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Published: August 20th 2007
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We were again picked up by the staff from the Bell Tower hostel in Xi'an - this time we would take a public bus and it seemed like a very efficient way to get to the hostel. Even though we were tired from the train journey we thought it would be best to get on with the sightseeing as we only had 2 nights in Xi'an. First was breakfast to be had to set us up for the day. Unfortuately that took about 50 minutes in the Bell Tower - and when you are tired and want to get on with your day this can be quite a long time for a few toast. We think what happened was, they ran out of some supplies and sent someone down to the shop to get some more. There seemed to be a few people in the same situation as us, wondering when their breakfast would show up. The people in the restaurant are smart though, and take the money first, so you probably won't walk out on them.
So finally we managed to find the public bus that would take us to the Terracotta Warriors for only 7 yuan! It's no
Warrior Warehouse
This is the main pit of the Terracota Warriors. The others looks bare compared to this 306 and departs from the parking lot next to the train station. Although the lonely planet says that these busses are pretty infrequent there were about 3 of them when we arrived. They just seem to leave as soon as they are full and so we did not have to wait for more than 5 minutes. Arriving at the Terracotta Warriors was pretty daunting, about half of china was there to see them too! We saw the video in the amazing cirucular vision theatre (note: irony here, it was probably amazing in the early 80s when they made it, not so now) and went to explore the different pits. We left pit 1 for last as it was the most impressive one. To our surprise, although the warriors were discovered in 1974 only a relatively small number was excavated. We soon saw why. The whole complex around the Terracotta Warrios must have taken quite a bit of the workforce. When we where there there was little evidence that work on excavation was ongoing. There where signs up suggesting that work was being done, but we doubt it. When you exit the exibition grounds you find yourself in an outdoor shopping
centre which seems to be 80% empty. There are hundreds of stores, all selling identical goods, each trying to outshout each other with megaphones. It is verging on the ludicrous what they have done here, but I guess some tourists must loose the will to live and buy just to shut them up. Obviously there are big plans for that place - and the number of already excavated warriors seems to be enough to satisfy the visitors so why bother to dig up more?
Still tired, walking down to the bus was very exhausting, here the locals reached a very nervracking pesting level and all we wanted was food and sleep. Back in Xi'an we decided not to go back to the hostel as we would have collapsed on the spot, instead we went to the muslim quater with the boys to get some food. The mood has risen instantly with the arrival of the first kebabs, more and more orders followed. The way it worked is that the BBQ man would bring into the restaurant whatever was just ready to eat and shout out for anyone who wanted to have it. Very gringo friendly 😊 We simply ended
up shouting after food that looked nice and had a delicious dinner. 20, 50 skewers? Give us a handfull 😊 We enjoyed especialy the sour cabbage rice and the spicy fried bread. Fantastic! We were in food fever and scoffed more great stuff from the market, some tasty dried fruit and walnut sweets. Fully fed to bursting point , we stumbled home through the neon of Xi'an.
After such a fully packed day we could fall into bed with a good consciousness. But there was another obstacle waiting for us - the train tickets. After a brief discussion we decided to cruise the Yangzi from Chongqing to Yichang. Now, we needed to get to Chongqing first and so wanted to buy the tickets as soon as possible knowing that you have to buy them few days in advance. The hostel was sadly not very helpful in the end and after some lengthy discussions and raised voices, they told us to try at the ticket office (which was closed at the time) and the dreaded trainstation. Finally, we decided to wait for the next day.
Next morning Eliseo and Zak tried to get the tickets from the tourist office.
Dried Fruits on the Market
Wonderfull looking fruits that for the most tasted as good as they looked. They even had a piece of paper which said in chinese exactly what they were after. The only answer the got was a very firm "no!" , and their paper thrown back at them. So back at the hostel we were still trying to get our tickets, now for the next day. We left it with the hostel tourist agent to sort it out, accepting that we were happy with whatever. And so we got the tickets we wanted and were also able to book the cruise. What was all the fuss in the first place about? On track again we needed some more muslim food 😊 We went back to the restaurant and indulged again in everything that passed our nose. The evening entertainment was provided by a big block which was lying on a busy path and would make everyone trip over it. It was superbly camoflaged that people just didn't see it coming and would either stub a tow or nearly fall over everytime. Not very nice you may think, but it was pure genius slapstick entertainment, I guess you had to be there. Brilliant 😊
Xi'an being very touristy has really annoyed us in places
Say CHEEESE!!!
Alarmingly, the 2 manquins have wigs on, Andy.... does not but it was somewhat nicer than Beijing. At that point we were getting a bit tired of "Nihaus" and "Hellos" and being overcharged in a lot of places. The whole bargaining experience was not quite as friendly in places as it should be. More often than not we just got a very firm "NO!" when proposing a lower price. That was followed by a look like you had just offended their whole family and you where getting close to a beating if you continued. Only when we gave up and walked away we would get a response - "You say a price". How is that fun?
We finally borderd our train to Chongqing and left Xi'an on a train ride that would not be quite as expected. More in the next blog entry 😉 One thing that caught our eye were the little children. The potty training seems to be quite simple here in China. The babys have pants on which have an direct opening at the front and a nude bum at the back. No nappies, that's right. That way you are always ready to hold you child up in front of you if it needs to wee
Baklava type thingy
This was a very sweet, nutty affair. Yum Yum or to poo. No, it does not matter where you are, you are in China. How is that for an approach western mummies? Certainly no nappie rash here 😊
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