It's been nearly a week of night trains and a couple of quick stop offs to take us over 1,130 miles further south to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. On our journey, we've taken on 3 night trains of varying comfort and we've stopped over at the little city of Pingyao and the much larger city of Xi'an, both located in the Shaanxi Province.

We last left you at the start of our pretty horrendous journey from Beijing to Pingyao. The train journey was long, uncomfortable and resembled the feeling of sharing an overcrowded, hot, foreign prison cell with a group of locals who definitely gave the impression that we were aliens. As you can imagine, we didn't achieve much sleep and spent most of the journey figuring out why the large middle aged woman on the bottom bunk spent the entire 8 hours just staring at us - since our time in China we have realised that a good long stare seems to actually be 100% completely socially acceptable. It wasn't the most pleasant time we have ever had, as all we could smell was sweaty feet and unclean toilets, and all we could hear was various snores of differing intensity, along with the usual sounds of people grozzing. But ultimately though, once the earplugs were in situ, the train did its job and we made it to Pingyao.

Pingyao

Pingyao is one of very few cities that still has it's remaining ancient city walls in tact. It is described as how China used to be, with red lantern hung lanes that still contain the same local communities that have resided there for centuries. The buildings are all still the same traditional Chinese architecture from hundreds of years ago and various temples and towers pop up in the streets, in front of the large imposing walls. The residents ride their bicycles up and down the lanes ringing their bells as others sit in front of their houses in the sunshine. The 2 main streets contain hundreds of shops, hole in the wall restaurants and several fantastic courtyard hotels. If it could be compared to anywhere in England it would probably be like China's answer to York or Chester, but with more noodles. It was a great place for us to chill out for a couple of nights and take it easy, wandering the streets during the day and discovering the amazing local food at night. We didn't spend any time walking the walls or visiting the numerous museums and temples, because we simply couldn't be bothered. We did however spend a lot of time sat in the very hot sunshine in our little courtyard hotel, eating delicious pastries and drinking a considerable amount of beer priced at only 50p for a large bottle.

Whilst it's not possible to describe it as very exciting, it was a nice time for us to finally put the backpacks to one side, relax and recuperate after what had felt like a lot of travelling with a lot more journeys to follow over the next couple of days. The only thing to really note was that we saw what happens when young Chinese men drink to much beer in the hot sunshine - they go wild!

It was about 2pm in the afternoon and as we were sauntering through the ancient lanes, we heard some commotion and obvious arguing coming from inside a small bar. Being the nosy people we are, we joined the crowd that had gathered outside to find out what was happening. We could hear what sounded like a lot of arguing followed by a Chinese bloke literally getting thrown out onto the street. Thinking that this would probably be the end of it we merrily carried on our own way. However, 10 minutes later (loaded with enough sweet pastries to feed 50,000), we again passed the same bar, but this time there was now an even larger crowd. The Chinese bloke had picked himself up and was not only expressing his opinion towards the bar that had thrown him out of earlier, but he was also shouting abuse towards everyone in the street. His next move as he vented his anger was an obvious one, he bought a Cornetto from a nearby street stall, which he started to munch on whilst continuing his angry tirade of abuse. As he stood there, shouting, wobbling and eating his strawberry ice-cream he then picked up a small bar stool. Perhaps he needed a seat as he quite clearly wasn't very good on his feet at this point? Nope. He launched the stool through bar window! He then proceeded to pick up 3 more bar stools and launched them into the bar smashing all the other windows - this is all whilst eating his strawberry Cornetto! Very odd. We left soon after this as he started shouting more abuse at the people in the street and we now had a sudden craving to go and buy ourselves a Cornetto. We could only assume that his extreme crossness was either due ti the fact he wasbt allowedany more beer, or merely because they didn't have mint choc-chip ice-cream flavour.

Pingyao to Xi'an

The next night train was the toughest of the lot. As there were no prison beds left for this train, we had drop to an even lower class. A 'hard seat'. The key word there being 'hard'. The seats are laid out in rows of 3 facing each other, close enough to be able to easily lick your opposite passenger if you so wished. Within each carriage, 120 people set up residency for the night ensuring that you are snuggly sandwiched in. Also, as it's night time and with sleep not being a consideration, the lights are obviously left on... It really is brutal and a haven for a numb bum.

We found it best to treat these journeys as a chance to perfect a game we have invented which we call 'The Chinese Stare Off'. As previously mentioned, the Chinese people seem to love staring, and believe us when we say that they are exceptionally good at it, possibly the best in the world. Our game is to stare back. The difference in our game though is to make them smile. :-) It usually starts when we notice somebody looking at us in what it seems is simple curiosity, especially at Claire with what we have been told by an English speaking Chinese person is because of her big blue eyes. If we simply return the stare back they do nothing, they just continue their prolonged curious stare - usually accompanied with a gawping open mouth too. It's difficult to not feel awkward by this but as they all do it, we haven't been too offended. So, once you have 'locked on' to a starer and completed the initial 10 second reply stare (no smile), the game is on and the idea is to politely smile and say 'Nihao'. At this point most opponents have smiled back then chuckled with you and even offered a friendly 'Nihao' back. One or two obviously, being semi-pros who continue their unemotional stare back require a second smile, much larger than the first smile before a response is achieved, some even require a third smile! They are the real pros! But as strange as it is, even with all the staring, we have generally taken it in our stride and have started to enjoy it. Occasionally you do get someone who refuses to smile back, even after 5 or 6 good smiles, a wave and a 'Nihao' in their direction. We have decided that these people aren't curious, they are simply rude. We're in two minds to change the game to giving these guys the middle finger. We'll let you know how that progresses.

Xi'an

Xi'an was a quick overnight stop with the simple aim of seeing the star attraction - the Terracotta Warriors. In hindsight though we may have enjoyed staying another night, simply due to the local street food. Again this city has huge walls surrounding it, but not all intact and much larger than little Pingyao. Other than the Warriors, our favourite part here was wandering around the Muslim quarter. As our local town has it's very own 'Muslim quarter' we weren't really too sure what to expect, it's not like either us would fancy wandering the backstreets of Brierfield late at night on our own. But here in Xi'an, where the Hui Chinese Muslims took up residence in the 7th century, we loved it. A labyrinth of back streets, packed with different vendors selling everything from handmade wooden combs to cheap knock off mini terracotta warriors, and the food... Well the food is just amazing. Street stalls everywhere. It made the Beijing snack streets seem very manufactured and tourist driven, whereas here it felt like the real deal. Street stall BBQ's, passing bicycles carrying roasted chicken, men hammering huge great mallets to crush and press some nuts, young lads shouting out on microphones trying to sell their local specialities of either hot lamb sandwiches or fried chilli potatoes. The supply of food goes on and on seemingly for miles.

Terracotta Warriors

In 1974 a farmer was digging a well in his field. He came to a stop when he a uncovered a few pieces of terracotta pottery and some bronze objects. Unknowingly at that point, the farmer had just made the most significant archeological discovery in all of China, possibly the world. He had stumbled across the the eighth wonder of the world, The Terracotta Army.

Built originally in 246 BC, they were designed on the orders of and to protect the tomb of the young Emporer Qin, who ascended to the throne at the age of 13 years old. It took over 700,000 people to build the army of soldiers that surrounded his tomb to protect him in the afterlife. Each soldier differs in height, clothing and facial expression. They wear various markings for rank and are setup exactly as they would be ordered to line up if they were real soldiers. There are also horses and gold and bronze chariots that have been unearthed.

When we visited on a very rainy morning, there were 3 pits open to view. Pit 1 is the largest, the size of an air hanger and is the most impressive as you see hundreds of the warriors stood lined up in formation. They were originally painted in bright colours but as soon they were excavated the paint flaked off and faded in the outside air. There are still many warriors that they haven't excavated yet as scientists are trying to figure out how to get them out with the paint intact. We were shown round by a local guide who told us all of the history. Although neither of us are history buffs by any stretch, it really was astonishing to see the huge army stood in front of you - especially considering they were over 2,000 years old. It was most definitley worth the stop off and the quite expensive tickets to view them.

Food

We know that we go on about food a lot on these blogs and this ones no different! Here are some of our favourites from the last 2 stops.

Pingyao beef - a local speciality of marinated beef served cold on a plate that tastes just like a British roasted ham joint. Although we thought that this would be 'soooooo delicious' accompanied with 2 fried eggs and some chips, unfortunately this option was not available. It was therefore very nice served with noodles.

Gong Bao Chicken - Another speciality from Pingyao, spicy chicken served with peanuts and tomatoes, probably the most similar to Chinese food back home.

Shupa - A little puff pastry cake filled with a sweet red bean paste. We easily went through 20 of these whilst drinking our beers in Pingyao

Spicy Lamb Sandwich - Lamb that has been slowly braised for hours, then chopped up and mixed with chillies and spring onions, served in a freshly steamed bread bun.

Spicy Potatoes - New potatoes, deep fried, then rolled in chilli, salt, sugar, spring onion, garlic parsley and 2 mystery spices. This was by far David's favourite much to the amusement of the girl who served him them at least 5 times in just over 24 hours.

So our journey down south over the last few days has been very interesting, fun and occasionally a nightmare. It's nice to be in Chengdu, Sichuan now though where there's plenty to see, do and eat no doubt.

Things we have learned

1. Don't argue with drunk Chinese people (or make sure you have all ice-cream flavour combinations available)
2. In the past, 13 year old teenagers were a lot more productive with their time than nowadays.
3. If you can afford to fly in China, then fly.

Dave's transport stats

Dave's Transport stats so far:
Planes used - 1
Buses used - 6 (+3)
Trains used - 6 (+3)
Metros/subways used - 14 (+1)
Cars used - 5 (+2)
Russian Campervans used 1
Horses used - 1
Camels used - 1
Taxis used - 1