Xi'an: 30th May to 3rd June

We spent our last morning in Yichang with a lazy walk along the banks of the Yangtze. The sun was out and it was a beautifully warm day so we enjoyed some sun and an ice-cream before retreating out of the heat into an air conditioned restaurant for lunch before catching our overnight train to Xi'an.

We headed off to the train station dreading the trip with our seating only tickets and headed straight to the ticket office to try our luck and see if we could upgrade to beds. Much to our surprise there were two beds left so we swapped our tickets and boarded the train in a much happier frame of mind. The only downside was that the beds we had been allocated were hard sleeper rather than soft. This means that the beds are stacked 3 high rather than 2 and there are no doors to the compartments making the carriage very cramped and noisy. We boarded the train and it came as no great surprise that our bunks were the top ones, next to the toilets. Its a long way up on to the bunk and impossible to sit upright on the beds – a little on the claustrophobic side to say the least! Never mind, its still better than seats!

We arrived in Xi'an on time (at around 7am) and got a taxi to our hotel with a little bit of help from a local tour operator. Fortunately our room was available straight away so we checked in, showered and had a lay down for a couple of hours. Fully rested we headed out in search of the advanced train ticket office to book our overnight, soft sleeper train to Shanghai. We were in luck this time and managed to get the tickets we wanted.

One thing that we have noticed on this trip is that the first thing you do when you arrive somewhere new is work out how you are going to leave and get to your next destination! This is especially true in China where you have to book train tickets 3 to 4 days in advance to ensure you get a seat, or indeed a bed! It is not the most relaxing travel experience which I guess is partly why we are really looking forward to Australia and having our own transport for a month. I realised the other day that I have not driven a car this year which is a bit strange.

Xi'an is another large city with a population of 8 million and was previously the capital of China (although at times it seems like most cities in China claim to have been the capital at one point or another!). Xi'an is different from the other cities we have visited in that it is less modernised (in places) and has more character, predominantly provided by the existence of the recently restored city walls which surround the central part of the main city. We spent the afternoon visiting the old Bell Tower, where traditionally the bells were rung at dawn, and Drum Tower where the drums sounded at dusk, which are located at the intersection of the main roads running north to south and east to west. The whole city is laid out in a grid like formation making navigation fairly straight forward.

After the Towers we wandered around the Muslim quarter, a small section of the city which feels like it has escaped the modernisation that many of other parts of the city have seen. The streets are essentially narrow lanes jammed full of street vendors and market stalls selling everything from tourist souvenirs and clothing to fruit, vegetables and raw meat. There were lots of food stalls selling indescribable dishes plus the usual chicken feet and pigs snouts, etc. It was lovely to just wander around and see some traditional scenes rather than high rise shiny office blocks and department stores.

The following day we were off to see Emperor Qin Shi Haung Di's Terracotta Warriors. The army was created by Emperor Qin, the first Emperor of China, to guard his tomb in circa 207 BC and was only discovered by accident in 1974 when some local villages were sinking a well which happened to pass through the corner of one of the underground pits in which the army was buried.

Having learned from our mistake in Kunming, we were up at the crack of dawn and made our way to the bus station to catch a bus to take us the 1½ hour drive to the site. There are 3 pits which have been discovered containing warriors and other articles such as clothing, armoury, chariots, horses and household items, all of which are made of terracotta to life size proportions. As the army was created to look after the emperor in death, it was assumed that he would need all of the things that he needed in life, hence the extensive collection and variety of objects buried. There is also evidence that real horses were buried alive which makes the whole extraordinary find even more perplexing!

Of the 3 pits, number 1 was most impressive, containing the largest number of warriors and horses (of the terracotta variety) than the other two pits. This pit is still being excavated but being China they have still managed to turn it in to a modern shiny tourist attraction with lots of tourist tat, golf buggies to get around and a KFC. That aside is was a very impressive sight and, having been lucky enough to see the warriors on tour in London, it was a real treat to see them in their original surroundings, which was set amidst some of the most beautiful countryside in China.

The following day we decided to hire bikes and cycle around the city walls. The wall circumference is 13.7 km and the width at the top of the wall is circa 12 to 14 meters so you actually cycle around on top of the wall away from the chaotic traffic below which is a bonus. Much to our delight the wall was actually pretty quiet, there were a few groups of tourists doing the trip on golf buggies (they are everywhere!) and a few on bikes but it was much less crowded than we anticipated – very unusual in China. The top of the wall was cobbled making the ride rather bumpy at times but it was a great way to spend a couple of hours and gave us the opportunity to look down (and up) at the contrasting old and new architecture of Xi'an.

The next day, our last full day in Xi'an, we headed out to visit the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, situated 4 km south just outside the city walls. The Pagoda is set in a Dacien Temple which is surrounded by new landscaped fountains which were installed as part of the Xi'an Expo 2010. We paid to get into the Temple, which was rather pricey, then the cheeky beggars charged us again to climb the Pagoda. Tourist attractions in China are fairly expensive so our budget has taken a bit of a wallop over the past few weeks. We (and some American tourists) felt a bit ripped off but there is no point whining about it so we dutifully paid the extra and climbed the Pagoda to see the views of the city.

After the Big Wild Goose Pagoda we walked for what seemed an eternity in the blistering heat to visit the Small Wild Goose Pagoda, the big ones “little brother”. We got there just in time for it to close, but neither of us were too bothered about not seeing it. We were so hot and knackered that we just wanted to get a cold drink, food and a shower! I think we are done with Temples and Pagoda's for a while!!!

On our last morning, before boarding the overnight train to Shanghai, we headed back to the Muslim quarter which boasts the largest Mosque in China. We wandered around for a while looking for it but couldn't actually see it because of the high surrounding walls. We could have paid to go in but we were feeling all cultured out so opted for a local street kitchen instead where we braved some beef dumplings which were delicious. After leaving the street kitchen we wandered around the corner to be met by an old wooden cart of all sorts of bits of raw meet (no cover – no refrigeration) and directly opposite a bit pile of raw meat on the pavement. I guess this was the butchers area. All of a sudden I started having doubts about our delicious beef dumplings!!!

So, that was Xi'an. We collected our bags from the hotel and tried to catch a taxi to take us to the train station. As usual none of them wanted to know so we ended up walking instead, fully laden with rucksacks – again! Oh well, at least we had a nice private compartment on the train with comfortable beds to look forward to.

Keep in touch.
Sue & Dan xxx