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Published: July 13th 2012
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Our first decision to get to Xi'an from Suzhou by overnight train had to be changed due to the summer holidays in China. All trains were fully booked and so we decided to fly to Xi'an, or actully we did not really have any other choice. This meant we had to take a fast train to Shanghai from Suzhou and then fly. The flight was 2.5 hours long and we arranged with our guesthouse for a pickup at the airport. By train it would have taken about 13 hours. Xi'an is also a big city with huge buildings being constructed everywhere. The population is about 7 million. In the centre of the city is the old city which is surrounded by a big wall. The lenght of the wall is about 14 km. This city used to be the capital before Beijing, and so far this is a very nice city to be in.
We stayed at the Hq guesthouse and this is a very nice and friendly place. It is run by a chinese woman and her New Zealand husband. It is situated in the middle of the old city and just 3 min walk from the muslim quarter.
Here is a couple of streets where they sell all sorts of things, and it is really swarming with people. They also sell crickets in small cages as pets. I have no idea why they would do this? Very noisy at nights. Another interesting thing we saw was something similar to what we have at our shows where you shoot at a target or balloon and win a prize (like a teddy bear). Here you can win a hamster in a cage. Looks really strange seeing all the little hamsters in small cages in a row witing to be won.
Our first day in Xi'an was spent at the Big goose pagoda. This is a really nice and impressive place. It was a bit rainy, but nothing that a umbrella cant stop. Again many chinese tourists, but a very interesting place to visit. After this we decided to go to the southern gate of the old wall and walked around in this area before we got onto this impressive wall. We hired a tandem bike and went for a very nice ride on the wall. It is about 14 km long, and with me sitting at the back, I
could sit and watch Xi'an go by below us.
After this nice bit of exercise we walked on to the Bell tower right in the centre of Xi'an. Here they have some shows where they play some old chinese instruments every hour or so. By now we were very tired and decided to go back to our guesthouse for some time off our feet and just relaxed for the evening. The next day we went to the main attraction of Xi'an which is the famous terracotta warriors. Next to the great wall of china, this is a must see in China.
A chinese emperor (I forgot his name now) built this underground space with over 2000 warriors to protect him when he would die. This army consists out of all types of warriors, each with a different face expression and each one is unique. Even horses and chariots were built. This place was accidently found by a farmer ploughing in a field. This is truely a remarkable place. Or maybe a remarkable emperor. His nearby tomb is still not opened and contains lots of precious thngs, similar to the pyramids in Egypt. After this exciting trip, we ended
the evening off with a dumpling dinner show. We were given 17 different types of dumplings to taste and aftewards saw a very nice and colourful dance show in true chinese fashion. Xi'an is definately a place to visit. Next in our sites is a very beautiful area in China where we will spend some real relaxing time. The next bLog will show you how beautiful it is.
We are having such a great time and everything is going really well. China is not the easiest place to travel in, but with some patience and perseverance it is really something different. Hope you get a good idea looking at our photos below what we are seeing.
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anonymous
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