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Published: September 10th 2006
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Terracotta Warriors If you believed the propaganda, we'd be about to tell you about our visit to the '8th Wonder of the World'.
However, we'd heard plenty in advance to warn us that they are basically just a big bunch of statues that all look pretty similar. With one conspiracy theory offered to us suggesting that they are in fact all fakes.
Once again the pre visit doom merchants were proved wrong, even if not as spectacularly as they were with the Great Wall. It was a visit well worth making, with thousands of warriors and horses in various states of repair.
Contrary to what we'd been told, they're not all the same. In some cases, when you can avoid the Japanese tour groups, it's possible to get close enough to distinguish the individual features on some of the warriors faces. Or at least, what's left of them.
It's difficult to get across the scale of the place from the photographs and it's believed that there are more statues still buried than have been uncovered so far.
As with all the other sites we've visited, the Warriors are not free from tourist tat and the hawkers
that try to foist it on you. One woman even professed that her imitation model warriors were better than a rivals because they were bigger, and she'd sell them for 1 Yuan less (a saving of just under 7p!)
More info on the warriors can be found
here Xi'an Most people seem to arrive in Xi'an, see the Warriors and then make a sharp exit. On arrival in the city it's easy to see why. It's so polluted it's hard to see the buildings - not that that's necessarily a bad thing.
But with more than a day to spare we decided to do a little exploring anyway and headed for the Muslim quarter described in the guidebook as a labyrinth of alleys great for buying food from stalls and finding souvenirs.
Just a few steps from the wide main boulevards lined with Luis Vuitton, Gucci and Rolex shops we entered another world. At first the crazy hubbub of bikes, vendors and smells was fascinating. However, as we wound our way further into the maze a whole new feeling started to take over as we felt like a couple of voyeurs, poking our noses into the
Lying Down On The Job
And nobody helping him up... appalling poverty of the residents of this area.
What the book didn't tell us was that this pocket of alleyways is basically a slum where people are living in the rubble of buildings which look like they've been the victims of repeated shelling, next to stinking rubbish heaps and pools of stagnant water.
The "food" on offer consisted of offal, spread on dirty sheets on the pavements, sheeps skulls, and meat which looked months old and of questionable animal origins. As we held our breath and quick marched back to the comfort of our familiar, prosperous world, we did so with a mixture of guilt and relief. An experience we won't forget in a hurry.
The Longmen Caves Having decided not to spend any longer than necessary in Xi'an we opted to make an overnight trip to Luoyang to visit the Longmen Caves.
Our journey to Luoyang started with the hectic effort of trying to acquire a ticket for the right bus. We were 'aided' by a group of locals who surrounded us, grabbing at our arms and yelling in Chinese. Apparently buying a ticket wasn't possible at the ticket counter and our 'helpers' followed us
This one's definitely a horse
No donkey jokes this time folks all the way to the door of the bus where we suspected that we had paid over the odds for our tickets. A suspicion confirmed when we paid less on the return leg the following day.
A five hour bus journey later, we were doubting the wisdom of our decision as we drew into the depressing looking concrete jungle that is Luoyang. A feeling not aided by the prospect of a ridiculously early rise in order to see the caves before they got crazily busy, and have time to catch another bus back to Xi'an.
When our alarms went off the next morning, we convinced ourselves it was still a good idea to go and headed for the bus station, and the inevitable group of locals lying in wait for tourist prey.
We eventually gave in to a taxi driver who offered to take us to the caves for the equivalent of just over a pound. At 7.30 in the morning it seemed like a good idea since the concourse was devoid of the promised minibuses.
About 5 minutes later it seemed like a poor decision as the taxi turned right where a roadsign clearly marked
Attention!
Not one of them moved a muscle the whole time we were there left as the direction for the caves.
We bit our tongues as we did a scenic tour of Luoyang punctuated by shouts of "Shaolin" and hysterical laughter from the driver. We were set to voice our concerns that we were headed for the wrong destination when we spotted more signs for the caves, this time matching up with our direction.
Relief set in as we pulled into the entrance of the caves. But it was to be short lived as the driver decided he had agreed his fee based on each person, and not for both of us.
Despite the lack of sleep and the slight vodka haze (which we'll come back to) we were prepared and had the agreed money ready, handing it over and leaving the cab. The driver was quite adamant, pointing to his meter and insisting we pay again. Instead, we headed directly away from him, under the watchful gaze of a couple of slightly bemused looking parking attendants. The driver decided against pursuing us, and no doubt left in a less than delighted mood.
Thankfully, we had a five minute walk to get to the start of the caves and it
allowed us both some time to forget about the incident and concentrate on enjoying the site.
It proved to be well worth our journey and the hassle from the various modes of transport to get there as a spectacular array of 110,000 carved buddhas presented themselves in the multitudes of caves and niches in the cliffs lining the two banks of the river.
These included a cave containing over 15,000 buddhas each 4cm in height and a separate massive buddha whose ears alone were two metres long. Naturally, this particular example is currently surrounded by workmen and scaffolding. As it appears everything in China is at the moment.
For a little more info on the caves you can check them out
here Have you heard the one about the Frenchman, the Scotsman, the Pole and the bottle of Vodka? "Good evening. Who would like to drink Polish vodka with me?" was the rather superb introduction that boomed from the lips of Lucas, our Polish dorm mate.
Producing five tiny shot glasses from nowhere he proceeded to pour measures for himself, his cousin Mariella, Max the Frenchman and the two of us.
Exclaiming cheers in
ID Parade
Can you pick out the criminal? Polish (a word now wiped from our memory by vodka) the five measures disappeared down our throats to reactions varying from Polish smiles to Scottish winces.
After a second measure each, which almost finished the bottle, Max asked Lucas if he thought we could finish a bottle between us that night. Lucas naturally agreed it was possible and promised to return with a belly full of food in a few hours, with Max set the task of locating a full bottle in the local area.
Both parties returned successully from their missions, and with the ladies choosing to retire for the evening it was left to the three gents to tackle the bottle. Further dorm residents in the form of an Aussie who only drank beer and a Hong Konger who drank only white wine added to the conversation, but took nothing from the bottle.
The Hong Konger did add to the evening with a demonstration of Tai Chi, his main reason for visiting Luoyang being a visit to his martial arts master.
The vodka and the conversation flowed until all parties decided it was time to turn in. This is also known as the point
at which the vodka ran out.
David + Carolyn
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JumpOverTheSide
Carolyn and David
Pics
Hi folks, it appears some of our pics on this one are a bit darker than usual. They seemed fine on the computer we used, so apologies if they're not up to the usual standard :o)