Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors

---

Xi'an - 11.02.06

Arriving in Xi'an was a bit of a drama! We are now firmly in tourist town and don't we know it when the hotel touts are actually meeting us ON the train! Unfortunately he was for the hotel we had chosen so we found it hard to shake him off until a suited man, who we assume was an undercover policeman, flashes his card at him, shouts in chinese and takes him away. We are tired, we haven't slept very well and we've been away long enough that all this warrants is a bat of an eyelid before we shrug and carry on. We manage to shake off all the others (we aren't staying the night, we've already book an hotel!) then just before we go inside, intersception! We are rumbled. We manage to negotiate ourselves a hefty discount from her though and thank god because quick frankly the hotel (the planets recommendation) is pretty shoddy.

Anyway, I digress. We are having to move quite quickly now in order to see everything we want before our visas run out. We only had 2 nights to spare in Xi'an and the most important thing on our minds was obviously to visit the terracotta warriors. They are, quite simply, spectacular. As walk into the first building there is just the profound feeling that you are about to see something very special and I feel that none of our pictures do them the slightest bit of justice.

It's hard to believe that they were only discovered 30 odd years ago. It's amazing to think there were thousands of lifesize warriors (all delicately carved with different faces, expressions and stances) and weapons, horses and chariotts that lay undiscovered and peaceful for 2000 years and only caught the public eye when a well-digging operation happened upon them. Makes you wander what other treasures are hidden are hidden away just waiting for discovery!

We also had enough time in Xi'an to visit the great mosque and see the bell tower and drum tower in town. The square in between the towers was a lovely place to sit and watch the families fly their kites. And we also caught some firworks (and many firecrackers) for the chinese new year celebrations. They like their loud bangers that's for sure and also popular are the handheld fireworks that you light and then throw and they explode with a bang. They aren't big on regulations out here and to quote a good friend of mine, it reminded me of the beginning of an episode of casualty!

We escaped unharmed though (despite me being hit 3 times in 1 night by the entrails of empty firworks) and we even managed to land ourselves same day sleeper tickets on the train to Pingyao, our next stop. Think we are lucky to be travelling off season, despite the cold, as most of the sights we visit aren't too crowded and we manage to travel around with relative ease. Next stop, Pingyao..

BTW, to anyone who is in Xi'an and decides to make their own way to the warriors, ignore the touts who hang out by the buses parked to the right of the train station. They tell you that the bus doesn't go for ages (she said 40 minutes to us) and that it takes 2 hours - both of these are a lie. The buses seemed to be every 10 minutes or so and leave in front of the station (walk through the wall and you'll probably see 1 or 2 of them parked up) and they take an hour.

---