We took a Long Hai train for an overnight trip from Beijing to Xian. We had our own sleeper car and it was quite comfortable, though much too hot for my liking. We saw lots of China that most people don’t see, which of course is common for train travel anywhere in the world. We saw lots of farming and almost all the work was being done by hand. The only green crop that I saw was winter wheat. We saw thousands of little greenhouse huts made of mud and hay. Those were growing vegetables and melons. Brick making also was a popular venture along the railroad tracks. In many places, we saw people digging the dirt to make the bricks. We also saw many young trees planted in perhaps a plant nursery situation.

We only spent two days in Xian but there were some great highlights. For me, the Xian City Wall was really incredible. I’ve seen many city walls around the world but none to compare to the city wall in Xian. Our guide said that the Tang dynasty (618-907) originally built a wall around Xian or at least around their palace here. But the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) built the high fortified wall that’s more of what we see today. The wall was originally just tamped earth plus binders but was eventually strengthened by facing it with blue bricks. The wall construction happened over hundreds of years.

The wall is about 40 feet high and surrounded the city at a length of perhaps nine miles or so. The top of the wall is 40 to 46 feet wide but the bottom of the wall is 50 to 60 feet wide. The wall is rectangular and had four city gates along with a moat, drawbridges, watch towers, and lots more. It was impressive to stand on it and to walk around it.

I believe that the last photo was originally the government office for paying duties, tariffs, or fees for goods being shipped into or out of Xian.