The adventure begins in Xi'an - July 20-22, 2012

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Friday, July 20^th, we headed to Beijing West Railway station for our 12-hour overnight train to Xi’an, in Shaanxi province. Our 4-week adventure through China was about to begin!! When we got to the station, we fought our way through the great unwashed masses to our gate and then pushed and shoved our way through security. We’d gotten tickets for a soft sleeper, which is one step below the top class. So we were hopeful that we’d have decent people in our cabin with us. We found our car and set ourselves up on our beds, which were the two bottom bunks. Our cabin-mates were a young couple which we were very grateful for – they didn’t speak English but they were polite, quiet and not smelly so that’s all we need! We both had some snacks and sat on our bed and watched the scenery go by for the first little bit. We turned the lights off and closed the door to minimize the reflection off the window, which our bunkmates had no problem with. They quickly fell asleep, and Fernanda soon followed. I wasn’t quite so tired so I had a very peaceful time watching the increasingly dark scenery flow past. Eventually I too fell asleep.



The sleep on the train was actually pretty decent. The movement, like in a car, helps soothe you to sleep. And the beds were pretty comfy. Plus the temperature was just right. I woke up a couple of times in the night and was confused as to where the hell I was. But mostly it was fine. A low-point was the bathroom, which was pretty disgusting (I miss you, Executive Class bathroom on the high speed train!!!) Although in the morning we discovered that at the other end of the train there was a Western toilet which was less disgusting since it’s much more difficult to “miss” the hole when it’s closer to you. That’s the worst part of squat toilets, really – the floor around them is naaaasty.



We arrived in Xi’an in the morning and we were met by people from our hostel which was really nice. They drove us from the train station to the hostel. The rooms are pretty nice here – the bathrooms are certainly nicer than at Long Xuan, and the beds much softer. But we both have been spoiled and do miss having our own space! I did a bunch of laundry when we arrived and I wasn’t quite sure where to hang it. I ended up taking the bunk near the window so that I could keep that open and dry it.



Anyways, after we got settled at the hostel, we went off to explore the town. Xi’an has a walled old city which is really all that’s worth seeing. We visited the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower before wandering off into the Muslim Quarter – which was really, really cool. We visited a mosque which was the most un-mosque-like mosque I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot of mosques). For starters, they had no problem with our uncovered hair and tank tops. The architecture was also entirely Chinese. Apparently a pagoda in the centre acts as the minaret! It was hands down the most comfortable I have ever felt at a mosque. And it was incredibly peaceful there – I could close my eyes and actually hear the birds. Moments of quiet and peace are rare in a country of 1.3 billion so you have to appreciate them when they come!



We had lunch in the Muslim Quarter at a place serving up traditional Xi’an food. They give you flatbread which you break up then they add soup to it. It was pretty good though I resent the fact that I had to work for my food haha.



We wanted to visit the city walls but we didn’t realize you couldn’t get to them from any entrance. So we walked to the North entrance and were unable to find an actual pathway up to the wall. Instead, we found a really cool park on the outside of the wall which was a great public space complete with exercise equipment. We treated ourselves to some self-massages!



We were pretty damn tired at this time (lots of walking!) so we headed back to the hostel for showers. We then went just a few doors down for dinner, since it had started raining. We had some really delicious, cheap food which was awesome. They even had a hand-written English menu! They really cater to the crowd at the hostel.



That evening we had internet time in our hostel’s kinda crappy lounge/bar area. This was the top-rated hostel online but it’s not that great. The only area with internet is a really loud bar (which I’m in right now). There are also people smoking in it. I wish there was a more chill lounge area. When we got sick of the crowds (and when my internet stopped working – wifi in China is sub-par at best) we headed up to our room for the night.



Sunday morning we joined a tour out to Xi’an’s top tourist destination – the terracotta warriors. Our tour guide was a very high-energy Chinese lady. We first visited the tomb of the Emperor who created the warriors which is really just a park because the tomb is full of mercury (the cause of his early death) and can’t be visited. Then we went to visit the warriors. Our guide saved tomb 1 for last, which was really good because it’s by far the most impressive. Tomb 2 is giant (2,000 statues) but it hasn’t really been restored yet. Archeologists are slowly working on it! There were a few assembled statues which we could see behind glass. Tomb 3 is small (70 or so statues) and is where the high-ranking statues are. Tomb 1 is the most famous and the most restored. It’s where you see the lines and lines of warriors. The pictures show it best!



After visiting the tombs, we had lunch in the area before heading back to Xi’an. Fernanda and I were only at the hostel for a short while before heading back out to do one last tourist activity – a bike ride around the top of the wall! We learned that we need to go to the South gate to get to the top so we headed down there. The bike ride was awesome and we had a fantastic time just cruising around. We then had dinner near our hostel and headed back to pack! Our 2-day stint in Xi’an was at an end and we needed to get ready for our next stop: Chengdu, Sichuan!



-Dafne

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