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Published: July 17th 2009
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The overnight train from Qingdao to Xi'an was our first experience of the hard sleeper and I must admit that it wasn't too bad at all. The hard sleeper, a carriage with a series of bunks piled three high with little room in between, makes for a pretty intimate experience with your fellow passengers. Fortunately, the train was air conditioned, the beds were comfortable and, most importantly, the guy underneath me in the middle, significantly longer, bunk swapped with me. In the hard sleeper we got a real sense that this space was treated almost as an extension of the homes of the local passengers. Many of the passengers were, or at least gave the impression that they were, complete families. They cooked, they cleaned, they nursed and doted over their babies and let the older children run wild. We slept pretty well and took a little time out in the empty dining car to break up the twenty hour journey and played cards. The views outside were pretty impressive with small consectutive plots of agricultural land persistantly flanking the railway line in the extremely harsh, rugged and unforgiving terrain.
Our hostel was pretty easy to find and is nestled
next to Xi'an's iconic, and impressively original but perhaps extensively restored, city walls. The atmosphere in the hostel was great and the staff were extremely friendly. On our first night we got chatting to a guy and girl, from Scotland and England respectively, over a few beers at the hostel and then together we went for a dander to see what was about. We came across an extremely random sight just outside the South Gate. There was a troop of over a hundred people dancing in sync to the beat of a huge drum and quite a large crowd had gathered. With the city walls illuminated behind them, the dancers moved in single file, like a huge congo line, frequently spinning on the spot or swapping positions. A few were twirling colourful umbrellas and others we waving large coloured handkerchiefs. It was so unexpected and was quite a sight. We were a little dissappointed when it ended but when the crowds began to disperse we saw another spectacle that had attracted a crowd. There was a karaokee session going down. A large group of local guys were circled around one chap who was belting out a Chinese pop number right
there on the pavement. Bizarre.
We took an afternoon to walk the city walls. The wall is a complete rectangle which stretches about 6 or so kilometers in length. You can rent bikes and it should take about 90 minutes to cycle the circumferance. We decided to walk which took, what felt like an eternity. The sun was beating down and the humidty was intense. After a while the heat got the better of us and we had to turn back.
The Terracotta Warriors was definately one of the highlights of our trip so far. It's such a vast site. There are a total of 3 pits in all and we did as the Lonely Planet reccommended and went in reverse order starting at Pit 3, 2 and then 1, the largest of the three. Each warrior is facially unqiue and how they even began to craft these by hand with such care and attention is just mind blowing. The army is ordered by rank with archers, generals, warriors holding swords guarding Qings Tomb to name but a few. Whilst on our visit to the warriors we even got to see one of the farmers who uncovered this
hidden site whilst he was digging a well; he was sitting like a superstar complete with dark shades signing books for a small fee in a sea of excited tourists. The Terracotta Warriors were well worth the visit but we couldn't help but wonder why so may of the 10,000 + warriors were still unearthed. The majority of the terracotta chaps in pits 1 and 2 were still underground. The excavation of the warriors in the initail years following the find in the 1970s was pretty extensive but since then only limited archeological unearthings have taken place. This was evident. We had been warned by a few people before hand that this would be the case but werent put off and glad that we made the trip. It seems as though further excavations should take place soon but first the 30 year rift between the museum and the arceological society will need to be resolved.
On our way out of the Terracotta Warriors we were approached by a Chinese tour guide with a small group of Chinese tourists who polietly asked Chris if he would mind getting his photo taken with one of her group. Now, photo taking of
the pair of us is something we are increasingly getting used to in China, most of them don't ask but we don't mind. SOme people are truly fascintated with westerners. The 10 minute photo session began with each Chinese female excitedly lining up to have their photo taken with Chris. As we were about to leave it became clear that it was indeed my turn and all the men lined up to get their snaps with the 'western girl'. We just wonder what on earth they are going to do with all the photos. Perhaps we now have pride of place in a frame on some Chinese family's wall; who knows?
That night on the advice of a few people from our hostel we ventured to the Big Goose Pagoda which is famed as hosting Asias largest water show every night at 8.30pm. We went along with a Montreal couple Mark and Emilie who had also spent the day with at the warriors. We had been advised to leave cameras and valuables behind and wear clothes that we didn't mind getting wet. The water show was infact a huge playground for tourist and locals alike soaking each other and
leaping through fountains. We were not disappointed. The music began, the fountains soared high into the sky and within moments everyone jumped in. We were soaked. Little kids stood over the fountains contolling the route of the spray with their feet soaking you and everyone else in their range. It was so much fun and I only wish we had photos to capture it. Soaking wet we made our way back to the hostel soon dried off by the heat of the city.
We had hoped to leave Xi'an a couple of days earlier than we did but because the students here had just finihed for the summer it was impossible to get train tickets. We found the local Wall Mart, where we got some cheese (I've missed cheese), a baquette and something that resembled ham. We spent the rest of that day feasting.
Our next stop is Chongqing where we will begin the Yantzee River Three Gorges cruise. We headed back to Wall Mart for provisions.
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kat
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Hi!
Again I love reading your blog posts, it sounds amazing in China! Can't wait for the next one! Much Love, K x