Sue's Travels: 14 July 2015 - Leaving Lhasa and arriving in Xi’an

We left the hotel around 8:30 to get to the airport. Security in Lhasa is a little tighter than in the rest of China. Our plane didn’t leave until about 11:30, which was a bit late.

Lhasa means holy place and has a population of 550,000 which for China is tiny. In fact anything under 3 Million is considered a village. The education system is in Chinese and I assume is the same as in other Chinese cities, which I’m sure the Tibetans are not happy about. The large apartment buildings on the outskirts of Lhasa probably don’t make the people happy either. China is obviously investing a lot of money in Tibet. They are building roads and railroads.

Leaving Lhasa

Tall apartment buildings on the outskirts of Lhasa

The plane ride was a little bumpy but not bad. Lunch was on the plane and I had trouble eating noodles. They give you something that is a combination spoon/fork and I am not skilled with it.

We landed in Xi’an around 3:00 pm and instead of going straight to the hotel (Shangri La), we went to the city wall, which is about 600 years old and has a circumference of about 9 miles. In 1980, staircases were built to replace the ramps that had been there. I was pleased with myself for being able to walk up the 72 steps. It is amazing what coming from 14,000 ft to 412 meters above sea level does for my breathing. Xi’an has a diverse population including a significant number of Muslims who are descended from the Arab traders on the silk road. The population is about 8.4 million. Xi’an is an education center with about 40 universities.