|
Xi'an and the Terra-cotta WarriorsSep 27, 2009
|
|
The city wall of Xi'an
The city wall of Xi'an
Chaos on the streets of the Muslim quarter in Xi'an
We arrived in Xi'an via train which was about a 13 hour trip. We boarded the train around 9pm – we were traveling in the 'hard sleeper' carriages with each room having 6 beds (3 beds on each side) and no doors. It wasn't as bad as we had first imagined. H and J claimed the very bottom bunks with WA and another tour member the middle which left MS and I the very top bunks. It was a feat just getting to the top on some strategically placed foot holds. But all in all the train trip went well and we arrived in Xi'an early in the morning.
That left us time to explore the city. We decided to walk part of the wall that still surrounds the city centre and we ended up walking from the south gate to the west gate. After that, we were hungry and MS found us a great dumpling place in the Muslim quarter. They eventually took his order after rolling around in hysterics over his hat which everyone is China seems to think is very funny. It is a normal cap but has a flap at the back to keep out the sun. We then explored the Great Mosque before hitting (or braving) souvenir alley for some bargaining. That night we went to the Giant Pagoda to watch a free light show timed with water fountains – very pretty and an enjoyable evening. The traffic in Xi'an is crazy thought – the subway is still being built and the roads are chaos – but crossing the road with bikes, cars, trucks and pedestrians hurtling at you was a fun part of the experience.
The next day was the day we were waiting for – a trip to the Terra-cotta Warriors. We took a bus for several hours and eventually arrived at the large complex. It wasn't as busy as expected and we had plently of time to explore the 3 different pits which housed the thousands of warriors. It met all expectations and it was great to see the hundreds of warriors restored and in their natural state. We of course had to buy the set of warriors offered by the various souvenir touts and WA consideraly beat MS's bargained price which she was pretty proud of.
Xi'an was a lovely town and we all enjoyed our stay there.
