We flew from Hangzhou to Xi’an with no hassle and arrived about midnight. Then there was some minor hassle when our bus broke down. Then there was a little more hassle when we couldn’t work out how to cross the road. But it was nothing a 1am McDonalds couldn’t fix.
Here's the Bell Tower, central landmark of Xi'an, by night.
We managed to find our hostel down a little alley. It was warm, cozy, and excellently named Han Tang Inn.
The next day (incidentally my real birthday) we trekked to the train station and caught a bus to the Museum of Qin Terracotta Warriors and Horses. We accidentally used the Hoards of Tour Guides entrance and were quite literally hounded by women trying to convince us how necessary a guide would be. After successfully lying about how poor we were, we escaped on the most unnecessary electric car ever.
The Terracotta Army was only discovered in 1974 by peasants digging a well. Three sites have been found so far; Pit 1 was the first to be uncovered, and is the largest of the 3 vaults.
It’s incredible that these figures were never actually designed to be seen; each one is intricately detailed and every face is supposed to be unique.
Pit 2 offered views of excavation whilst Pit 3, inexplicably described as the ‘Command Centre’, showed the layout of a chariot with 4 horses and a number of cavalrymen.
Here I am with my intellectual face on.
We then bussed to the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum, the actual burial site of the emperor behind it all, about 1.5km away from the vaults of the Army. Disappointingly, we couldn’t actually get into the mausoleum. However, we did get lost in the park, and there was a big commemorative column.
Back at the hostel I had a birthday dinner of all the Western food I could eat, which was probably on a par with the Terracotta Army in terms of excitement for me. I got to eat apple pie, drink wine and use a fork.
The next day we had a few hours to explore the city of Xi’an. We visited the Bell Tower and the Drum Tower, which seemed to be the central attractions. Here's the Drum Tower:
This bell looked important.
As did these drums.
We then walked to the South Gate of the city. Xi’an was once a walled city and all of the original walls remain, which is impressive.
It was a very brief trip to the city, but we saw what we wanted to see, and I got to eat pizza. All too soon it was time to catch our flight back to Changsha, where Tim flew home and I caught a train back to JiangXi and an almost completely empty college. Everybody is now on holiday for the Spring Festival so on Tuesday I will be resuming my own travels with Lydia in Hainan.
As it turns out, China is infinitely more fun outside of poor little Pingxiang. And best enjoyed in good company.
