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Published: October 18th 2010
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When we first met our guide she asked us if we liked Beijing & then said “It’s a little less built up in Xi’an, you won’t see as many signs in English here”, won’t see as many I hardly saw any in Beijing, I’m so glad we had a guide with us!
At Beijing airport on our way to Xi’an I joined the back of the queue to check my bags in & get my boarding pass & saw a little old woman push in front of me, I didn’t say anything......until she said “excuse me” & asked me to move out of the way so her husband could join her “excuse me, I was in front of you & you have just pushed in” I said to which she simply turned to me with a straight face & said “I’m here & you’re there” pointing to our current positions. This was not my first encounter with a person in China with no manners & it certainly was not my last either, on the flight a couple sat in front of us started cutting each other’s finger nails in their seats. Is it me or is that absolutely disgusting? I
saw one of their fingernails go flying onto someone’s head & was just waiting for one to land on me so I could tell them how disgusting I thought they were, luckily for everyone involved a fingernail did not land on me.
When we landed in Xi’an it was the 6th of October, the next day was the last day of the bank holiday & also the day we were going to see the Terracotta Warriors, I was hoping it wasn’t going to be as busy as Beijing so that I could actually get a picture with no one else in it. On the 6th we visited The Wild Goose Pagoda & after the last few manic days in Beijing it was a welcome walk around such a peaceful park surrounding the pagoda, we also visited Xi’an history Museum before heading to the old city wall that was built to keep enemies out, it stretches around the perimeter of the old city about 8km long.
In case the next day was busy the guide suggested visiting the Muslin quarter on the 6th instead of the 7th, that way we could have more time at the Terracotta Warriors, we
agreed so last on the itinerary for the 6th was the Muslim quarter, it was a busy street with lots of food stalls selling all sorts of food. Our guide told us not to eat anything there because we would probably end up being ill, as we continued to walk along the street I heard Nikki say “OH MY GOD I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT I HAVE JUST SEEN” with that I turned around & saw a woman holding her child, who looked about three years old, she was holding him with his legs up & the kid was having a poo in the middle of the street. When the guide heard Nikki she asked what was wrong & Nikki told her what she had just seen & pointed at the kid, our guide looked at us like we were mad & there was nothing wrong with it, I’d like to ask again for another time whilst in China, am I wrong for thinking that is disgusting?
Both our dinners whilst in Xi’an were western meals, I like Chinese food but Nikki has never really been a fan & so far this holiday we have eaten Chinese food for breakfast,
lunch & dinner every day so it was a welcome change to have western food. The last day of the bank holiday we went to see the Terracotta Warriors, I was so worried about going in case it was rammed like everywhere in Beijing luckily it wasn’t that busy & the weather was really good too. The entrance was scattered with stalls selling lots of different things, of course miniature warriors but also, quite randomly, animal furs. Just before we entered the first pit I saw a man sat down signing books, it was one of the people that found the Terracotta Warriors in the 70’s whilst trying to dig a well, I had no idea who he was but being the typical tourist that I am I bought his book, got him to sign it & got my picture taken with him, lol.
After buying our book we entered a 360 degree cinema which had screens showing a short film & as you turned around it was like you were inside the film looking around at all angles, the short film showed the story of Emperor Qin & how his Terracotta Warriors were made, then destroyed & finally
how they were excavated. The first pit we entered was the biggest pit, it was huge & thankfully not that busy, it was amazing to finally see the Terracotta Warriors, you can’t actually get that close to them & the ones you can get close to are in a glass case surrounded by loads of people but it was still awesome to see them.
As I walked around Nikki pointed out that actually inside the pit were empty plastic bottles, I was absolutely disgusted that people would visit such an amazing historical site & throw their rubbish in to it. As I continued walking around some guy was talking to his girlfriend & then just suddenly started walking backwards to take a picture without looking where he was going, I could see he was about to walk into me so held my hand out so he didn’t completely bump into me or more importantly my camera, he didn’t even look at who’s arm was in his back he just pushed me. I cannot believe how rude some people can be, I don’t like rude people so I pushed him back & at this point he turned & looked at
me as if to say ‘you’re so rude’. I have seen a lot of rude people since I’ve been in China, no one seems to care who is around them they just walk & push people out of the way, at first I put it down to everywhere being so crowded because of the bank holiday but it wasn’t that busy in Xi’an.
Whilst driving to each place we drove past some other interesting things, China has pyramids like Egypt but the pyramids in China are covered in earth & have trees & plants on them, they look just like little hills, near the Terracotta Warriors there is a huge mound, it is believed that this is the tomb of China’s first emperor, emperor Qin, it hasn’t been excavated yet as China are going to wait until their technology has progressed enough so that excavation techniques are the least damaging.
I’ve also noticed a mist that seems to be a permanent fixture in the sky & that there are ten times more cars in Beijing & Xi’an than in London & there is a constant smell of petrol when you’re near a busy road, whilst in the car
at one point we drove past a huge power plant with loads of smoke coming out, is that mist pollution? I don’t know but I definitely think it has something to do with it.
I may sound like I have moaned a little (or maybe a lot) in this blog but I did actually really enjoy my time in Xi’an it is just unfortunate that certain people that are rude & have no manners can stick in your mind when you think about a place.
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Andrea
blogs are great!
Nice job on the China trip! Love the pictures, they are interesting and colourful! Happy travels.