitely on my list for my next full circle. Off to read the article now to experience it through your eyes.
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China was quite amazing, and Xi’an such a wonderful surprise. I’d like to go back and explore more.
Alison
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Maybe I’ll see you there 🤗
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Unique place with original history in China! I have been couple yers ago there and was really impressive trip! K
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I thought Xi’an was amazing, and I’d never heard of it before. So glad we went there.
Alison
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I’m happy for you! I’ll head over and take a look….sorry I’m so late getting here. 🙂
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Thanks Lynn. Xi’an was definitely a highlight.
Alison
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