Xi'an, China / Reve and Rob / The big OE April 2004

BoD

Reve and Rob separator

The big OE April 2004 - present separator

Terracota Warriors

[ Zoom Map ]

Xi'an, China
34° 15' N 108° 56' E
Oct 27, 2007 23:30
Distance 914km

Choose another map, showing:

Entry 107 of 107

You need to upgrade your Flash Player

Click here to start downloading FlashPlayer!

Terracota Warriors

Text written in: English

28/10/2007 - Our first night on a hard sleeper China train and what an adventure!!. Firstly we found out that we had the top bunk. What wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that the beds are 3 high on Chinese trains, meaning that the head room above the bed was JUST big enough so that when I lay down I could touch the roof with my hands and I was the lucky one. Poor Rob was so tall that even with his head touching the top of the bed his feet dangled over.
On top of all this the light was right at eye level with no off switch, it was time to pull the jumpers out and use a sleeve!!. Not that this made sleep any easier as for some reason the Chinese have a knack of talking 100 decibels louder than any normal human with sellers reaching 5 times the pitch again. After trying to get to sleep for over an hour I finally gave in and for the first time pulled out the trusty ear plugs I had got in Moscow.
With sleep finally arriving I was awoken at about 3am by the Chinese man below Rob's bed stroking my arm and staring bewildered at me. Feeling slightly creeped out, I made a dash to the loo before hiding back in my bed with my back facing any would be watchers.
7am and we pull into Xi'an. With a free transfer booked we make our way out the train station and look for our friendly hostel rep. On getting to the hostel we were quick to learn that unfortunately our room wouldn't be ready until 12!! Feeling exhausted we decided to stick close to the hostel until then, only checking out a few malls before going back to the hostel.
Arriving back Reve made a beeline for bed, with a min 1 hr sleep in order, while Rob checked out the bar and showers.
Feeling nice and rested we ventured out that evening for a wander around town before discovering America's famous Walmart and doing a small shop.

29/10/2007 - We decided to give the hostel tour a miss today instead we opted to make our own way to the Terracotta army via the public bus. The only westerners on the bus the trip was a very authentic one, and at only 7RMB pp a 100 times cheaper than the hostel tour of 160RMB.

For me standing in front of the pits of warriors I could see how this has been classed as the 8th wonder of the world. The sheer scale of the underground world is mind boggling. I couldnt begin to understand how so many people could create such a world and all for someone who had died. He must have been one very powerful man.

Coming back into Xi'an that evening we again hit the city to see what the stalls and shops had to offer. Arriving back at the hostel at around 5pm we settled into the DVD room and watched Man under fire with Denzel Washington (if you havent seen it I can highly recommend). DVD finished it was free beer at the bar time before a round of a Dutch card game with the two Dutch couples we had previously met in Beijing.

30/10/2007 - We had high plans for today. initially we had planned to go up the city wall, hire a bike and cycle the 1.5hours around the top of the city wall. Unfortunately when we went outside the day was very fog/smoggy with visibility not at its best plus we were to learn the price was 4x the initial price we were told. Armed with this knowledge and the poor weather we instead opted to walk parts of the city we hadn't been to before. First stop was east where I bought a Chinese dining set (chopstick and napkins) for 45RMB and then it was a stomach churning visit to the Muslim quarter where dried livers, tongues and half decomposed sheep heads could be brought.
Feeling very squeamish we hightailed it out for some nicer places of town. After a very cheap delicious lunch we headed back to the hostel to kill some time before our 36hr train ride to Kunming.