Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors, China

Firstly, thank you Sarah for publishing this.  We didn’t have access to our blog from Xi’an – seems better now we’re in Beijing, so we’ve added the pictures!

We have had a good few days in China.  It took 2 flights overnight from Bangkok to get to Xi’an and we are now experiencing a very different world to what we are used to.  Firstly, it’s absolutely freezing!  Having been in south-east Asia for the last 2 months (and of course Australia previously), we have got used to constant, hot, humid weather.  As we flew up from Thailand the weather changes were even visible from the plane.  The lush tropical wet land became more wintery, with snow capped mountains and a frightening looking fog developed.  Needless to say, stepping off the plane was quite a shock!

At first Xi’an appeared very dull and grey.  We got stuck in some traffic and hoped our taxi man (who did not speak any form of English) would find our hotel, which we had attempted to show him in Chinese writing!  On arrival, it was quite alarming when a hotel staff member opened the car door and, before saying hello, demanded our passports.  It later transpired that this was just because they had upgraded us and he wanted to check who we were.  This was the best upgrade ever!  We had booked a very standard hotel, but because they had over booked, we got placed in the only 5* hotel in Xi’an!!!!  It was so lovely – thick fluffy towels, a big warm room, free chocolates, people who spoke English, safe food, buffet breakfast… I could go on!

It was difficult to actually drag ourselves out of the hotel .  However, our main purpose was to see the Terracotta Warriors.  The next day we headed there early and got ourselves an audio guide around the 3 ancient pits.  We decided to start with the smallest one, to ensure that we would end on a high.  We certainly did.  The warriors are amazing and it’s quite unbelievable to think that they were buried underground for thousands of years.  There are 6000 warriors altogether and each is unique – they have different poses and hairstyles.  We stood looking at them for ages.  They each have their own little compartments and some even have horses and chariots.  It took an hour to get back to town, after visiting the warriors creators masoleum and then a quick visit to the Big Goose Pagoda.  This is in the centre of Xi’an and is over 1000 years old.  When you consider when it was built it is pretty amazing.  It’s a really tall building and we thought we ought to walk all around it to get photos from all angles!  Following that, we retired to the hotel for a nice swim and spot of table-tennis .

The next morning we decided to go into the city again to have a look around.  For once (perhaps the only time on our whole trip), we appeared to be the only non-domestic tourists in town.  This attracted a lot of stares and it was quite nice to feel that you were going somewhere without the rest of Britain/Australia/America/Germany!  We went up the bell tower and drum tower.  Again, these were in such good condition considering their age.  Then we embarked on a walk on the city wall.  This wall is huge and surrounds the city.  It was first built in the 7^th century and is, once again, in really good condition thanks to regular restoration and enlargement.  It’s about 13.7kms the whole way around, so Xi’an was pretty big, even in ancient times.

We wandered back to the hotel, which had been decorated with lovely Christmas trees and lights.  There is nothing better than cold weather to make you feel Christmassy!  It was really nice.  We saw a Christmas tree earlier this week in Bangkok, but with the hot weather, it just wasn’t the same.  After a rest we zoomed off to get our overnight train to Beijing.  After the 5* hotel, the 4 person sleeper cabin took some getting used to.  However, the journey was so smooth compared to Vietnam and, despite the weirdly loud yawns of the Chinese man sleeping next to us, we slept well!  More to come from Beijing.

Advertisement