After a long day at the Terra Cotta museum in Xi’an, take a break at a local restaurant and ask for Huanggui which is Chinese for glutinous rice wine. It isn’t sold in Canada nor would you find it in the US so sip it slowly and savor the flavor. The wine was once called ‘jade pulp’ because of the color and texture. It is white like coconut milk and almost as thick. The taste is sweet and addictive to say the least.
When I visited Xi’an for the first time, I had a hard time breathing the air. Most travellers complain about the same thing, air quality which is very poor in this part of the country. We were picked up from the airport and driven to town. On our way in, we witnessed coal burning chimney stacks all over the landscape. It was almost unbearable and it made us drink more bottled water than anywhere else we’ve been.
On the way into town, the Drum Tower can be seen. Originally built in 1380, the Drum Tower served the reign of Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty. It was built to signal the running of time and on occasions, it was used as an emergency alarm. The city wall is the oldest and most complete surviving wall in China which was originally built from 618 to 907. It is 40 feet tall and 40 to 46 feet wide at the top, 50 to 60 feet wide at the bottom. The wall runs 8.5 miles in length and has a deep moat surrounding it.
Believe it or not, the wall was originally built using layers of dirt and glutinous rice extract.
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