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Published: April 25th 2008
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After a long sleepless, smokey, and wild ride on the sleeper bus, we made it to Xi'an bright and early with the sunrise. Groggily we made our way across the city to where the cheaper hotels and hostels are located. After checking several hotels which either were full or didn't have any discounted rates (or didn't want to rent rooms to westerners) we found the Xiangzimen Youth Hostel. They offered us a good deal on a room and the atmosphere is really nice, not to mention the traditional chinese decor is great. (free internet and booking services have been helpful too).
Our first site we set out to see was the Big Goose Pagoda, the most visited site here in Xi'an. Our expectations were high and so after a long walk to get to it, it seemed sort of anticlimatic. The design was not what we expected, it was more plain and not very interesting to look at. The temple grounds around it are nice but we decided it wasn't worth paying extra to walk up to the top of the pagoda. On our walk to the pagoda, we had fun trying out some folding bicycles and looking at electric
bikes, both of which are surprisingly cheap. We also found a place called "digital sqare" where we checked out some good deals on electronics and stuff. We decided to stick around the area to wait for the light and fountain show that goes on nightly in front of the pagoda in the park. It was crazy how crowded the place got, but it was worth the wait and fighting the crowds. The free show was set to upbeat classical music and the fountains were all programmed in time with the music.
The next day we took a local bus to the train station and caught another bus to the site of the Terracotta Warriers. This is basically part of a huge (56 sq km!!!) mausoleum that an emperor of the Qing dynasty had built during his reign to be used as his tomb when he died. He was a successful but also violent and crazy ruler. He enslaved workers and artists to build this enormous and amazing tomb, which took a mere 40 years. It was discovered 2000 years later in 1974 when some locals were digging for a well and they pulled up some pieces of the stone
warriers. The tomb is full of an entire terra cotta army (warriers, horses, carriages, etc) and only a few parts of it have actually been excavated. It's amazing to look at and imagine the work and craftsmanship that went into it all. Unfortunately the site gets super crowded so it's a little tiring fighting your way through the masses to take it all in. They also have it set up so you have to walk through this strange little community that seems like it was built simply to cater to the tourists going to the tomb. So you get off the bus, then have to walk way out of the way to get to the entrance which was right next to the bus stop so that you can walk by all the shops and restaurants that are set up in what otherwise seems like a ghost town. It's very weird. On the upside, once you are on site, there is an informative film in a circular theater that has shows in both english and chinese which gives a good background on what you are looking at.
Today has been a logistics day trying to figure out our next couple
of weeks and how to get home. Travel planning can be a bit challenging here and it turns out flying to Hong Kong is very expensive! Tonight we will fly to Hohhot in Inner Mongolia.
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