Xian
We caught another sleeper train from Chengdu to Xian, the last stop on our trip. Xian was the capital of China for hundreds of years, and there's a ton of history there, including the famous terracotta army--the second most popular tourist attraction in the country.
Hotels aren't cheap in Xian, but I managed to bargain our way into a nice, private room instead of the dorms at the first hotel we tried, so that was fun. My bargaining skills are getting pretty good, if I do say so myself! The hotel had tours of the area, so we signed up for the eastern tour, which included the warriors.
On our own, we saw the drum and bell towers, walked along the city walls, and went to the big museum in town. We also checked out the Muslim quarters, home to a famous mosque (looks like any other Chinese temple from the outside) and delicious food. I think my favorite food in China is the Muslim Chinese food, which has a lot of naan, lamb kebabs, and other goodies. I got my fill of lamb sandwiches on flat bread, and Joel ate lots of the bread (he thinks lamb smells like feet).
City wall at dusk.
Most of the stops on the tour were kind of lame. They included a tiny museum, a mausoleum that's basically a giant hill, and Huaqing Pool. The pool was interesting--it's where the emperors used to hang out--but the others were filler at best. The main attraction, of course, was the warriors, which were last on the itinerary.
One of the "sights" at the mausoleum--a slad of brick! Wow!
Also at the mausoleum--a traditional shrubbery (ha!).
Because our hotel was still kind of expensive even with the discount, we wanted to leave Xian as soon as possible, so we booked our train tickets for the following night. The tour was supposed to finish at 6 p.m. and the train left at 8:30. The hotel was right next to the train station, so we thought we had plenty of time.
That is, until the president of Iraq decided to visit the warriors! They shut down the whole place for him almost all day. We really didn't know if we were going to make it, because they kept extending the time. First it was going to open at 1, then 3, then 5. Fortunately, it actually did open a little before 5, so we had plenty of time. The main downside was killing time all day waiting to get in. Our guide says it happens all the time, though--random celebrities and politicians show up and everyone else just has to wait around all day.
Here's the thing they don't tell you about the warriors--yes, there may be more than 8,000, but the majority haven't been uncovered. They were originally painted, but when exposed to air the color fades, so they're waiting to dig up the others until they have the technology to preserve the color.
Buried warriors.
Restored warriors.
Ready for action!
The warriors are supposed to protect the emperor in the afterlife. A lot have been crushed, so I'm guessing it didn't work out too well for him. It was a massive effort that took 700,000 workers 38 years to complete--clearly, an amazing feat. However, personally I don't think it's worthy of being the second most popular tourist attraction, at least not yet. When they get everything restored, sure. But for now you just can't get a grasp of how amazing it is--it looks like a few statues in a pit.
It didn't help that we had what Joel termed "minor tourist site fatigue." You travel so far to see one big thing, and then along with that one thing, you see a million dinky sites (did you see those pictures from the mausoleum? Come on--that's not a tourist attraction!). Needless to say, were were a little burned out.
We did make our train, with enough time to even grab another lamb sandwich. We couldn't get sleeper tickets, and since it was only a 12-hour train, we got hard-seat tickets, which are a lot cheaper anyway. The seats aren't really hard, but they don't recline--they face each other in groups of four! I don't know whose idea it was to make an overnight train with seats that don't recline, but they should be fired. We did manage to nap off and on, though, and in the end it was worth it to be back in our beloved Beijing...
...with only 6 weeks until we had to leave the country again, which would be, well, tomorrow. We get up bright and early to make our 7:45 train (30 hours total) to Ulan Bator. Mongolia, here we come!
(Be sure to check out all the archives for July and August--I've posted a lot in the past couple of weeks, and they don't all show up on one page.)
Hotels aren't cheap in Xian, but I managed to bargain our way into a nice, private room instead of the dorms at the first hotel we tried, so that was fun. My bargaining skills are getting pretty good, if I do say so myself! The hotel had tours of the area, so we signed up for the eastern tour, which included the warriors.
On our own, we saw the drum and bell towers, walked along the city walls, and went to the big museum in town. We also checked out the Muslim quarters, home to a famous mosque (looks like any other Chinese temple from the outside) and delicious food. I think my favorite food in China is the Muslim Chinese food, which has a lot of naan, lamb kebabs, and other goodies. I got my fill of lamb sandwiches on flat bread, and Joel ate lots of the bread (he thinks lamb smells like feet).
City wall at dusk.Most of the stops on the tour were kind of lame. They included a tiny museum, a mausoleum that's basically a giant hill, and Huaqing Pool. The pool was interesting--it's where the emperors used to hang out--but the others were filler at best. The main attraction, of course, was the warriors, which were last on the itinerary.
One of the "sights" at the mausoleum--a slad of brick! Wow!
Also at the mausoleum--a traditional shrubbery (ha!).Because our hotel was still kind of expensive even with the discount, we wanted to leave Xian as soon as possible, so we booked our train tickets for the following night. The tour was supposed to finish at 6 p.m. and the train left at 8:30. The hotel was right next to the train station, so we thought we had plenty of time.
That is, until the president of Iraq decided to visit the warriors! They shut down the whole place for him almost all day. We really didn't know if we were going to make it, because they kept extending the time. First it was going to open at 1, then 3, then 5. Fortunately, it actually did open a little before 5, so we had plenty of time. The main downside was killing time all day waiting to get in. Our guide says it happens all the time, though--random celebrities and politicians show up and everyone else just has to wait around all day.
Here's the thing they don't tell you about the warriors--yes, there may be more than 8,000, but the majority haven't been uncovered. They were originally painted, but when exposed to air the color fades, so they're waiting to dig up the others until they have the technology to preserve the color.
Buried warriors.
Restored warriors.
Ready for action!The warriors are supposed to protect the emperor in the afterlife. A lot have been crushed, so I'm guessing it didn't work out too well for him. It was a massive effort that took 700,000 workers 38 years to complete--clearly, an amazing feat. However, personally I don't think it's worthy of being the second most popular tourist attraction, at least not yet. When they get everything restored, sure. But for now you just can't get a grasp of how amazing it is--it looks like a few statues in a pit.
It didn't help that we had what Joel termed "minor tourist site fatigue." You travel so far to see one big thing, and then along with that one thing, you see a million dinky sites (did you see those pictures from the mausoleum? Come on--that's not a tourist attraction!). Needless to say, were were a little burned out.
We did make our train, with enough time to even grab another lamb sandwich. We couldn't get sleeper tickets, and since it was only a 12-hour train, we got hard-seat tickets, which are a lot cheaper anyway. The seats aren't really hard, but they don't recline--they face each other in groups of four! I don't know whose idea it was to make an overnight train with seats that don't recline, but they should be fired. We did manage to nap off and on, though, and in the end it was worth it to be back in our beloved Beijing...
...with only 6 weeks until we had to leave the country again, which would be, well, tomorrow. We get up bright and early to make our 7:45 train (30 hours total) to Ulan Bator. Mongolia, here we come!
(Be sure to check out all the archives for July and August--I've posted a lot in the past couple of weeks, and they don't all show up on one page.)
posted by AJ at 4:10 AM
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