9th August 2005
I was really excited about visiting Xi'an. Seeing the Terracotta Warriors in real life had been high on my list for a few years prior to this trip and now I was only a few hours away.
We taxied it back to the airport in Beijing for our flight to Xi'an with China Eastern. We flew into Xi'an airport at about 2:00pm after lengthy flight delays & made our way to the exit. As we stepped out we were literally in the middle of nowhere so we organised an airport bus to take us to the main street with in the wall's of Xi'an. Our driver didn't speak a great amount of English so we figured once we hit civilisation that would be good enough. About 45 minutes later the bus pulled up across the road from a big Bell Tower surrounded by some big name hotels so we jumped off.
Once we had our luggage we took off down the road following our Xi'an tourist street map. We walked so far that we actually hit the city walls & still had no sight of our hotel. Bloody Chinese street maps I thought, & we turned around to head back. We had a good feeling that we were on the right street but where the hell was our hotel? After about 15 minutes of pacing the street front back & forth we asked a few friendly taxi drivers for some directions but they didn't understand & couldn't read our interpreted map. I swear nearly every sign in China has the same 15 letters, & if they are different it's only ever one letter which makes it near impossible to find your way around. Back down the street we went for the third time. Past the Hyatt, past the empty lot, past the new construction, past the .... "what's that? It's our hotel!" Our hotel (The Canaan International) was actually set back from the main road & they were building another one in front of it which made it hard to see.
After about 1 hour of looking it turned out that the hotel was right in front of us. For our accommodation in Xi'an we opted for what was suppose to be a four star hotel. As we entered the lobby it looked as though they were still finishing off some of the fittings of this recently built hotel. After we checked in we were taken up to our rooms where we were pleasantly surprised. Not only was it new but it was the Four Seasons compared to our Beijing hotel.
The first thing we organised was our day trip to the Terracotta Warriors. We decided to book it through our hotel because they could speak a little English & we just wanted it done. They said the guide knew English & we would spend the day visiting a few temples on route to the Warriors. All sounded good so we booked it before hitting the streets to see what else was on offer.
We walked along the tree covered streets checking out some of the local boutique stores. We dared not venture into any of them though for fear of having our ears drums blown out by the extremely high pitched Chinese pop music that belted from every store. We eventually made our way to the centre of town to go inside the Drum Tower. Acting as a round-about the well lit Drum Tower can not be missed. That evening we had dinner in a place I never imagined I would in China. McDonald's! After such a long & uneventful day it just seemed really easy. Surprisingly enough it was OK & we didn't get sick. I don't even eat McDonald's at home so this meal was totally unexpected.
The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn for our full day trip to see the Terracotta Warriors. We decided to start the day well as we didn't know when our next food stop would be & if it would even be edible. We crossed the road from our hotel & lined up at the Hyatt's super cheap, super tasty buffet breakfast. Mmm it was good & just what we needed for the long trip ahead. We made our way back to the hotel where we were picked up by a bus driver with no English skills. He drove us around the block & down the street before herding us out of his van & onto the sidewalk. After a few minutes of confusion we worked out that this is where the actual tour bus would pick us up from.
Now if anyone has been to China or any other Asian city you will know about Asian tourists. This is a very broad generalisation & I know it may sound bad but they always come across annoying & unwilling to wait there turn. Don't even get me started on the tour leader with there annoying little flag. The flag is suppose to make it easier to spot your leader in a crowd. But when there are 19 other group leaders with the same flag it just adds to the mass confusion. After being shoved to the end of the line a few times, we were pushed onto a bigger bus where to our surprise there were 2 other western tourists. They were from Ireland & as confused about the whole situation as we were. About 15 minutes later our bus was off & our guide was pointing things out in Chinese. Yes that's right... Chinese. Not a word in English. But really we didn't care as long as we got to see the Warriors. There is something nice about being oblivious to the chatting going on around you.
After a few hours on the road we stopped off at a road side Temple that was worth a visit. The Temple sat at the foot of a mountain & contained pagoda's, lakes & ancient buildings. We spent about 30 minutes wandering around but never really new what the significance or meaning of this place was as our guide couldn't speak that much English & as far as using our Lonely Planet, we had no idea where we were. It was however a beautiful temple & we were more than happy to take a few photo's & break up the long drive.
The next stop was at a road side cafe (shed). No doubt this place was run by one of the tour operators family. Just like hundreds of tourist experience in hundreds of countries we were bought here to try & spend some of our money. The food was alright but the entertainment was better. As we ate our fish & relaxed from the midday sun, a Chinese woman & Chinese man started to yell at each other. Then before we knew it they had to be pulled apart as she started to throw punches. More yelling continued with food being thrown & then they were done. After the entertaining stop we were back on the road.
The Terracotta Warriors
A few more hours down the road we arrived at the museum. Now if you want to see the Warriors maybe try & do it outside of Summer. We were there in August which was peek summer season & believe me it was hot. The Terracotta Army is located in the middle of nowhere & was discovered in March 1974 by local farmers drilling a water well. As we made our way to the entrance we jumped into the electric golf carts provided & wizzed up the path to the huge buildings that that contain the ancient armies. There are quite a few buildings here, the first of which we visited contained ancient weapons that were found around the site. We weren't sure how much time we had here so we cut this visit short & headed for the Warriors themselves.
As we walked in I was amazed & stunned at the amount of figures & horses that have been unearthed. Well over 8000 have been found so far. All of which are contained in several buildings around this complex, except for the ones given to several museums around the world. Each warrior is completely different to the next. They vary in height, build, face shape, body position, hair styles, armour & each held a different weapon. We spent quite a bit of time here before making our way to the next building to see the rest. You can not come to this fascinating country with out visiting Qin's Army. After about two hours here we made our way back to Xi'an where we were happy to call it a day.
Whilst we were in Xi'an we read that a great spot to check out was the Muslim Quarter which wasn't far from our hotel. After getting a little lost we decided to by some icy cold water as it was extremely hot once again. A young man of about 18 years sat outside the main shop with his fridge, so we decided to buy our water from him. We pondered over our map trying to figure out which way was which, before asking the friendly shop assistant for directions. He then ran inside the shop & yelled to the man behind the counter. After a few short words he turned to us & in broken English said "I will show you". He led us down the road & around the corner before pointing & repeating "One Hahnjed meters, One Hahnjed meters". He then smiled & waved before returning to his tend to his shop.
As we made our way down the street we could see a few small signs pointing to a mosque. We knew we were in the right area as most of the people were wearing the traditional Muslim attire. We were heading for the Grand Mosque which is only accessible through a few winding streets full of markets. As we entered the Grand Mosque gardens the call to prayer began. The locals started to enter to carry out their religious prayers & we were quite pleased to find that we were allowed to stay & watch. The ceremony began with a speech from the prayer leader followed by several moments of prayer. Whilst this was going on, I thought it funny that just outside the main hall itself stood an 8 year old Chinese Muslim boy texting on a mobile phone. After a little while we made our way out of the Mosque & searched through the ever winding street markets full of crazy crap.
That evening we went for a walk out to the city walls. It was sunset & we decided to climb to the top & just stroll along the perimeter for a while. It's a great thing to do at sunset as the wall has Chinese lanterns lit all the way along which creates a mystical kind of vibe. There's not that much to see here though but it's worth a visit non the less.
On our last morning in Xi'an we decided to visit another of the cities main attractions. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda located about 4 kilometres from the centre of downtown. We got here in the early morning which was good because there weren't many tourists around. The Pagoda sits in the middle of some beautiful Chinese gardens, which we spent an hour wandering through. The Pagoda itself is a holy place for Buddhist to visit. We joined the other adventures people for the climb to the top which offers fantastic views of Xi'an (on a clear day).
After sitting in the gardens for a while we decided to head back to our hotel & get ready for our long trip to the hill city of Lijiang.