| What a journey. We arrived in Xi'an at
6.20 am having spent the last 15 hours in our train carriage. We had managed
to sleep quite well, apart from waking in the night, realising the train was travelling in
the opposite position and worrying that we had missed our station. A quick check of
the time, 4.30 gave some reassurance that we were still on the right route. The
station was very busy with people everywhere. It was like being on a British
platform in rush hour. We let the main flow go to try and take a photo of the train. |
|
| Xi'an was an experience.
The town centre, particularly around the station was dirty and dusty. There were
hundreds of people around as if it were midday. Taxi drivers and hawkers pestered us
continually and to escape them we walked from the station into the town. We found a
large hotel and decided to escape there for a drink and hopefully some breakfast.
Even though we had walked at least half a mile the taxi drivers still pestered us hoping
to gain a fare. Our next task was to ensure we had a way back to Beijing. At
8am the hotel travel desk opened and it became apparent that there were no trains
available to take us back. We had to book an internal flight to ensure we were able
to return to Beijing. The prospect of being stranded in Xi'an was one I didn't wish
to even contemplate. With our plane tickets in hand we set off for the Terracotta
Warriors. This was some distance out of town so we took a public
service bus which cost 15Yuan. |
| We arrived at the site and
were shown toward the ticket office by the ever-present hawkers who try to sell everything
from taxis to postcards. After visiting many shops and two museum type displays we
finally realised the main display and the warriors were 200metres away on the other side
of the road. The Terracotta Army is a collection of over 6,000 life-size terracotta
statues of soldiers and horses, discovered in March 1974 at Qin, near to Xi’an.
Farmers drilling a well in their fields found a chamber containing terracotta
statues. Further excavation revealed the scale of the discovery. The
figures, facing east, ready for battle, were individually modelled, as portraits of
real people, and were accompanied by real chariots, bronze and leather bridles, and objects of jade and
bone. Weapons they carried included bows, arrows, spears, and swords, many made from
an unusual alloy that was still bright and sharp when found. The Terracotta Army has been
identified as part of the burial of Shi Huangdi, the first Qin emperor of China, who began the
construction of the Great Wall of China. The tomb was built around 2,100 years ago,
and the Terracotta Army is thought to be part of a funeral compound that could have
covered a huge area of up to 50 sq. km. The main tomb itself is still unexcavated,
but other finds already include a series of large bronzes, the earliest so far known in
China, and over 70 individual burials. Our guide informed us that the week before we
arrived a pit containing female figures had been discovered. Estimates suggest that
up to 100,000 figures may be buried on the site and this will take many years to
excavate. Unfortunately no photography is allowed in the display areas so we were
restricted to posing with the life size replicas outside the museum entrance. The
display is superb and if you ever have the chance of going to China, despite what has been written, Xi'an
has to be on your itinerary. |
|
|
| Photos taken from postcards etc. |
|
|
| Our flight back to Beijing was at 5pm.
We had to be there at least an hour before and therefore decided to find out about how
long it would take to travel to the airport. We were shocked to hear that the
airport was 90kms away and the roads weren't great. We had to get there so we
decided to take a minicab. We all got in, including the driver's wife and off we
set. The driver knew our departure time but this didn't seem to worry him, even
though we were becoming increasingly concerned about missing our flight. |
|
|
|
|
|
We stopped for a train to pass-by,
slowed down for the dancing policeman, slowed down to help the farmer crush his wheat,
stopped for petrol and had to stop when the horn stopped working. No self
respecting Chinese driver could drive without a horn!
We did arrived at the airport in time, just, and made our way to the departure
lounge. The taxi fare had cost 250Yuan between us and it left us thinking what a
similar journey would cost at home.
The lounge was busy and there were quite a few flights leaving the airport. We had
been warned about Chinese aircraft and were keen to see ours. All was O.K. we had a
nice Boeing which was only part full and very comfortable. The journey time was one
and a half hours compared to our trip down of fifteen hours. Luxury. The
experience going on the train was great and something we will never forget! The trip
back was good with excellent, clear views of the Chinese countryside.
Everywhere is cultivated. You really have to look hard to find any land that hasn't
anything growing on it. Adrian was obviously relaxed and enjoyed catching up with
much edited world affairs in his copy of the China Daily. |
|
|
| Another day was over. Too much to see
and too little time to do it in. We were planning to go to Tiantan Park tomorrow to
see The Temple of Heaven, reportedly the most beautiful building in Beijing and maybe even
China. Incidentally for those sceptics amongst you, we didn't buy a return train
ticket as we were reliably informed you can't do so and this was confirmed at Beijing when
we bought our original ticket. |
