The Warriors At The End Of The Silk Road

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August 12th 2017

Published: August 18th 2017

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Delek Delek

The Terracotta Warriors

One archaeology's most famous finds, the warriors were created, lined up and buried 2km from the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, who was the first ruler of a unified China.

Another early start. Another eight hour bus. Followed by another overnight train. Despite already having covered 1,750km over land in my first five days in China, I had to keep moving fast and far, in order to keep to my schedule and see everything I wanted to. It was a punishing pace; I was thinking that I wouldn't be able to keep this up for long.

On the way out of Jiuzhaigou, our driver had a go at another bus driver who pulled out in front of him and then got stuck because his turning circle wasn't small enough to complete the turn. The driver at fault then suddenly - and inexplicably - completely lost it and so I witnessed the famous Chinese short fuse. I've seen it so many times; a Chinese person can appear calm when provoked but it doesn't take them long to snap. And when they snap, they snap.

Some seven hours later as we pulled into Guangyuan, where I had to connect with my train to Xian, I continued to be amazed by how flash seemingly every Chinese city I had visited seemed to be and how well they were kept.
I had seven

Bell Tower

I managed to capture this iconic building - which sits in the middle of a roundabout - with a full moon in the background.

hours to kill at the train station but thought I'd check if there were still any buses running to Xian that same day. Turns out there was but at double the cost of the train. But - it would get me to Xian that evening and I would avoid the overnight train. Already so far over budget, I agonised and wrestled over whether to spend another £12. In the end I went for it; as mentioned earlier, I was really short on sleep and wasn't sure how much longer I could keep this pace going, so avoiding another overnight train and several hours pissing around at a train station would definitely help.

As we drove through kilometre upon kilometre of tunnels on superb highway roads through mountainous terrain, I thought about how travelling through China without reading or speaking any Mandarin would be extremely difficult. Granted my Mandarin isn't the best but it has definitely made life easier.
And maps on smartphones have also made travelling much easier; getting dropped off under a random overpass in Southern Xian would have been a nightmarish inconvenience back in the day, but maps.me was able to tell me exactly where I was

Battle Formation

The Terracotta Warriors are lined up and ready to defend the tomb of their emperor in the afterlife.

and that there was a metro station not to far away that I could go to in order to get to my hostel. No sweat.

As I checked into the hostel, I am asked by the friendly girl on the desk where I had come in from.
"Jiuzhaigou," I reply, "long journey!"
Her eyes suddenly widen.
"Did you know that there was an earthquake there about an hour ago?"
Wow. Thirteen tourists died ain the earthquake, which measured 7.0 on the Richter scale, killed 24 people, although admittedly, most of these fatalities were in Zhangzha Town, where the epicentre was. I avoided the earthquake by fifteen hours and I was in fact contemplating staying an extra night there. Lucky for me I didn't!
I have previous with this sort of thing; back in 2011, I missed a bombing in the main square in Marrakech by just eight hours and I also managed to miss the the start of the revolution in Egypt by a month as well. My mum says that someone must be looking out for me!

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I had a massive sleep-in the next day which really just left me the evening to start exploring the city.
I had been told by

Big Wild Goose Pagoda

Another of Xian's iconic buildings.

several sources that the city's rather central and ancient traditional Muslim Quarter was quite atmospheric in the evenings so I thought I'd have a wander through there. Passing the iconic Bell Tower and Drum Tower en route, Xian's home of the Hui community really is something quite unique. The Grand Mosque is the neighbourhood's centrepiece which although does have some Islamic architectural influence, looks just like any other Chinese temple. Whether they be Taoist or Buddhist or in this case, Muslim, all Chinese temples are laid out the same, in a long rectangular compound which are split by several pavilions into a few courtyards.
Outside of the Grand Mosque, some might say that the Muslim Quarter is atmospheric simply because it is ridiculously busy. Literally thousands of people were on the beat, at times creating a jam that reminded me of Old Delhi. Vendors were mostly selling food to the swarms of passers by, some of them really weird, including; sticky rice cake (actually quite nice), sticky jam bars, deep-fried whole crabs on sticks, a brown powder spice (still not sure what it is), whole black eggs, dry fudge/biscuit-like cakes, dried fruits, red sugary balls of dried cherries (tasted a bit

Xian City Walls

Like the Great Wall, they went on forever!

like marzipan), huge pizza-like discs of flatbread topped with sunflower seeds, pomegranate juice and massive chestnuts.

Xian during a scorching summer's day is pretty damn hot.
But it is a dry heat, meaning that as long as you're in the shade, you were fine. Problem was if you didn't have access to shade like on Xian's old city walls.
Ever since my first walk around old city walls, I have been excited by any city walls that I have come across, hoping that they would meet or surpass my amazing experience in Dubrovnik. None have done so, including Derry, York, Carcassonne and Cartagena among many others. Built in 1370, 12m high, surrounded by a moat and 14km in length, Xian's walls promised much.
And on first sight, you may well think that you're on the Great Wall itself, as much of the grey brick structure has been restored, it is wide, it is flat, it is wonderfully supplemented by temple-like watchtowers and massive imposing gates, and seems to continue forever into the distance. Which isn't great when they are uncovered and you're exposed to the baking sun. With the mercury hitting 39 degrees, it wasn't quite as bad as Mostar was but it

The Line Up

No two warriors are alike. Incredible.

wasn't far off - instead of relishing the experience, it was hell as I zombied my way around like a man lost in the desert. It took four hours to complete the entire circuit and catching the sunset up there and joining hundreds of people for a more than pleasant evening stroll after the sun had gone down was pretty cool. But I swear the left side of my face was radiating heat for two days afterwards.

The hostel I stayed at was largely clean and comfortable but you're allowed to smoke in lift lobbies apparently, which would drift into the dorm. Very annoying. Plus there were lots of other irritating things about the hostel; keycards that didn't work, lockers that didn't open, hot rooms despite having air-conditioning and some God-awful wifi.
Like every other hostel I've been to in China, it also lacked atmosphere. There was a cool bar on the rooftop but I think that it is just the nature of hostel guests in China - domestic guests and foreigners who aren't really the party type - which meant that there was never really anyone up there. It is expensive and a little bit of a hassle

Standing Archer

One of five figures you could examine close-up.

to get to China, so it takes a certain type of traveller to come here, one where having a few drinks and a bit of fun isn't necessarily a priority. There isn't really a drinking culture here in China either.

Now if the city of Xian sounds familiar to you then it is most likely because there is one world famous sight that lives just down the road from here; The Terracotta Warriors.
One of the world's most famous archaeological discoveries, the three pits of thousands of stone warriors lined up in battle formation to protect Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb was discovered by peasants digging for a well in 1974. Among the site's many quirks is the fact that no two soldiers are alike, although truth be told, you'd have to get up close and personal with several statues to notice this, which you unfortunately cannot. Still, the legend, intrigue, fame and size of the site meant that it was one of three sights in China that I was most excited about visiting. Following Lonely Planet's advice and repeating what I did at Angkor, I saved the best until last and visited the three pits dug up in

Pit 1

This ugly roof is unfortunately what houses main pit of terracotta warriors which along with hundreds of pushy tourists, kills any atmosphere the sight may have had.

reverse order.
Pit 3 was disappointing; it was small and didn't have many statues in it although this is believed to be because this was where all the high-ranking officers were stationed - the HQ of the entire army. Pit 2 was bigger although I didn't really know what to make of it until realising it wasn't completely excavated and that the warriors were kept underneath pipe-tiled roofs that were sticking out of the ground, which were the pit's most prominent feature. Albeit behind glass cases, you did get some close ups of individual warriors here; a standing archer, a kneeling archer, a cavalryman and his steed, a mid-ranking officer and an infantryman. Indeed the level of detail applied to each soldier - which are all life-sized - is incredible.
Pit 1 however, was the grand finale and it was...ultimately disappointing. I thought that the pit would be underground, dark and spotlighted - that it would be set up like the caves in Phong Nha where you're made to feel as if you've just discovered the place yourself. I even had an idea in my head of what my lead picture of the warriors was gonna look like, but it

Guangren Temple

The old and the new; the Guangren Temple, Xian's only one, is nestled inside the city walls while modern apartment towers peer over from the outside.

wasn't gonna happen. As it was, it was housed in a huge railway station-like building with light coming through from the top - it was far too bright and had absolutely no atmosphere. It would be amazing to get access to Pit 1 at night with the spotlights on and with access to the pit itself - that would be the only way I'd get that picture.
Perhaps unsurprisingly too, any atmosphere that might've been left was completely extinguished by the number of visitors. Just like Jiuzhaigou, it was almost overwhelming as you jostled with locals for the best photo spots. It was partly my fault for not getting up earlier to visit the site, but still. The exhibition hall, which displays a couple of bronze chariots found in a separate area closer to the tomb itself, was almost too much - there were so many people and it was so hot that breathing was difficult and it was literally steaming; the display cases were fogged up with condensation.

My experience somewhat spoilt, I was getting really irritated at the behaviour of the local tourists around me - they're just so rude and uncourteous that I felt like someone

Little Wild Goose Pagoda

The pagoda is situated on the grounds of the Jianfu Temple.

was going get punched the next time somebody shoved past me the wrong way.
Despite only being here ten days, I was just about over the big crowds already...and I still have about six weeks worth of them to put up with! If you thought Chinese tourists were annoying in other countries, wait until you have to encounter them in even larger numbers in their own backyard. They are pushy, inconsiderate and desperate to gain any space or advantage that pops up. I have not seen one person give way or give something up to another person. Not one. Above all, the Chinese are probably the most impatient people I have ever encountered and it was really bothering me. Would it really kill you just to wait a couple more seconds? Having been to India however, you can put it down the the sheer size of the population. Everything is a fight with other people, everything is a struggle - you just gotta take what you can.

On the first floor of the exhibition hall was a travel photography exhibition showcasing the work of Yoshio Tomii. It raised my spirits a bit because it was inspiring; not only were

Fountain Show

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda watches on as a fountain show plays out below it.

some of the photographs outstanding but I had been to so many of the places photographed that I got a whiff of nostalgia as I passed all these pictures of all the places I have been, especially the less-travelled places I visited. It was a beautiful reminder of where I have been on this incredible journey.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang's actual mausoleum is about 2km from the warriors and was a waste of time l, as it is just a massive mound. Based on historic descriptions however, it sounds like it was pretty bad-ass on the inside; apparently it was filled with precious stones, rivers of mercury and all sorts of clever booby traps. No-one has been inside yet - this is because the levels of mercury within it are more than 100 times higher than what is considered safe. Intriguing!
While at the Terracotta Warriors, there were loads of European tour groups being lead around by ladies with flags and speaker phones which was pretty ironic; in Europe, the tour groups being led around are all Chinese!

On my last day in the city, I visited three temple complexes.
First, I went to the Little Wild Goose

Muslim Quarter

Typical scene minus the crowds in the Muslim Quarter.

Pagoda where the Xian Museum is also located. Both were free! I was dying in the heat though. The Xian Museum reminded me a little of the British Museum and V&A in London except for the fact that I was seeing actual Chinese artefacts in China this time. I also learned via a massive scale model of old Xian back in its heyday when it was the terminus of the Silk Road, that the city used to be 83 square kilometres in size, which was completely enclosed by an even bigger city wall that has long been demolished. The Chinese really did like their walls.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda has a big park around it and I happened upon a random fountain show in front of it that was taking place. It was pleasant enough to watch with the highlight being the wondrous shouts from the kids every time a huge 50m-high jet of water was shot up into the air like Geneva's Jet d'Eau. The wind meant that the jet then got sprayed right onto saturated onlookers, myself included, although I welcomed its cooling effects. It was pretty awesome to see the little kids in particular loving it. Wasn't gonna

Sunset On The City Walls

The sun sets against the silhouette of a watch tower on the city walls.

waste ¥50 going into the actual Big Wild Goose Pagoda complex itself when I could see almost the entirety of one of Xian's main symbols from the outside.
I finished my day by walking through a working class neighbourhood to the Taoist Temple of the Eight Immortals. Like all Taoist temples that I have visited so far, it was elegant and immaculately kept and is the perfect place to relax in a country that doesn't really do relaxing.

And since I've been in China, I haven't had the chance to relax. The pace I've been forced to travel at has meant I just can't take my time like I did in SE Asia. This has been compounded by how much walking I have had to do; I've been averaging over 10km a day. There is a fair amount of walking between sites and between metro stations and sites; and then you have to walk some more at the sights themselves. That is the problem with these huge Chinese cities, meaning I'm knackered every night.
I had four full days in Xian which could have been three, but I really needed to take my time a little as I have