Beijing – “We are ready!!”

But, are they really??
Our first impression of Beijing other than the huge distances in this massive city was that Beijing is one big construction site!
Every where you go there is some thing under construction.. as we type these letters there is a tractor outside ripping apart the old road and will be replaced (before the olympics of course) by some new beautiful/biggest in the world/first ever/never seen before/chinese authentic styled new road! you may be feeling a cynical vibe, but do not be confused, that’s what everything here’s about!
Every thing has to be the best / the biggest in the world and so on.. here are a few examples:

• olympic stadium – birds nest & the swimming arena – ice cube
• airport terminal #3 – largest built complex in the world which covers over 986,000 sq. meters in total floor area.
• forbidden city – the oldest/largest/restored palace! – did you know that??
• the great wall – enough said.
• you get the idea..

with our luck we were in Beijing over the workers holiday (May 1st) which makes it harder to breath not just because of the unexplained heat/dust storms/bus egzoz/general pollution but because of 1.3 billion people hitting the streets!

The Great Wall – is really great! it used to be around 6,700km long (not a typo!) and it has been estimated that somewhere in the range of 2 to 3 million Chinese died as part of the centuries-long project of building the wall.
We really enjoyed walking on the wall even though we couldn’t see farther than 100m ahead of us due to heavy mist (pollution). We’re not going to search for words to describe it, you’ll have to one day come and see it yourself.. in the mean time here are our up to 100m photos of The Great Wall:

BUT, the best part of the Great Wall (at least the small part we went to see) was the toboggan ride back down to the parking lot!!!
Ayal says – COME TO CHINA JUST FOR THIS!!!
Noaa says – Magziman!
Here’s a short clip to show you what it’s all about:
Please note, Ayal had accidental stopped recording after a small bump.. so at least you can see half of the way down

Check out the rest of the pics:
http://gallery.atpic.com/19480

Love,
NoaAyal

Xi`an – Crazy Chinese Emperors

Xi`an’s a big city surrounded by a wall (beginning to sound familiar?) which happens to have a lot of green around it..
Xi`an has a rich history since it used to be the capital of China before Beijing and is one of China’s main tourist attractions thanks to the “Terracota Army”! – which happens to be the reason we came here as well
The “Terracota Army” is actually a tomb of Shi Huang Di the First Emperor of China. This was over 3,000 years ago but only discovered around 30 years ago! Shi Huang Di went to war and united all the dynasties in China during that time.
Anyways, this emperor believed that when he dies he will move on to the next world and decided to bury along with him an army of over 8,000 soldiers to protect him in the next world!!

The terracota figures are pretty big – 184–197cm. The different sizes and shapes refer to the rank of the soldier, biggest being the general and next the commanders.. they’re very impressive!

Judge for yourself:
http://gallery.atpic.com/19479

Love,
NoaAyal