The night train from Wuhan was a lot less fun than the one
from Shanghai to Huangshan. The first problem presented itself immediately – we
were getting on a sleeper train at a stop partway through the journey, and
someone had already slept in our beds! We didn’t expect luxury of course, and
it probably should have occurred to us that this might happen at some point,
but regardless it was a nasty surprise. Fortunately, our predecessors hadn’t
made too much mess to the beds… but the floor of the carriage was disgusting,
with squashed food, castaway nuts, and ‘pot noodles’ (the ubiquitous Chinese
train food, and supermarket fast food option, the pot noodle with mystery meat
flavourings is consumed everywhere with free hot water). Pot noodle packaging
is one thing, but a half empty pot of leftover slop is something else – we
prayed the train wouldn’t lurch too much.
Despite the living quarters (and the increasingly sorry
state of the train toilets) we finally got there after 15 hours – I’d fashioned
a pillow cover from a jumper so felt relatively clean. The station was immense,
and people spilled out into the massive station square – we’re not quite sure
why everyone was outside rather than inside, but can only assume that it was
too busy in the station. Bradley had to
go scouting for our bus stop as it was too hectic to crawl through the crowds
with our backpacks strapped on, and after a good twenty minutes we found it
(hidden to the side of the station, but fairly nearby at least). Our hostel was
within easy reach of our bus stop – or it would have been, if the driver had
let us off the bus! Unfortunately, she decided that it would be much more
entertaining to make us walk, and whizzed the doors shut just as we reached
them. Oh well! So off we piled at the next stop (miles away) where we decided
to get the Metro back a stop to our hostel.
The Xiangzimen YHA is a pretty stunning place to stay – it
has plenty of traditional Chinese features, and the rooms are all beautifully
equipped. There was also plenty of space to work and relax, including a quiet
TV room where we hardly ever saw anyone, and we spent a lot of our working and
writing time up there. The wi-fi was almost always brilliant, so it was a great
place to be for what ended up being 11 nights!
Near to the hostel, there is an area just north of the Drum
Tower called the Muslim Quarter, where the streets are filled with local
butchers chopping up meat in the street, and there are a huge number of street
stalls selling everything from mini Terracotta Warriors to dried fruit to
bootleg DVDs. 
There are also several small mosques, plus The Great Mosque. The
Muslim Quarter was busy, friendly and we spent several hours over the next few
days ducking in to buy some fresh bread, or to sample some yummy pastry.
The Great Mosque is hidden off a particularly touristy
street, and is well worth the search. It’s an active mosque so there are areas
you cannot visit during services, but the courtyards are amazing and it is one
of the most peaceful places we have found in China – all surrounded by one of
the busiest, most frenetic places we’d been!
There are several much-loved cats on the premises, and the buildings are a wonderful combination of Chinese and Islamic architecture. This thriving and friendly part of Xi’an has been one of the most welcoming areas we have visited so far.
The following day, we decided to walk the formidable City
Walls (not quite the Chichester wall walk!).
The circuit takes four hours to
complete, and as it is an exposed walk and it was a hot sunny day, it was
pretty sweltering up there! Several people opted to cycle the walls (you could
hire bikes for about £4) and we actually saw more people doing that than
walking.
The walk is pretty pleasant – there are three gates on each side (it
is a big square) and as the walls are so high up above the city, you can see
some amazing views of each quarter, both inside and outside the walls.
One sad story about the walls though – we met a lovely girl
called Diana in our hostel, who decided to take a bike for a spin round the
walls one day. She was having an amazing ride, rushing across the granite
slabs, when she skidded and fell off at high speed. BUT even though there were
plenty of people around, nobody stopped to check she was ok – even though she
was laying there for a while in shock! We’ve had mixed experiences of the
helpfulness of Chinese people on this trip, but that was a big surprise to us.
It certainly put us off considering a return to the wall for the experience by
bike!
The next day was a work day, but we had time to visit the
Xi’an Museum in the morning first. There is a brilliant map in the basement
showing the old city walls and how the city would have looked with the original
walls in place, and as is often the case in China’s museums there were some
great bronze and porcelain pieces and
some beautiful (if a little meaningless to us!) Chinese calligraphy.
In the
grounds of the museum we also found the Little Goose Pagoda, and some fantastic
gardens. Not bad for a short day!
Now it was time for the big sight in Xi’an – the Terracotta Warriors. We took a straightforward bus out of the city, and an hour later we were deposited at the gates of the site (who needs an expensive tour?).
The Terracotta Warriors are a bizarre sight and concept – a whole terracotta army hidden underground and only discovered in the 1970s when a well was being dug – and that initial discovery presented new insight into China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, and his beliefs in the afterlife.
It is unclear whether he built the army to protect him in the afterlife or to lead the army into the afterlife… but popular opinion suggests that the army was created so that he could continue his rule after he died. Either way this seems quite a lot to ask of your people – to build you a faux army.
The Terracotta Warriors archaeological site is divided into three ‘pits’ – pit 3 is the smallest, going up to pit 1, the largest. Every guide we read recommended seeing them in ascending order of size, so we started with pit 3, and were pretty impressed. There were lots of clearly excavated soldiers standing ready. Pit 2 felt a little disappointing after this – it was much bigger, but the excavation was less complete and there were plenty of holes with not much to show for themselves. However, surrounding pit 2 there were several intact models showing different army personnel that had been extracted from pit 2, e.g. an archer and a senior ranking official.
Finally, we went into pit 1 and… well, you really do need to see this last for the full impact. There were row upon row of soldiers, it is quite impossible to imagine the work that must have been involved to create, and then to obscure this army (the entire army was covered, ready to mobilise when needed). This is an incredible find and will be keeping archaeologists busy for some time!
An interesting conversation later arose back at the hostel –
several people were discussing (over a beer or two of course) a conspiracy
theory that perhaps the site had been ‘faked’ to attract tourists. The cynics!
I don’t subscribe to this, merely thought that the Terracotta Warriors must
have their place in history secured now that they even have a conspiracy
attached to them. Not that they need a better story, but there’s nothing like a
good conspiracy theory!
We’ve been in China for approaching a month now, and this
meant a return to visa fun as we sought to extend our visa for another month.
We agonised over the paperwork, prepared the perfect package of supporting evidence
to prove that we were respectable tourists and we had both money and travel
insurance, and approached the Public Security Bureau with trepidation – only to
have our forms stamped promptly, pay our money within minutes, and be told
without further ado to collect our renewed visa in five working days.
Completely straightforward! We did ask if there was any way to get this processed
faster (pay for an express service as we had in Bangkok) but we backed off as
soon as she started to get the impression we were trying to bribe her!
Apparently it is five days no matter who you are or how much money you have, so
we accepted this – it just meant an extra day on top of the ten days we had
already allowed to stay here. That’s a long time in one place, no matter how
much you like it! At least it wasn’t Wuhan – Xi’an is possibly the nicest place
we’ve been so far, and our hostel is the nicest place we’ve stayed, so we
really couldn’t complain.
While we were in the south of town near the PSB, we headed
to the Big Goose Pagoda to have a look around. The pagoda itself is quite
shabby looking, but it has some pretty gardens and lakes nearby, though some
terribly touristy streets on the periphery! Although we appreciate that big
sights will attract tourist trappings, it is still sad to see the soul ripped
out of some places in the bigger cities. I think this is why at heart we always
prefer the sights in the countryside, why we love New Zealand so much, and
areboth so drawn to the coast – there is always somewhere to look where you can
block out the civilised world and just appreciate what is before you, without
being flogged a jade Buddha or prayer beads.
The next few days were pretty uneventful, as we had decided to
make the most of our lovely hostel and have a restful few days. It has been
pretty non-stop so far and every now and again you need a real weekend! The
Saturday and Sunday were spent mooching about the local shops, eating at the
local restaurants, and not venturing far from home at all. We Skyped our
families, including a lovely catch up with Mike and Gill after their European
holidays (longest Skype ever!) and tried even more great dishes at the nearby
food court (the shopping mall by the Bell Tower has a great food court at
bargain prices, though we’ve been eating plenty of street food too!). Unfortunately,
our last few days in Xi’an were beset by rain (something we’ve not seen much of
so far!) and that meant the rest of the week was a bit of a washout… so by the
time we got to our last night we were ready to leave! At least it rained when
we were supposed to work, but even so… All this rest did at least allow me to
heal my nasty bug bites, and I’m starting to look human again, hurrah!
So in summary, Xi’an was fantastic, the Terracotta Warriors
might be faked (though they looked pretty real to us), and we’ve got another
month in China. Yes!
PS. We’re probably not listening to enough music, but for
Sarah, Matt and Mike: I’ve been listening to your mix tape Sarah (but foolishly
packed the cards into storage! Please could you email me the tracklist?). But I
love it so far and can’t wait to share my favourites with you. I’ve also been
listening to Shellac in preparation for virtual attendance at the Nightmare Before
Christmas! We also listened to the Dark Side of the Moon the other night Dad –
you would be proud J
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