Xian

May 4th, 2005

After a short but bumpy flight, we landed in Xian.  We were greeted by Shirley, our local tour guide.  As we headed into the city, we were told that Bill Clinton’s first stop in China was Xian. On our way in to the city, Shirley told us that the director of “The House of Flying Daggers” lived in Xian.

Xian is much smaller than Beijing and the outer communities that we saw while headed into the city looked rather poor.  The hotel we checked into, Tianyu Gloria Plaza Hotel was very nice.  After checking in we headed to a dumpling banquet and dinner show at the Shanxi Grand Opera house.  The performance used musical instruments and costumes from the Tang Dynasty.  If you saw the movie “The House of Flying Daggers” you would recognize the style of dancing.