Advertisement
Published: July 25th 2006
Edit Blog Post
So we boarded the train, which seemed like the tourist express because there were more of us than locals on the train. We were bunked with a couple of Latvians and a guy from Belgium who had been living in China for the last 10 years.
We arrived in X'ian at around 7am and were met at the station by someone from the Bell Tower Hostel (our chosen home for the next few days). He led us to the bus stop where we caught the 611 (he paid 1 yuan each) to the Bell Tower right in the center of town. We checked-in and received a small discount because there was no TV in our room (not a lot of use to us as our Chinese only extends to about 5 words).
On our first day, (as is becoming tradition) we got our washing done and rested a bit after our long jurney. In the evening we took a short stroll into the muslim quarter, where there is a market that is open until about 8 pm selling tourist trinkets and dried fruits and nuts of dubious origin. Then we headed back to the hostel for a bite to
Tripitaka's Feet being "Rubbed"
If the carving is to scale, he was a very big chap. eat (beef noodles) yummy.
The next day we had an early start to see the Big Wild Goose Pagoda (not to be confused with the Little Wild Goose Pagoda 2km away), which is a pagoda in a buddist temple. It was built to store the buddist texts the Chinese monk Xuanzang / Tripitaka (yes the one from the 70s cult series monkey) brought back from India. The pagoda is 6 storeys high, houses a number of small artifacts (including stone carvings of Tripitaka's feet) and is quiet a climb when it is hot. Emma read about the monks travels in Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud by Sun Shuyun, before we left so the exhibition was of greatest interest to her.
Afterwards we started to walk back towards the Shaanxi history museum, which we had been told was well worth a visit. As we walked through the park we heard an announcement over some loudspeakers, so we went over to see what was happening. What we were presented with was musical fountains, with all the locals running through them as the music blared out. The finale of 'Auld Lang Syne' was still ringing in our ears as we
continued on our way to the museum (we got a little lost so we ended up getting a cab).
We had just got into the museum, when who should we see coming down the stairs towards us but Queenie and her sister (two Australian girls we had met in Beijing). After saying our hellos, we arranged to meet the next day. The museum was very interesting and had plenty of the all important English labels so that we knew what we were looking at. After such an eventful and long day, it was back on the bus and back to the hostel.
The following day, as arranged we met the girls at their hostel near the train station and from there we were to go and see the terracotta warriors. With the least of fuss and only a little confusion, we got on the right bus (306) and off we went. The warriors are about 45 km out of town, so the bus took about one and a half hours to get there (quite quick for chinese roads).
We had been told the best order to see the pits (so as to leave the best until last).
So first off we went to the 360 cinema to watch a short history about the region and the discoveries there (all in English), then off to pit 2 and 3 to see the ongoing work, then a short break for a buffet lunch (6 dishes and a help yourself salad & dessert bar) all for 38 yuan. After lunch, over to pit 1 and a view I had long waited for. Seeing all the warriors in their rank and file is a memory I will keep with me always.
On the way back in the bus, the girls said that they would like to stop at the hot springs where tbe emperor used to take his concubines (for a bit of quality time). We went around some very pretty gardens and spent a couple of hours wandering. We wanted to go to Banpo (a neolithic village) on the way back to X'ian, so we popped back on the bus, only to find that it did not stop there so it was... "Go to X'ian, go directly to X'ian, do not pass Banpo, do not collect 200 yuan". When we got back we said our goodbyes to the girls
and we headed back to the hostel.
Day four was uneventful, we slept, we ate, we read, we ordered our train tickets for Chengdu.
On our last day (day five) in X'ian, we visited the Bell Tower and found a traditional four piece band playing (very nice timing on our part), then on to the Great Mosque in the muslim quarter (the garden was beautiful) and finally the Drum Tower (guess what) another band but this time drummers (also very good). Then back to the hostel to pick-up our bags and off for the night sleeper to Chengdu (the only hiccup so far was that Emma and I were in different sleeper coaches) and I have just been approched by a group of chinese from the next sleeper bay to have a swift drink with them for good luck, because "we are making the same journey", (some kind of spirit but fortunately with no real kick).
ESPECIALLY FOR JASPER, CHLOE & BEN: A traditonal chinese breakfast is comprised of a steamed bread bun, a salted hard boiled ducks egg, pickled vegetables, peanuts and rice porridge. P.S: Thanks to all the people who have sent us messages via the blog, it always makes us smile to know people are thinking of us. All our love Marc & Emma XXX
Author: Marc Editor: Emma
Advertisement
Tot: 0.156s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 16; qc: 67; dbt: 0.0755s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Pete & Helen
non-member comment
Mmmm, the "egg Mc muffin" looks really.... well to be truthful... yuk!! Glad to read the blog and that you are having a good time. Happy travels.