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Published: July 11th 2009
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We headed from Beijing on the overnight train to Xi'an. I can definitely say that Beijing train station was an experience!!! I think the funniest thing though was the 20 Chinese guys just standing and staring at 2 Westerners playing cards!! The train was lovely but I didnt get much sleep due to the very loudly snoring Chinese guys! The hostel very nicely picked us up from the station (spoiled!) and we were crammed into a mini van and taken to the hostel. In the van was James and Anna who I had met in UlaanBaatar, nice to catch up with them! The hostel was lovely (but being the skinflint I am I had booked the cheapest room which was in the basement with pillows that felt like sandbags!) After getting settled we walked into town and saw the Bell and Drum Towers and The Temple of the City Gods, unfortunately the temperature was probably about 42 degrees so it was too hot to be out. So it was back to the hostel for a chill out and catch up on emails.
Once it cooled down I went for a walk and was very impressed with the mannequins in the shop
window having faces like the terracotta warriors! It was still over 37degrees (at 8pm) so I lesiurely strolled not really caring! I managed to find a very cool market area (Islamic section) and spent an hour or so wandering that. On the way back to the hostel I came across a group of people dancing with flags, fans and umbrellas. I stopped to watch and take a couple of pics and got grabbed to join by an old man! It was so much fun, I spent about 15 mins dancing with them (ok trying to copy what they were doing). I think they were delighted to have a Westerner join in and I was delighted with the invitation! Then for a beer in the hostel bar with James and Anna (and to arrange going to see the warriors with them) before bed!
The next day we were up early to go to see the Warriors (or Terracotta Dudes as one of the Americans in the hostel called them!) We managed to find the bus ok and got dropped off at what we were assured was the Warriors. We duly paid to go in and found that it wa actually the
tomb of Qin Shi Huang (the guy that ordered the warriors built). It was ok but a waste of time and money!! We eventually made it to the warriors and I have to say I was amazed! I had had low expectations of them reading other peoples blogs but I thought they were incredible! There were so many and no 2 faces the same! I find it incredible that it is only a few short years since they were discovered! We then had KFC for lunch, I would love to say James and Anna twisted my arm but to be honest after 4 weeks being on the road I was craving "normal" food! And it was good although we were amazed to be told to be quiet in the restaurant (this is China where nothing and noone is ever quiet!)
In the evening we went to the dancing fountain show at the Big Goose Pagoda. It was well worth the 5 mile round walk! The fountains dances to the music with fantastic lights coming up through the water! It was really nice to see all the Chinese people having a laugh and enjoying themselves and there must have been about
10000 of them there for it (it is a vast area). All the Chinese were going into the fountains and so typically I had to join them, to be honest if I hadnt had my phone and camera on me I would've been first in! It was such a relief from the heat and I loved it even if I did lose my sunglasses (3rd pair doing well so far!)
On the way back to the hostel we stopped at a little locals restaurant where they were falling over themselves to serve the foreigners! We had fantastic noodles for just 80p and I was squealing cos Lloyd called with the news that his leave had finally been approved and he would be with me at beginning of August! :-) What a fantastic day!
The next day was another early start to get to Hua Shan a mountain about 2 hours from Xi'an with fantastic views! Thanks to the help of a Chinese student we met catching the bus was relatively painless! Sean decided that he wanted to climb the whole thing, me and Jane decided to take the easy (well if you're not scared of them like me) option of
the cable car! It took us to below the North Point where it was a further 4 hours climb to the West Point! The heat was unbearable as were some of the stairs we had to climb up! We were literally climbing holes in the rock on sheer rock faces holding onto a chain! We made it though and it was worth it for the fantastic views! I even braved climbing over the fence to pose for a photo 2100m up with nothing below me! At the top of the West Point I kept getting grabbed for photos with the Chinese tourists! I think we were something of a novelty since there were no other Westerners there!
We eventually made it back to Xi'an early evening (although Sean didnt turn up for several hours because he did the whole route). After that the next day it was to the train station for our overnight train to Chengdu and our next adventure! Unfortunately after the lovely time I had had there my last impression of Xi'an was not a good one - the toilets in the station being a row of squats again. This time visible to a part of the
station and covered in faeces and menstrual blood!! Surprisingly enough I declined to use them, feeling very sick at just the sight!
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