Xi'an, home of the
Terracotta Warriors, Emperor Qin's tomb, and also THE perfect site for a sequel to Bladerunner. The government has apparently closed down the 30 most polluting plants in the past few weeks, but on bad days the city still looks like some sort of nightmarish, post-apocalyptic scene. Most of my photos on flickr were taken on "clear" days, meaning that the skies have a yellowy-brownish tint and that visibility is relatively good(500 meters or so). It was not a clear day on arrival. You should imagine a scene, where the entire sky is covered in brownish fog, you can see perhaps 100 meters ahead of you. There can still barely see 2 skyscrapers and a highway in front of them, behind them you only make out the dark outlines of even more skyscrapers. The smell is comparable to a petroleum or chemical plant.
I also got to see some of the high inflation that China is suffering from up close. The beginning of the new year (Chinese calendar) is apparently also the time to change pricing. All over town I could little pieces of cardboard with new prices being glued over old price lists. The place I was staying changed its menus from one day to the other, literally. All prices had gone up. On average I think that prices across the city went up by 20 to 25%.
Of all the places I've been to, I have to say that, so far, I think that I liked China best. Well, ok, sharing first place with Thailand. Great infrastructure that avoids frustration, the nice food, friendly people, the fact that spring is just around the corner is probably also helping a bit (first butterfly spotted today, temps around 20 degrees) and... there are people bicycling all over! Feels just like home ;)
