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Published: November 29th 2008
Waiting in line
Side view of Warriors facing the entrance.I read somewhere that the graded clipper haircut is the modern equivalent of the comb-over for the balding man. I'm not sure how that works but it says something about vanity I suppose. I realised this when I decided to get my haircut here in XiAn, a decision that was prompted by my buying and wearing a woolly hat (more about that later) and having my hair sticking up whenever I removed it.
I was directed to a rather funky looking hairdressers just down the road from the hostel and whilst they didn't speak English they managed to lead and point me around the salon and through the hair washing process and I was pleased that the hairdresser had a bag with his stuff in it so I was able to point to the clippers.
However, grade 3 seemed to get lost in translation and I ended up with what to all intents and purposes looks like a grade 1.
The hat slides on and off a treat now... except Sue dislikes the cut so much she doesn't let me take it off anyway!!
XiAn is a 3 hour flight north of Shenzhen and consequently a tad colder; well much colder
Vast room
Front view of Pit 1 actually. We are wearing all our clothes layered to keep warm and have bought hats scarves and gloves. Sue's cropped jeans make her ankles cold and we have packed our shorts away at the bottom of the rucksacks to be retrieved when we get to Goa.
They sell North Face jackets here for about £12 and we have seriously considered buying them and mailing them home from India!
Our room has a radiator and is snug and warm and more like a hotel than a hostel. There is a good restaurant here and you get a free beer voucher every evening which gets you into the cellar bar at night. The pool table and free entertainment tend to keep you there longer than you planned. The hostel is a great meeting place and we have met some fun people.
I was talking to someone in one of the seating areas and got a tap on the shoulder from Rich who we had spent time with in Yangshuo; he said he was having a shower and recognised my laugh and came outside to investigate!
When we went off on the essential Terracotta Warriors tour we fell in with Jason (The
Awaiting completion
Excavated Warriors and horses await missing pieces surfer) and Laura (The Surf widow) a really nice couple from Devon and 64 year old solo traveller Mary from Finland who started off quite timid but by the end of the day had consumed more beer than any of us and was still going strong! Joe and Hanna who arrived a couple of days later make up the rest of the gang. We shared some memorable evenings (I hope the photo of me wearing Hannas hair can be copied to us so I can include it!!
As you can imagine our evenings have never been lonely with hardly a chance to relax and read but well worth the investment in time for the pleasure of the company.
As I mentioned above we did get to see the famous Warriors; this was on a tour organised by the hostel. Our guide was a charming girl whose western name was Snow and who made the trip fun and informative.
There seems to be a fairly even split between those who think it is worthwhile going and those who don't.
I think the negativity comes from the vast scale of the pits, their modern protective buildings and the consequent distance between you
Old soldiers
Some warriors still have remnants of colour and the exhibits.
You lose perspective of the fact that the warriors have lain untouched for over 2000 years. Work has actually been slowed considerably because when the warriors are first uncovered they still bear the brightly coloured paint applied when they were made but this fades when exposed to light and air.
However, when you view these excavations and determine the scale of the undertaking, the skill of the craftsmen and the incredible detail in each piece and keep saying to yourself these were built when London was just another Roman camp you then realise how important and unique this all is.
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