After saying farewell to Shanghai, we headed off toward the train station with fond memories of our previous train experience. But as luck would have it, we were in for a whole new one.
When we booked our train tickets back in Shanghai, we were told that the tickets we purchased were for hard sleepers, something we weren't really looking forward to. However, when we got to the train, we found that we didn't have a hard sleeper after all, but rather a hard seat (which are basically the very worst possible seats you can get on the train). The hard seat carriages are the only carriages that have standing room, so they are extremely overcrowded (as in people were sitting on our shoulders) and to put it mildly, there were extreme elements of hygiene that were indeed lacking. We sat in our seats for the 17 hours (despite one Chinese man insisting to the train worker that since he was Chinese, he should have a seat instead of the foreigners). We made sure to keep an eye our bags every so often and tried to pass the time by reading, listening to our music, and trying to avoid the obvious stares coming from all directions.
When morning finally arrived and the train stopped, we were more than happy to get off and find a place to drop our bags and get some rest. We had arrived in Xi'an, the literal and figurative heart of China as well as the ancient capital of 12 Chinese Dynasties (starting as early as 1046 BC). We were anxious to get out and explore the city, however, first thing had to be first. As we learned from our extended time in Shanghai, we had to get our train tickets out ASAP if we wanted to leave Xi'an on the date we were hoping for. As Amanda sat with the bags, Jono went into the extremely crowded station to try to get in and out with the tickets. Three hours later, as Amanda sat outside trying to ward off stares and strange people pestering her, Jono emerged with the tickets. He waited in line for three hours, because the lady at his counter went on her lunch break without a replacement and she was at the only English speaking counter! Although by the end of the third hour, Jono emerged with the tickets and we were on our way.
We were more than ready to find a place to settle down by this time, so when we met a tour guide willing to take us to the Bell Tower youth hostel, we followed without complaint. We got set up in our room and then hit the sack for the rest of that day!
The next day we were back to our usual energetic selves and we were out exploring the streets of Xi'an. We wondered around the markets, and made our way toward the Muslim Quarter, a very old and popular part of Xi'an which is an interesting mix of Islamic and Chinese architecture and culture and had been a part of Xi'an for at least 1400 years.
The next morning was our big day. We woke early and caught the local bus one hour out of the city center, where we made it to the archaeological wonder that has made Xi'an famous throughout the world. In 1974, while digging for a well, some local Chinese farmers discovered the shattered form of a head from off of a terracotta warrior buried far beneath the ground. In the years to follow, archaeologists would undercover more than 7300 terracotta warriors, horses and chariots, buried for over 2000 years. These warriors were commissioned to be build by the emperor Qin Shi Huang in order to protect him and to allow him to continue his reign well into the afterlife. Not far from this site is his tomb, which is currently being excavated, but which is one of the largest mausoleums in the world. We spent four hours walking among the three pits that hold the warriors, marveling at the wonders that lay, still in the ground, beneath us.
Upon returning to the city, we decided that it was time to get some much needed exercise. We rented some bikes (even though we were a bit wary from our last bike rental fiasco, but we vowed not to let these ones out of our sight) and we headed to the enormous wall that enclosed the city of Xi'an. We rode around for a few hours until we were beat and then decided it was time for a change. We headed toward the Big Goose Pagoda, another of Xi'an's most famous landmarks. We walked around the grounds for some time, and then stayed a bit longer to watch the evening fountain and music show, that was held on the Pagoda Square. The fountain and music show, regarded as the best in Asia, was quite a sight to see. People were jumping in between and through the jets of water, splashing about and enjoying the show in a whole new way. It lasted for well over 20 minutes and drew in a crowd of more than 4000 people... pretty impressive!
Our time in Xi'an was short, and although it seemed that we had too many days in Shanghai, we unfortunately had too few in Xi'an. Which just goes to show that you never know what will lie in store at the next destination, one of the joys of traveling!
After saying farewell to Shanghai, we headed off toward the train station with fond memories of our previous train experience. But as luck would have it, we were in for a whole new one.
When we booked our train tickets back in Shanghai, we were told that the tickets we purchased were for hard sleepers, something we weren't really looking forward to. However, when we got to the train, we found that we didn't have a hard sleeper after all, but rather a hard seat (which are basically the very worst possible seats you can get on the train). The hard seat carriages are the only carriages that have standing room, so they are extremely overcrowded (as in people were sitting on our shoulders) and to put it mildly, there were extreme elements of hygiene that were indeed lacking. We sat in our seats for the 17 hours (despite one Chinese man insisting to the train worker that since he was Chinese, he should have a seat instead of the foreigners). We made sure to keep an eye our bags every so often and tried to pass the time by reading, listening to our music, and trying to avoid the obvious stares coming from all directions.
When morning finally arrived and the train stopped, we were more than happy to get off and find a place to drop our bags and get some rest. We had arrived in Xi'an, the literal and figurative heart of China as well as the ancient capital of 12 Chinese Dynasties (starting as early as 1046 BC). We were anxious to get out and explore the city, however, first thing had to be first. As we learned from our extended time in Shanghai, we had to get our train tickets out ASAP if we wanted to leave Xi'an on the date we were hoping for. As Amanda sat with the bags, Jono went into the extremely crowded station to try to get in and out with the tickets. Three hours later, as Amanda sat outside trying to ward off stares and strange people pestering her, Jono emerged with the tickets. He waited in line for three hours, because the lady at his counter went on her lunch break without a replacement and she was at the only English speaking counter! Although by the end of the third hour, Jono emerged with the tickets and we were on our way.
We were more than ready to find a place to settle down by this time, so when we met a tour guide willing to take us to the Bell Tower youth hostel, we followed without complaint. We got set up in our room and then hit the sack for the rest of that day!
The next day we were back to our usual energetic selves and we were out exploring the streets of Xi'an. We wondered around the markets, and made our way toward the Muslim Quarter, a very old and popular part of Xi'an which is an interesting mix of Islamic and Chinese architecture and culture and had been a part of Xi'an for at least 1400 years.
The next morning was our big day. We woke early and caught the local bus one hour out of the city center, where we made it to the archaeological wonder that has made Xi'an famous throughout the world. In 1974, while digging for a well, some local Chinese farmers discovered the shattered form of a head from off of a terracotta warrior buried far beneath the ground. In the years to follow, archaeologists would undercover more than 7300 terracotta warriors, horses and chariots, buried for over 2000 years. These warriors were commissioned to be build by the emperor Qin Shi Huang in order to protect him and to allow him to continue his reign well into the afterlife. Not far from this site is his tomb, which is currently being excavated, but which is one of the largest mausoleums in the world. We spent four hours walking among the three pits that hold the warriors, marveling at the wonders that lay, still in the ground, beneath us.
Upon returning to the city, we decided that it was time to get some much needed exercise. We rented some bikes (even though we were a bit wary from our last bike rental fiasco, but we vowed not to let these ones out of our sight) and we headed to the enormous wall that enclosed the city of Xi'an. We rode around for a few hours until we were beat and then decided it was time for a change. We headed toward the Big Goose Pagoda, another of Xi'an's most famous landmarks. We walked around the grounds for some time, and then stayed a bit longer to watch the evening fountain and music show, that was held on the Pagoda Square. The fountain and music show, regarded as the best in Asia, was quite a sight to see. People were jumping in between and through the jets of water, splashing about and enjoying the show in a whole new way. It lasted for well over 20 minutes and drew in a crowd of more than 4000 people... pretty impressive!
Our time in Xi'an was short, and although it seemed that we had too many days in Shanghai, we unfortunately had too few in Xi'an. Which just goes to show that you never know what will lie in store at the next destination, one of the joys of traveling!
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