Xi'an was pretty cool...

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Well, we are about to leave Xi'an for Shanghai. We've been here since the lovely 12 hour train ride from Beijing. We bought a "hard sleeper" and they weren't kidding. We got a bit of sleep with our ear plugs, eye covers and bellies full of tylenol pm but it wasn't enough. I've never had an issue with sleeping after popping some tylenol pm but it was a pretty bumpy ride.

After we arrived we were bombarded with, "Hello. Do you have a place to stay? (yes) Oh, where? (at a hostel) Do you know how to get there? Because I'm tour guide and I can take you there for cheap. (we know how to get there but thanks) But I can take you there. (we are already meeting a tour guide) Oh. Have you paid yet? (yes) Ok thank you." That pretty much happened from the moment we stepped off the train until we were walking towards the city buses. We're getting pretty used to these self made tour guides. The answer will always be no... When we were out of their reach a dude walked up and asked if we were staying at the Bell Tower Hostel and it stopped us for a bit. He was there to show us the way. He worked for the hostel. Well, in that case we'll take it! After a very bumpy ride on a public bus we made it and signed it. The beds were 30 yuan (which is about $3.5) a night. Oh yes, you read right. We opted for a private room the last 2 nights and it was only 180y ($22.50). The prices here are crazy cheap. The beer or "pee-jou" as you pernounce it in Chinese is around 2.5y (at a street vendor) to 10y (in a restaurant). We're getting pretty spoiled.

Anyways, we've been checking things out in town and jumped on a bus going the wrong way and took a little public bus tour of Xi'an. Here we were thinking it was a little city but it's crazy big here too. It's very obvious that China is pretty over populated. The regular populations here are numbers in the millions. Lots of people everywhere.

There is a high Muslim population here and it's very interesting to see the mix with the Chinese culture. The clothes that are worn are a cross between the two like the Chinese type shoes that you've seen that are made out of black cloth on top and have the top-sider looking bottom with the Muslim hats for the men and the scarfs wrapped around the women's heads and faces. The food is amazing as well! If we come back to China just for the food it will be worth it...except for all the grease that they cook EVERYTHING in. It's fun to walk up and down some of these little streets and just try this or that. There are tiny little windows along each side of the streets full of different looking foods. All you have to do is point and show how many you want. We've been trying our Chinese and sometimes it works and sometimes they look at us as if we're crazy.

We went to the Terra Cotta Warriors yesterday. Again, bombarded with "tour guides". Again, no thanks. It was funny because one girl said it was far from where we got dropped off to where the museum was and it wasn't really. Just a walk. When we were checking stuff out we heard some "guides" pretty much just saying what was written on the plaques. This site was amazing. There were 3 pits all being excavated as we speak. This was the first time I had seen or heard of a site being open to the public while they were still working on it. Pretty cool. You can tell they have just scratched the surface as well. The biggest collection was in Pit 1 where they say there's 6000 warriors setup like they were when they sealed the vault. It didn't look like 6000 but there were a LOT of them. There was also a place where they were excavating the terra-cotta parts and putting them back together. Like a giant puzzle. They call it the 8th Wonder of the World and now we know why.

So, now we're heading to Shanghai on a soft sleeper this time. It will take about 18 hours...fun fun. We'll blog again after we've had some experiences there.

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Additional photos below

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Photos

another from the mosque
This was a very relaxing place.

The Big Goose Pagoda
We ended up walking all the way to this place and it was a hike!

Burning incense for Buddha
Everyone burned 3 sticks for each alter that they visited.

Xi'an city wall
The main part of the city is surrounded by this wall that was the security wall for the smaller original city. There's a North, South, East and West gate. We ended up seeing all 4 by accident.

The Terra-Cotta Warriors
This was a highlight of our travels so far.

Up close
There is a warrior that still has yellow paint on his collar. Next to him is a guy asleep. They made him that way. Pretty cool.

Pit #1
This is the largest of the 3 pits and it's amazing.

Wooden Chariots
You can see where the chariot used to be but it didn't make it. There were numerous fires and other issues that plagued the tomb before it was found.

A massive puzzle
All the warriors have been reconstructed from their little pieces that were found in the tomb. Here's where they put the pieces when they excavate them.

Almost put together
These are a few that are almost completed.

The Bell Tower in Xi'an
This was right outside our window in our hostel.

Comments

[Jo]

Feel like I'm there!
Hi, Guys. James gave Eric your blog site so I am enjoying your comments and experiences. Know you are having the time of your life. Look forward to some pictures with your descriptions. Jo