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Published: January 6th 2008
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Zhengzhuo - Xi'an
As we were leaving Zhengzhuo we were met at the train station entrance by the two staff who had sold us the tickets the day before. We were told that they had given us the wrong ticket and only then did we see that the ticket said Beijing and not Xian. (they're not even in the same direction) I gave the tickets to one of the women and she walked off and Sinead didn't know what was happening. She didn't recognize them and was freaking out that I had given our tickets away. Then the woman explained to us again. Luckily they spotted their mistake and it was really strange that we had not checked the ticket (which we had for nearly 24 hours) to make sure it was right. Well the two women were so embarressed that they stayed with us and walked us to the train and apologized about 20 times. I don't know what we would have done if they had not have come back to help us. Its really funny that the one ticket we didn't check happened to be wrong. They also refunded us the money difference which was about 30
euros. it was a pleasant day trip on the train and the only eventful thing i can remember is Sinead trying to wave at a little 5 year old girl at the end of the carriage that was playing with us. But instead she waved at and received a wave back from an army soldier amongst a group of soldiers on the train plus a coy smile and an attempt at "Hello". I was sitting right beside her. I don't know what the hell was going through your mans head when he had some lovely young one waving at him while beside her boyfriend. :-D
We booked a private room at the Han Tang Inn, Youth Hostel in Xi'an. When we arrived in Xi'an train station we remembered that outside the station was going to be mayhem, from travelers to touts and more. We then realized that we did not know who would be looking for us or where we were to meet them. We walked on with the crowd only to be greeted by another at the exit. As we looked out at all the unfamiliar faces we suddenely spotted, a yellow hand written sign with NICHOLAS CODD
written on it and a man with a great big smile! We were saved! The driver was Jason, a great guy and a great driver! He helped us with our bags to the car and into the reception where we were greeted by another smiling face.
The room was fine and for only 6 euro a night we couldn't complain. Our own room with a western toilet. wa-hey! The staff at the hostel were just great, always a smile always ready to help. We ate in the Travelers Cafe nearly every day, we just were not in the mood to track down other good places to eat, so we stayed put! ( We ate in two other places in Xian- both twice the price -half the quality)
We both agreed that Xi'an is a wonderful city, it's very clean compared to other Chinese cities and very modern. We took a day trip organized through the hostel to the Terra-cotta warriors, which included a silk factory, a terra-cotta army replica factory and we visited the banpo neolithic matriarchal site, over 6000 years old. The two factories were funny because although they were trying to sell stuff to us, our
guide assured us we weren't obliged to buy anything, and it was interesting to see them make silk carpets and take silk from the worms.
At the terra-cotta army site, there are 3 pits, 2 of which we got to see, as the other one was closed for renovation. We watched a movie on a 360 degree screen,sadly in chinese (much to the annoyance of an american couple traveling with us) and the guide explained about the attack on the terra-cotta army by another dynasty years after. Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty ordered that on his death life sized warriors were to guard his tomb. He believed that he would still be emperor, even after death. There are over 6000 warriors, and they have been guarding his tomb for over 2000 years. They were discovered in 1979 by a group of farmers digging a well, and the fragments of terra-cotta have since been pieced back together. They are still restoring the army and have closed one of the pits. They have also buried hundreds of warriors for the time being.
The next day we went to see Giant Panda's at a reserve an hours drive
from Xi'an. We got to pet the two panda's while they were busy chewing on their bamboo. It was nice to see the panda's and they are kept in good shape and well looked after, although lack of money means lack of facilites. These pandas were successfully bread in the reserve and some of the others had been injured in the wild and brought there to be saved. We walked around the reserve and saw many different animals and then came across this gorgeous baby brown bear, in a cage just large enough for him to turn around in. We asked our guide about the cub's situation and he told us that his mother had been killed by poachers, probably for it's claws. Bears claws are used in chinese medicine and I suppose they use the fur etc. It was extremely sad to see the baby cub, but in many ways he is better off where he is, he probably would have died in the wild.
We got to know some of the staff in the hostel and began to teach them guitar. Because it is low season in Xi'an, they are not as busy so they all want
to learn guitar. As I thought a group of two, the word spread and more and more staff got wind of it and the group began to grow! We were brought to their sister hostel Park Qin bar/hostel to play some music in the bar. We went down a storm and the owner gave me a pitcher of beer. Nicholas was given many beers and himself and stuart got a little merry, while myself and Jason sipped away at our sprite. We were given chinese names Sinead- 'He Xin Ai' Heart of Love and Nicholas 'Le go de' Ancient, meaning so full of wisdom and integrity along with talent. Stuart did our names out in Chinese Calligraphy, on rice paper and gave it to us before we left Xi'an. We placed it carefully into our China guide book for safekeeping.
Jason and Virginia drove us to the train station to say goodbye and we were very sad to leave Xi'an. We had some comfort in knowing we were treating ourselves to 4 comfortable nights in the Westin Hotel for Christmas! Way-hey!! Roll on Christmas Holidays!!
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