From Xi’an to Beijing

08/10/13 

Our time in Xi’an has come to an end and while I’m not too thrilled about going back to work (educating future world leaders/taxi drivers can be a bit of a pain) I am excited to get back to our “normal” life in Beijing which, despite my initial reservations, is a pretty great city to live in. We found Xi’an busy, dirty, smoggy, smelly and generally quite unpleasant. It had its saving graces, namely the Muslim Quarter, the City Walls and the Terracotta Warriors but I won’t be rushing back any time soon. It was a shame that our trip, the only holiday we’ll have in China was marred by illness but it did give us a chance to laze around, watching movies and if I’m being really positive, we didn’t eat properly for like five days so we saved loads of money!

When we woke up this morning we eagerly packed and prepared to leave Xi’an. We had a few hours to kill and after sitting in the lobby for a while we made our way to the shining golden arches of McDonalds. 

Everyone in Xi’an seemed to be drawn to the golden arches too as the place was packed but not with customers. Every table was occupied but nobody was eating. It’s so weird but it seems to be the norm over here, people of all ages go to fast food restaurants, take up all the tables and just sit there. Some are on their phones, some are sleeping, some are engaging in serious PDA but they just sit there, looking at you as if you are crazy for wanting to sit down and eat the food that you, as a genuine patron of this fine fast food restaurant, just purchased. It drives me crazy. As does the staring. Dear China, I am a westerner. I get it. You don’t need to look at me all the time. I would say take a picture, it’ll last longer but you already do that! Eugh. Rant over. 

After our not so relaxing lunch we took the subway to Xi’an North Railway Station but of course, it’s not actually called that on any of the maps. Instead we just had to hope we were headed in the right direction! Thankfully we arrived at the station in one piece and it didn’t take long to find our train, which was a real achievement as everything is in Chinese because who cares about tourists, not China, that’s for sure! 

Six short hours later we had travelled 1216km (715miles) and were finally back in Beijing. We managed to grab a taxi but after loading us in the car he disappeared, only to return with another passenger. We thought this was odd but nothing prepared us for him driving up to every person he saw and asking if they wanted to get in too! After dropping off his first passenger he left us home and while it was nice having a break I can honestly say I am glad to back in our apartment, stinking bathroom and all! 

The Terracotta Warriors

06/10/13

Once again, no prizes for guess what this Blog is about! The Terracotta Warriors are the main reason we came to Xi’an so we decided to go today, when the National Holiday had officially ended in an attempt to avoid huge crowds of Chinese tourists. It took a while for our day to get started but we soon hit the pavement, grabbed a Tuk Tuk and turned to our Lonely Planet guide which assured us that the bus to the Terracotta Warriors was super duper easy to find. This should have set the alarm bells ringing. When anything is described as super duper easy it’s naturally the complete opposite. In the end we walked around for a good two hours in search of the elusive bus, only to discover that it didn’t leave from the BUS station but from the CAR park of the TRAIN station. So. Much. Irony. I felt like Alanis Morrissette. 

We eventually found the genuine public bus that was to take us to the Terracotta Warriors. Unsurprisingly we were the only whities about but after lots of smiling and head nodding we paid our 80p fair and mentally prepared ourselves for the 60 minute drive. The drive was fairly straightforward, past countless skyscrapers and construction sites, ending rather abruptly at the side of the road where everyone got out and began walking along the road. Ignoring every motivational speech Glenlola threw at me, I followed the crowd and it worked out pretty well; we arrived at the Terracotta Warriors and our day of sightseeing began!

 For those who don’t know anything about the Terracotta Warriors, this was taken right out of my Lonely Planet book and sums it up quite well – The Terracotta Army is one of the most famous archaeological finds in the world. This subterranean life-size army of thousands silently stood guard over the soul of China’s first unifier for more than two millennia. Either Qin Shi Huang was terrified of the vanquished spirits awaiting him in the afterlife, or, as most archaeologists believe, he expected his rule to continue in death as it had in life – whatever the case, the guardians of his tomb today offer some of the greatest insights we have into the world of ancient China. The discovery of the army warriors was entirely fortuitous. In 1974, peasants drilling a well uncovered an underground vault that eventually yielded thousands of terracotta soldiers and horses in battle formation. Throughout the years the site became so famous that many of its unusual attributes are now well known, in particular the fact that no two soldiers’ faces are alike.

 We followed Lonely Planet’s advice and visited the site in reverse order, beginning at Pit 3, the smallest pit which contains 72 warriors and horses and is thought to be the army headquarters. We spent quite a bit of time here as while it wasn’t very busy it was pretty impressive, especially as it was our first glimpse of the warriors! The next pit, Pit 2, contains around 1300 warriors and horses and it was slightly busier, however, most of the people were bunched together in the far corner. I had no idea what they were looking at so we had a nosey too – they were looking at a soldier in a glass case! There were literally hundreds of Chinese tourists, pressed up against the glass, pushing each other out of the way just to look at a soldier when all they had to do was turn around and look in the actual pit! This was something we noticed throughout the day, Chinese tourist will take a picture of literally anything as long as it’s in a glass case and looks like it might be important!

 

 Our last stop of the day was obviously Pit 1, the biggest and most imposing pit. The building is the size of an aircraft hanger (it’s really, really big) and it is literally full of warriors. There are 2000 on display but it is believed to contain 6000 warriors and you can even see a few soldiers which are currently being reassembled. Once again we had a good look around, took a lot of pictures and despite our best efforts we couldn’t find two soldiers who looked alike – even their hair is different, talk about effort!

A restoration area

This chap looks like he's taking a wee nap!

I often find that when people visit something of note they big it up so much that when you go yourself it’s an instant disappointment. Thankfully I stayed away from online reviews so my expectations were realistic and now that we’ve finally visited the Terracotta Warriors I am happy to report that my expectations were exceeded. Not only is it a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Terracotta Warriors were made before Jesus Christ was born and I was lucky enough to get a selfie with them! For all its faults, China really can up its game when it wants to!