One Week in Xi'an (Part 1)

The winter break between semesters couldn't come soon enough for the foreign teachers (by that I mean foreign to China) in Beijing. Many of my friends would be using the month holiday to go home for a few weeks. My housemates Kevin and Lauren going back to America and England respectively. I decided to hangout in Beijing for a couple of weeks then travel for a few days.

Luckily for me, my friends Cat and Jon had a similar idea. Having spoken to them, Jon suggested Xi'an for a few days. Xi'an is located in central china, so south of Beijing. The prospect of visiting somewhere slightly warmer was welcome and the fact that Xi'an is home to the famous Terracotta Warriors made it the obvious choice!

Cat would be travelling to several places with her sister, who would be visiting from the states. So she'd only be in Xian for a night and day. Jon and I decided that we'd stay longer, perhaps for three or four days. They booked a single flight for us, totalling 400rmb (about £40), it would take just over an hour and half beating the train, which offered to get you there in just under 12 hours for a fee of about £25!

Jon and I decided we'd get the train back to save little money. I agreed to book that as they'd sorted the journey there. What I hadn't taken into account, was that our return journey would be slap bang in the middle of the biggest Chinese holiday, Spring Festival.

I had no idea how big this event was, I had spent Chinese New Year in Beijing though and about 70% of the population had left the city. It'd been very strange with my local shops and restaurants all closed for a few days and the roads and subways both being empty.

Booking tickets for the train proved impossible due to the sheer number of Beijingers returning from their holidays. All the tickets were sold out for days and though I found seats for a week later they were as expensive as flying. So I decided to book a flight back, taking the earliest possible option, a whole week after we'd arrive. This was much to Jon's amusement, a place that many claimed you'd only need 3 days in to see all it had to offer.

So, just days after booking our trip, we boarded our flight to Xian. We arrived relatively late on Wednesday 13th February. And opted to take a taxi to our accommodation (a 4 star hotel for the girls and a budget hostel for the boys) opposed to the shuttle bus. This would prove to be our first mistake - as the taxi would actually cost us over 200RMB (£20).

Posing with Jon, Cat and Christine just before we visited the Warriors

Once we arrived and got checked in, we noticed a daily trip that was available from the hostel to the Terracotta Warriors. So after a quick discussion, we decided to sign up and paid to join the following day's tour (as Cat and Christine would only be around for one full day).

We were up early and met with our tour guide and the group at the mini bus outside the hostel. The group was a mixed bag of nationalities, Americans, Australians and a French family, I was the only Brit though.

Our first stop was to be at a... well truth is, I am not entirely sure what it was. A museum? An information centre? An unofficial gift shop? Or possibly an official one! Whatever it was, what I was able to make out is that they make replicas of the statues, and these are available to buy. The are also available in varying sizes, from life size right down to bite size (not that you'd want to munch on one...)

Me as a Terracotta Warrior at the museum/gift shop

The Terracotta Warriors were discovered in 1974 by some farmers, believed to be have been buried with an Emperor in 210 BC.

When you arrive at the world famous tourist spot, you are surrounded by several buildings. Three of which are 'pits' that have been excavated and to be honest, two aren't that interesting but before all that you are free to enter the 360 degree cinema that I had assumed would explain the history behind the Army and perhaps it actually did but the video was hard to follow, no matter how much I span around looking at each of the screens plus it was all in Chinese of course...

Our tour guide had recommended what order to see the pits in, and I am glad she did, as mentioned before two of them weren't all that interesting but the final one we checked out was pretty cool. It was the one that features in all of the pictures you will have seen of the warriors, all lined up in their regimented rows.

This photo is taken from the same spot as many famous pictures of the Warriors

The Warriors were quite impressive, the sheer number of them did surprise me. And I am told that there are still quite a few yet to be excavated. Apparently, the Warriors were originally painted and upon their unearthing the paint falls victim to oxidization within minutes. My friend told me that they are hoping future technology will allow them to preserve the original paint work of those yet to be unearthed...

A picture of the Terracotta Warriors taken from the edge of the pit

To be continued...