美食、古迹、兵马俑：一个外国人的西安之旅

Travelers eventually face the predicament of a destination that is utterly defined by one particular attraction — the Pyramids outside Cairo or the Taj Mahal in Agra, for example. The question is less “Should I see this attraction?” and more “How could I possibly not see this attraction?” But any lingering doubts I had about visiting the famed Terracotta Army, built by Emperor Qin Shihuang in the 3rd century B.C., soon dissipated when I entered the main excavation site. The life-size, chalky-gray warriors were meticulously detailed and demonstrated a stunning, almost overwhelming show of force — exactly, I’m sure, the impression the emperor wished to make.

旅行者们终究都要面对目的地被某个景点完全局限的尴尬处境——比如开罗城外的金字塔，阿格拉的泰姬陵。与其问“我是否要看这个景点?”，不如问“我怎么能不看这个景点?”但对于是否应该看看秦始皇在公元前三世纪建造的著名兵马俑，我所有存留的疑虑都在走入主遗址的那刻消散了。这些真人大小的土灰色战士有着细致的细节，展现出了一种令人震撼的、几乎是压倒性的力量——我敢肯定，这正是秦始皇希望给人留下的印象。

But Xian, the north-central Chinese city whose name means “western peace,” is much more than its collection of warriors. It’s one of the oldest cities in China: It has seen the likes of Marco Polo during his Silk Road journey, and been home to Buddhist sutras brought from India by Xuanzang, a monk whose journey inspired one of the greatest works of Chinese literature, “Journey to the West.” Xian was also one of the first Chinese cities introduced to Islam, and its Muslim Quarter, located in the city center, is now one of the city’s most thriving tourist areas. I had a fantastic time in the ancient city during a recent four-night excursion. It’s also one of the less expensive trips I’ve taken in the past year.

但是西安，这座名称意为“西部安定”的中北部城市，却不仅限于这座武士收藏。它是中国最古老的城市之一：它曾目睹马可·波罗(Marco Polo)这样的人走过丝绸之路，还一直存放着僧人玄奘从印度带回的佛经，而玄奘的旅程也成为了中国最伟大的文学作品之一——《西游记》的灵感来源。西安还是最早引入伊斯兰教的中国城市之一，位于市中心的回民街现在也是西安最繁荣的旅游区之一。最近，在一次历时四晚的游览中，这座古城让我度过了一段美好时光。这也是我在过去的一年里花费较少的旅行之一。

One of the biggest costs? Getting there. But even that was cheap, not to mention enjoyable — my one-way ticket on a high-speed train from Chengdu to Xian cost 283 yuan, about $45. If you’re looking to take a 17-hour sleeper train, you can do that for about half the cost. A couple of tips: Get to the train station 30 minutes before you think you need to. There’s considerable security getting into the station and the trains leave precisely on time (I very nearly missed mine). Travelchinaguide.com has the best interface I’ve seen for buying Chinese train tickets online; alternatively, you can ask for help at your hotel.

最大的开销?前往那里的路费。但也是很便宜的，更不用说是令人愉快的了——从成都到西安的高铁单程票才花了283元，约合45美元。如果你想搭乘17个小时的卧铺，花费只需高铁的一半。一些小建议：到达火车站的时间要比你预想的再提前30分钟。进站要通过多次安检，火车也会准点开车(我就差一点误了车)。在线购买中国的火车票，我见过界面做得最好的网站是Travelchinaguide.com。此外，你也可以向你下榻的酒店寻求帮助。

The journey through the countryside at 150 miles per hour took a little more than four hours. There was a notable juxtaposition of approaching Xian — a city with centuries-old 40-foot high city walls and a literal moat — in such an advanced and modern way. I emerged into the subfreezing temperatures at the North Railway Station and hopped on the subway (less than a decade old and in great shape) into the heart of the city (one-way ticket, 4 yuan), in search of the lodgings I had booked on Hostelworld.com.

以150英里的时速在乡间穿行的旅程要花四个多小时。以这样一种先进而现代的方式来到西安——这里有着一道40英尺高的古老城墙和一条名副其实的护城河——会构成一种鲜明的反差。我在零下的气温中出了北客站，坐上了开往市中心的地铁(单程票4元，建成不到10年，状况良好)，寻找我在Hostelworld.com上预定的住所。

I can’t always do youth hostels — I’m generally too old and grumpy to be hanging around in bunk beds comparing dry shampoos with a bunch of early-20s Australian backpackers. But every now and then I stay in one, and I’m reminded that they usually, when chosen carefully, provide for a great experience, especially for the price point.

我不能总是住青旅——要和上下铺一帮20出头的澳大利亚背包客玩闹，还比比各自的免洗香波，我往往自觉老朽而暴躁。但我时不时地会住一下，只要仔细挑选，他们往往能提供一个很好的体验，尤其是在价格方面。

That’s precisely what happened at Han Tang Inn, a homey and friendly hostel on narrow street, a quick walk from the Zhonglou (“Bell Tower”) subway station. For those on an extreme budget, $6-per-night beds in six-person shared rooms are available. I decided to “splurge,” booking a private room on the second floor with its own bathroom — at 139 yuan per night, a little more than $20, I was happy with my decision.

这正是我在汉唐驿的感受，那是在狭窄街道上的一家舒适温馨的旅社，从钟楼地铁站出来走一会就能到。预算特别紧的人，可以选择6美元一晚的6人间床位。我决定“挥霍”一把，在二楼定了一个带卫生间的单人房——每晚139元(20美元多一点)，我对自己的这个决定很满意。

Like all good hostels, the inn provided plenty of cushy space, a decent selection of snacks and drinks for sale, good-enough Wi-Fi, and free in-house activities like mah-jongg and calligraphy lessons. Most importantly, it gives you a built-in crew of new friends and acquaintances — perfect for exploring and checking new places out.

和其他好的旅社一样，汉唐驿提供了充足的放松空间，有丰富的零食和饮料可供购买，不错的Wi-Fi，还有旅店内部的免费活动，如麻将和书法课程。更重要的是，它能为你提供一群旅社自带的新朋友和新相识——很适合外出探索和游览新的地方。

And in my case, it gave me an easy and affordable way to check out the Terracotta Army at the Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum. I don’t typically like aligning myself with tour groups, but for excursions out of town (the excavation site is about an hour east of Xian), I recommend it. Unless you’re particularly facile with Chinese, arranging solo day-trips can be difficult or costly. Instead, I paid the hostel 238 yuan and joined a 10-person group one morning on a minibus out of town.

就我而言，旅社为我提供了一个参观秦始皇帝陵博物院兵马俑的简单而经济实惠的方式。我一般不喜欢参加旅行团，但对于城外的短途旅行(发掘遗址在西安以东大约一小时的车程外)，我是推荐的。如果你的中文不是特别流利，安排单人的短途旅行可能会有些困难或昂贵。就这样，我向旅社付了238元人民币，在一天早上加入了一个10人团队，乘坐小巴出了城。

“The emperor’s Chinese name was Qin Shihuang. We also called him Ying Zheng,” explained Jia Jia, our friendly and assertive tour guide, who punctuated many of her pronouncements with a definitive “hmph.” She continued: “Emperor was a good emperor. But he was also ruthless. And he was very crazy.” The emperor, she said, while achieving the unification of China and creating the great clay army, also had a fondness for torturing his subjects and a taste for mercury, thinking it was the secret to everlasting life (it was, in fact, the opposite).

“这位皇帝的中文名字叫秦始皇。我们也叫他嬴政，”我们亲切自信的导游佳佳(音)解释说。她的很多话都以斩钉截铁的“嗯”结尾。她接着说：“皇帝是个好皇帝。但他也很残忍。而且非常疯狂。”她说，这位皇帝实现了中国的统一，缔造了这支伟大的陶土军队，但同时也喜欢折磨他的臣民，并且喜欢水银，认为它是长生不老的秘诀(实际上恰恰相反)。

There were three excavation locations at the museum, and we saved the biggest and best for last. The vast, final dig site held hundreds of soldiers, lined up in a majestic and slightly eerie show of force: infantrymen, archers, even a few horses. I was surprised when Jia Jia told us that while Qin Shihuang created around 8,000 life-size soldiers to protect him in the afterlife, only 2,000 or so have been unearthed and reassembled since local farmers made the discovery in 1974 (and only a portion of those are on public display at any given time). Many, many decades of painstaking work remain. Admission to the site, should you choose to go on your own, is 150 yuan, or 120 during the winter off-season.

博物馆里有三个俑坑，我们把最大也是最好的俑坑留到了最后。这个巨大的坑里容纳着数以百计的士兵。他们排列整齐，威严而又略带诡异地炫耀着武力：步兵，弓箭手，甚至还有几匹马。佳佳告诉我们，虽然秦始皇制造了大约8000个真人大小的士兵，以便在死后保护自己，但自当地农民于1974年发现兵马俑以来，出土和重新组装起来的兵马俑只有大约2000件(并且任何时候公开展出的都只是其中的一部分)时，我听了感到很惊讶。如果独自前往，博物馆门票是150元，冬季淡季120元。

I was able to do most of my exploration of Xian solo, though, thanks to the compactness of the city center. I recommend making a quick stop at the Bell and Drum Towers, which closely resemble each other and are both located in the heart of the city. Tickets to each will cost 35 yuan, or you can buy a combo ticket for 50 yuan. The pagoda-like structures, with their distinctive upward-tilting eaves, are quite regal and majestic, and beautifully illuminated during the evening. They were constructed within years of each other during the 14th century by the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty — the Bell Tower rang to mark the beginning the day; the Drum Tower, its end.

但是好在西安的城市中心十分紧凑，我仍然可以独自完成在西安的大部分游览。我建议去钟鼓楼转一圈，那是两个非常相像的建筑，都在城市的中心。门票各35元，也可购买50元的联票。这两个塔形建筑有着独特的翘角飞檐，相当庄严雄伟，在夜晚灯光的映照下很美丽。它们由14世纪的明洪武皇帝在几年内相继建成——钟楼钟鸣，是一天的开始;鼓楼鼓响，则是一日的终结。

Another duo of complementary sights is the Giant Wild Goose and Small Wild Goose Pagodas, both south of the city walls. The larger of the two is one of Xian’s most famous structures, a sandy-colored Tang dynasty pavilion constructed in 652 A.D. to house sutras and icons brought from India by the Buddhist monk Xuanzang. The seven-story pagoda occupies the spacious and peaceful grounds of Dacien Si (Mercy Temple), which costs 50 yuan to access.

另一对相互照应的景点是大小雁塔，均在南端的城墙以外。两座塔中较大的一座是西安最著名的建筑，这座土色的唐代建筑建于公元652年，用于存放僧人玄奘从印度带回的佛经和典籍。这座七层宝塔位于空旷安宁的大慈恩寺内，门票50元。

Meandering around the temple grounds on a chilly day, I saw men and women lighting incense and worshiping at Sakyamuni, the main hall of the monastery. From there I entered the pagoda (this requires a separate 20-yuan ticket) and climbed the nearly 250 wooden stairs leading to the top. Created to protect the 657 volumes of Buddhist scriptures Xuanzang brought back, the pagoda yields another benefit: the views from the top are excellent, if slightly hindered by smog.

在一个冷风飕飕的日子里，我绕着大慈恩寺闲逛。我看见善男信女在主殿焚香敬拜释迦牟尼。我从这里登塔(需另收20元门票)，爬了大约250级木台阶一直到塔顶。这座为保存玄奘带回的657册经卷而建的大雁塔还有另一个好处：塔顶的风光非常好，尽管略微受到了雾霾影响。

(Air quality is a problem throughout China, and asthmatics and those with delicate respiratory systems should take particular notice. The government is testing measures to stem the problem in different cities, including Xian, which is experimenting with building-sized air purification towers.)

(空气质量是中国的一个普遍问题，哮喘患者及其他呼吸系统脆弱的人士应特别注意。政府正在不同城市试验解决该问题的方法，其中也包括正在尝试建造大型空气净化塔的西安。)

To the northwest is the Small Wild Goose Pagoda (built in 707, it’s slightly younger), and while the pagoda itself is currently being restored, the area is worth visiting for a couple of reasons. The Studio of Chinese Calligraphy and Painting, in addition to traditional artwork, has a small museum dedicated to Mao Zedong that I found to be more honest and critical than I expected. It cites the “lost generation of the Cultural Revolution” and the era’s “disastrous blow on traditional Chinese culture.” A friendly employee at the shop directed me to the spacious, modern Xian Museum (free admission), which has diverse array of installations: contemporary paintings from the Taklamakan Desert region, relics from the Tang and Sui Dynasties, and, in the basement, an exhibition detailing the history of Xian.

在西北方是小雁塔(建于707年，历史略短一些)，虽然最近在修缮塔身，但这个地方仍有两个原因值得一看。这里有一个中国字画展厅，并且除了传统艺术品之外，还有一个小型的毛泽东博物馆，我发现它比我预想的更诚实，更有批判性。博物馆引述了“文革时期失落的一代”和那个年代“对中国传统文化的致命打击”。商店里一名友好的员工指点我去宽敞现代的西安博物馆(免费入场)，里面有各式各样的藏品：来自塔克拉玛干沙漠地区的当代绘画，隋唐时期的文物，地下展厅有关于西安历史的详细展览。

Don’t forget that the city’s ancient walls are an attraction in and of themselves. Accessible in different locations around the city, I found it easiest to enter by the main southern gate (Yongning), the most elaborate and ornate of the entrances. Tickets are 50 yuan, but I was able to score a half-off discount by showing my high-speed rail ticket from Chengdu. The ambitious can rent a bicycle on the parapets — 45 yuan for three hours — and bike the approximately 8.5 miles around the entire wall. (Given the subfreezing temperatures and poor air quality, I decided to just walk the walls for a while. I wasn’t disappointed — the views were good, and provided a nice vantage point of much of the surrounding area.)

别忘了本身就值得一看的古老城墙。在城里不同位置都有入口，我觉得最简单的是从所有入口中最为精美华丽的南门(永宁门)进入。票价50元，但我出示了成都到西安的高铁票，获得了半价优惠。有魄力的可以去护墙上租一辆自行车——3小时45元——环绕整座城墙骑行大约8.5英里(约合13.7公里)。鉴于气温低于零度且空气质量不好，我决定只是在城墙上走一走。我并没有失望——风景很好，并且为观看四周提供了一个不错的有利视角。)

Convenient to Yongning gate, on Shuyuanmen Pedestrian Street, is Zui Chang An, the first of many outstanding restaurants in the city I sampled. I’ve done my share of eating in the world, and I’ll say that Xian has some of the tastiest and most accessible regional cuisine of any country I’ve visited. At Zui Chang An, you can get a very good version of a Shaanxi specialty called hulu ji, or calabash chicken. Steamed or stewed (or both, in some cases) and then fried and served inside of a gourd, this whole chicken (68 yuan) has tender, fall-apart meat that went well with a side of spicy, numbing cucumber seedlings (22 yuan).

离永宁门不远的书院门步行街上有一家餐厅，名叫醉长安，它是我在这座城市品尝的许多优秀餐厅中的第一家。我在这个世界上品尝过的美食已经够多的了，但我得说，在我去过的所有国家中，西安拥有最美味、最便宜的一些地方美食。在醉长安，你可以品尝对陕西特色菜葫芦鸡的一种非常出色的演绎。它的做法是先蒸或炖(有的店是又蒸又炖)，然后再炸，最后放在葫芦里上桌，整只鸡(68元)的肉嫩滑酥烂，与麻辣味的配菜黄瓜苗(22元)很搭。

Getting a good breakfast near my hostel was no challenge once I discovered Ma Lao’s Diced Meat Spicy Soup, a small shop on West 1st Road. I went one morning with a fellow traveler in search of a peppery bowl of hu la tang, or hot, peppery soup, and found a long line of locals — always a good sign. The thick, tangy broth, filled with mushrooms and bamboo shoots, positively made my hair stand on end with its sharp, black pepper flavor. Along with a side of flatbread, brimming with herbs and onions, it made a for a filling and eye-opening breakfast. Two bowls and bread cost just 17 yuan.

在西一路上找到小店老马胡辣汤后，在我住的小旅店附近享用一顿美味的早餐就不再是挑战了。有一天早上，我和一名旅伴一起去寻找胡辣汤，发现了一个当地人排起的长队，这永远是个好兆头。浓稠辛辣的肉汤里满是蘑菇和竹笋，浓烈的黑胡椒味让我的头发都竖起来了，很是畅快。跟胡辣汤搭配的饼上满是香料和洋葱，这样的早餐吃起来让人很满足，而且大开眼界。两碗胡辣汤加饼总共只要17元。

The Muslim Quarter, which begins roughly at the Drum Tower and extends north and west through a considerable swath of the city, is certainly geared toward tourists but is worth walking around for its frenetic energy, brightly lit signs that would give Vegas a run for its money, and, naturally, its tasty street food. Beiyuanmen Street, which extends northward from the Drum Tower, was a natural place to start an impromptu food tour, and I launched my exploration from there.

回民区大致上是从鼓楼开始，向北部和西部覆盖了这座城市的很大一块区域。它无疑是面向游客的，但也值得一逛，因为这里有着疯狂的活力，可以与拉斯维加斯媲美的明亮招牌，当然，还有美味的街边小吃。从鼓楼向北延伸的北院门街是开始一次即兴美食之旅的好地方，我就从那里开始了我的探索。

Dodging bicycles, a crush of pedestrians, and the occasional pedicab, I wound my way through the barrage of colorful LED lights and street hawkers selling pomegranate juice, chunks of durian and roujiamo, a sandwich stuffed with chipped beef and hot, spicy oil (15 yuan). My favorite snack was a juicy stuffed pancake called xianbing, which was full of diced beef and fresh chives (10 yuan). In the hectic Muslim Quarter, your best strategy is to relax and go with the flow: The different foods and sheer variety of choice can overwhelm, but not once was I disappointed.

我躲避着自行车、一群群行人，偶尔还有三轮车，穿过五颜六色的LED灯，以及卖石榴汁、榴莲块和肉夹馍的街头小贩。肉夹馍是一种夹着牛肉碎和辣椒油的三明治(15元)。我最喜欢的小吃是馅饼，一种含有多汁馅料的薄饼，里面充满牛肉碎和鲜韭菜(10元)。在繁忙的回民区，你最好的策略是放松下来，随心所欲：不同的食物和各种各样的选择让人眼花缭乱，但一次也没让我失望。