Actually getting to Xi’an was, for me, a HUGE obstacle, one that I really needed to overcome and had been preying on my mind right from the start of our Chinese adventure. From previous personal experience getting around China on business, taking internal flights had been nothing but a massive nightmare with huge delays and even flight cancellations and of course, I was sure that it was going to happen to us. But, much to my relief, it all went just we planned. Arriving at Chengdu airport it was shiny and new, well organised and our flight departed exactly on time, even touching down in Xi’an just a little ahead of schedule. Sadly though, all this goodness turned sour when the simple act of catching a bus from the airport in to Xi’an turned in to a bit of a farce. We’d read about a dedicated tourist bus that would drop us off pretty much right outside of our hotel, on investigation at the airport this didn’t actually appear to exist. Checking this out with the non-English speaking tourist desk, they just waved us away quite curtly toward the coach ticket desk, being no help whatsoever. The ticket desk of course advised us we needed to use route 4, purchasing our tickets we queued in the line for the bus to be told we actually needed route 3. We changed queues where we were then told it was actually route 4 that we needed, but by this time the bus on route 4 had just left. So, feeling very frustrated we had to wait for another hour before finally boarding our bus. Sadly, coach route 4 terminated at a hotel, the Xi’an Hotel, that just happened to be nowhere near ours. Nobody, not even the concierge at the Xi’an Hotel seemed to know where our hotel was, or even heard of it and even the taxi that we finally used didn’t really know where it was. But some we finally got to our quirky art hotel smack in the middle of Xi’an.
Our hotel, the Tang Dynasty Art Garden Hotel was right beside the Great Goose Pagoda, a huge landmark in Xi’an and is a really spectacular looking hotel built around small courtyards, immaculate gardens, pagodas and Koi filled ponds, it looked a real picture. But that was it, and looks sure can be deceiving. We felt like an inconvenience, especially when we had minor plumbing issues that resulted in several visits from a housekeeper that spoke no English armed with huge plunger but the problem stubbornly remained and eventually resulted in a change of rooms. Nobody smiled. Nobody spoke any English and it all seemed like so much hassle for the staff to cope with. Sadly, that indifferent attitude seemed to prevail throughout Xi’an.
Feeling hungry after our arduous journey we headed out in to Xi’an to find food. Not a lot on offer in what turned out to be a bit of a tourist trap, but eventually we chose the First Noodle Under The Sun, famous for its dish of one noodle, sounds odd but it is 3.8 meters long! Very tasty, but again customer service was not high on their agenda, despite witnessing the shift change communal singing of what seemed to be the restaurant song out in the car park.
Up early the next day to catch a local bus from outside the nearby Pizza Hut, the No 5 bus that took us through the Xi’an rush hour to the train station where we would pick up the bus taking us out to the Terracotta Warriors. Using the local buses was pretty easy with good maps at the bus stops. Our presence on the bus caused some consternation as several passengers just stared at these two crazy westerners riding their bus, some taking surreptitious pictures with their mobile phones. Very amusing.
Xi’an train station is a huge and baffling place and finding the right bus was a little tricky, but the long queue alongside the small sign for bus 5 (306) was a good clue. People swiftly boarded the first bus to arrive, but not long after it departed another soon arrived and we boarded.
There were plenty of touts trying to get you to board the plentiful supply of the more expensive tourist buses bound for the warriors, but we decided to use the local bus that used the same route. Fares are paid once the coach pulls out of the station bus park and the princely sum of 7RMB was all it cost for the single fare to the Warrior Park. Our journey took best part of an hour and wound through some very interesting scenery. Small towns. Big towns. Universities the size of a small town. Military establishments and research facilities. Our coach made several stops along the way, dropping off passengers before finally pulling in to the local coach park. Signs to the Terracotta Warriors were few, but the crowd all seemed to be heading in the same direction, our route taking us in to the car park, passing several local stall holders selling trinkets before we found the ticket windows.
RMB35 swiftly paid and we took the walk up the hill though the ornamental garden to the actual entrance. Through the bag search and we were inside, ready to be wowed.
Internet searching found advice to take the pits in reverse order, slowly building on the wow factor before getting to pit 1.
Pit 3, the smallest of the warrior filled pits was simply breathtaking. These fine upstanding men and their horses have been on our TV’s and in our history books since early childhood and now, after all these years, we were staring in to a hole almost face to face with them. Suitably wowed and thinking the shock factor would have worn off approaching pit 2, nothing could have prepared us for the scale of what greeted us. Again, the sheer scale of the excavation was overwhelming. Glass cases surrounded the pit allowing closer inspection of some of the soldiers. Gazing at the intricate detailing was incredible. Faces. Hair. Hair braids. Buckles. Straps. Each finely carved and totally unique.
Thinking that we’d been suitably wowed again, entering pit 1 was simply mind blowing! Nothing prepares you for the sheer enormity of what lays before you. You eyes adjust to the light and before you stand 6,000 warriors lined up row by row, on guard, defending their dead emperor on into the afterlife.
Our trip out to the Warrior park using public transport was well worth it to see this incredible sight. This should be something on everyone’s “To-Do” list.
Our coach ride back to Xian station dropped us off alongside the still intact city wall. Paying a small entrance fee we climbed to staircase to be greeted by an amazing view of Xian and a chance to escape the chaos below and enjoy some peace and quiet. Xian city wall is a shade under 14 kilometres in circumference and after a short walk, well signposted, we hired a tandem bike and proceeded to circumnavigate the whole wall. What a treat it was too. This is a great way to view Xian giving you a bird’s eye view in to parts of the city you’d just never see from the ground. Temples, hostels, housing, hutongs and even tables of old folk playing Mahjong. Delightful.
Our map indicated that a metro stop was near our exit off the wall, but despite a thorough search we could t find it, locating instead another station a good walk down the road. We needed to locate the subway stop nearest to our hotel for our trip out to Xian’s high speed train station. This proved to be a long way out of town and our nearest metro stop was a good 20 minute walk away. Our thinking behind using the metro was that taxis had been unreliable in finding anywhere asked for and also might be slower in the morning rush hour than a direct metro trip. It worked, but not as simple an option as it should have been.
Getting from the metro stop back to our hotel was something of a trial, forgetting to pick up the map we struggled to locate anything we could recognise, eventually finding a street map outside a museum where a local guy, who spoke good English, said take a taxi. It turned out we were just two blocks from the park where our hotel sat.
Popping out to eat on our final evening, we then encountered a park full of people dancing. Several different styles of dancers occupied different areas of park, with hip hop, line dancing, well choreographed modern disco dancing and ballroom style. All happily enjoying the fine evening weather in the park.
Xi’an, was on our map purely to enable a visit to see the Terracotta Warriors, and as such, ticked a box. But the feel of the city was odd, unfriendly, uncaring and so too were the people we encountered. This uncaring attitude was very evident at the station too were once the gates opened it turned in to a scrummage to get on to the train. Certainly not a place we will ever return to.
mrandmrsyoung 