Chang'an
Dear Diary,
Our destination is Gobi Desert now. We have planned to stop at the capital city Chang’an on the way, I think we’ll be staying here for about one or two days. But let me tell you about my first day in Chang’an. |
We stepped into the city, surrounded by high walls that reached to the sky. I had once heard that these walls were 48 feet wide at the base, and of course I couldn’t believe my ears, but now, I saw them with my own eyes. It wasn’t hard for us to get in, I just gave our clan’s name and they let us in.
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I wanted to take a look at the city before going to bed, so when my friends went to a rest place( they were starving and thirsty) I wandered through the streets. I had once read in a poem of a Chinese poet, that the houses in Chang’an were packed together “as closely as the teeth of a comb”. “So it was true” I laughed, the houses really looked like they were stuck to each other.
When I saw the marketplace further ahead, I changed my way, escaping from the hubbub of the shouting sellers of all kinds of food and goods, and taking a quiet road. It wasn’t a “quiet road” after all, for I came across yelling, laughing children, shouting and following each other as they climbed to a huge tree, which was probably the only tree in the world that could carry that many children! I walked towards them. What could it be that’s so exciting on a tree?
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I followed them without them noticing, curious about what they were going to do with the cicadas. They went into a house and disappeared from my sight. So I decided to walk a little bit further and then back to my friends after hearing my stomach growl. I was tired from the journey too. After a brief walk, I turned back and bumped to the same children, again, running. They were eating something crunchy and I then noticed, they each had a handful of roasted cicadas!
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“We need to get back before sundown, hurry!” one of the boys cried. And the other answered, “Here’s one, come!” The children sat near the boy who called them, and I started to watch the boy. I spotted something very little, which he had picked up from the ground and put in a bag. I walked near the boy and saw that they were filling the bags with ants! I asked: “What’re you going to with those ants?” He answered with sparkling eyes: “We have ant soup for dinner tonight!” “Interesting” I mumbled.
A little hill took my attention, and I decided to climb onto it for a better view of the marketplace. I climbed, and sat between the colorful little flowers. “This is exactly the right spot to draw the marketplace" I decided. I made a quick painting, and stood up.
Nothing exciting happened coming back, only a fluffy little Chow Chow dog made me jump with fright, which barked behind me so loudly that I couldn’t believe this sound was coming from it. I noticed that it had a blue-black tongue. I met with two more of them before I arrived at the rest place that my friends had chosen and ate a good meal.
We’ll trade our goods with merchants at the marketplace tomorrow. Now, I’ll sleep, a restless day is waiting for us. |
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