Xian, China Travel Blogs

Xiantastic
Apr 8, 2005 (7 photos)

... and imposing city gates, a reminder of its illustrious past when it served as the imperial capital of China for some eleven dynasties. Modern Xian is in many ways a typical Chinese city, characterised by demolition (most of which seems to be done ...

Ancient Capital
May 6, 2006 (8 photos)

... hostel where every Friday they have a dumpling party which was less of a party and more making enough dumplings to feed half of China and then trying to pick out the few that had survived the cooking without turning into a squidgy mess - all mine turned ...

Chinese Surprises (including a ride in a cop car!)
Feb 15, 2006 (4 photos)

... has been restored after countless souvenir sellers and pushy touts trying to part us from our cash! Hopefully this will be a trend we see as we travel through the rest of China and beyond! (Although I doubt either of these things would happen in Blighty!)

Xian and the Terracotta Army
Sep 10, 2005 (3 photos)

... and his wife cooks up good grub. We retire to bed feeling relaxed and happy. We take the bus out to China's hottest tourist attraction, the Terracotta Army. In 220BC Emperor Qin Shihuang manufactured an entire clay army to guard him in the afterlife. ...

Checking out the Terracotta Army
Feb 15, 2006 (3 photos)

... lot (Chengdu - pandas, Leshan - standing Buddha and then a cruise down the Yangtze through the 3 Gorges) in before we leave China. Hopefully the weather will get better and we won't be too tired to appreciate it (am actually qute knackered from doing very ...

Nighttraining through Northern China
Sep 13, 2004

... has been under excavation ever since. If you've seen the warrior pictures before, I can advise you not to visit Xian on your China trip. Although impressive enough, I found the visit strangely bland. After the huge tourist circus around the site has you ...

Smile... we're leaving tomorrow
Feb 23, 2008 (4 photos)

... in China' also. Even the book that Pat brought with him from Dublin, a book on India, is, you guessed it, made in China. · Bijo Pat tried bijo this evening, that potent (56%), liver killing stuff the Chinese seem to like. He didn't mind it either, but ...

8th wonder of the world
Jun 9, 2005 (2 photos)

... gruelling 13-hour journey by sleeper train... I did't get much sleep, but Rich snored contentedly in his bunk! Xi'an is China's most ancient capital, was founded by the first emperor of the very first unified dynasty, the Qing dynasty. It is of course ...

Xi'an - Warrior Country
May 31, 2005 (8 photos)

... 2 chinese guys who were completely intrigued by us. They couldn't believe that Aishlings hair was natural and they explained the workings of China and talked about some of the sights in China and Ireland. All in Chinese. Lets just say it took a lot of ...

Terracotta Warriors
Apr 18, 2006 (14 photos)

... happy. Went to much needed macas and internetted before returnign to the hotel. The taxis continue to be cheap here in China... as long as you have your destination in Chinese characters. John is definitely treating us to a wide array of Chinese food ...

xian and terracota army
Oct 10, 2004 (3 photos)

... yet another overnight train checked into hotel and hopped on local bus to the Terracota army as must see when visiting china. Thousands of life size soldiers guarding a forgotten about emporer until a "peasant farmer" their words!! stumbled across one of ...

We collected our bags from luggage storage ...
Sep 4, 2001 (2 photos)

... one told us that - it would have saved us worrying. The Terracotta Warriors cost 65 yuan each to enter ($8.50), really expensive for China, but it was definitely worthwhile. We saw pits #2 and #3 before pit #1 which was the right thing to do, since pit ...

Happy New Year
Jan 1, 2006 (11 photos)

We spent the morning catching up on sleep (you wouldn't believe how tiring this traveling thing is) then booked a train ticket to Beijing with the help of our hotel manager, Jim Beam. He wrote out exactly what we wanted in Chinese which made it way ...

Now in Xian
Apr 17, 2006

... go from here. A Canberra Consular official kind of put my mind to ease by saying that a lot of Aussies lose their passport in China... but I dread the inconvenience and cost that I have to go through to get one back. It will be interesting to see how I ...

Smog City
May 22, 2007 (38 photos)

... .....skies completely darkened with dense smog and pollution. As we rose in the airplane (gods knows how he knew which direction he was going) we past above the clouds and got a view of the sun...the first in 3 days. This is polluted China at its worst!!!!

Xi'an
Mar 27, 2006 (29 photos)

... my previous entry, I said that Pingyao had the only completely intact city wall in all of the China. Yeah, well, that's not entirely true. It seems that Xian also has one (any complaints should be taken up with Lonely Planet and not me). You can ascend ...

Xian
Aug 7, 2006 (31 photos)

... he had in his real life. There were models of pavilions, palaces, precious stones and other rarities. Even replicas of  China's streams and rivers like the Yangztee and the Yellow river were constructed of quicksilver and had a mechanical means of being ...

Going Potty in Xi'an
Jul 5, 2005 (7 photos)

... Qin Shi Huang around 2200 years ago. He had been a very successful (read bloodthirsty and bellicose) emporer that had united all of China. These warriors were built over many years, when he finally popped his clogs his tomb was decorated as he'd desired. ...

Xi'an Warriors
Jan 1, 2006 (23 photos)

... to buy jade in the future. Onwards we first went to the a museum where we saw various artifacts from the different feudal China dynasties. We also rubbed the nose of the guarding dragons for good luck, then moved onto the Huaqing Pools at the foot of Li ...

Ancient History, What Dynasty?
Dec 1, 2004 (6 photos)

... , he gave us our bags and we got to the station with five minutes to spare, for the 9 hour ride to Xian. The big problem in China with the trains is that you can't buy your forwarding tickets before you arrive at your destination. You have to buy your ...

Xi'an - Home to the 8th wonder of the world
Aug 29, 2006 (20 photos)

I finally managed to get some sleep on the train! A a top-bunk sleeper (there are three tiers in 'hard sleeper') so I could stick my feet out the end of the bed! Whoa! 12 hours later and I'm in Xi'an, happy days, all for the bargain price of less than a ...

Once in, hard to get out.
Jul 12, 2005 (5 photos)

After all the endless sights and sounds of Beijing, including the Forbidden City, we boarded our train for Xi'An. Saw Terracotta Army yesterday which was fabulous. Leaving here tomorrow, trying to get trains is like golddust, managed and we are heading ...

Adios Huangdao, hola backpacking!
Feb 11, 2005 (21 photos)

... so M & I shared a lovely 200km trip on a shitty little broken fold out seat. By the way, did you know Xian has the worst roads in China? Taking a bus in town is almost deafening with all the rattling, and it turns out most of the country roads aren't much ...

Christmas isn't Christmas........in Xi'an
Dec 24, 2006

 I have just been out walking the streets of Xi'an with the other volunteers taking in Christmas Eve in China. This was our observation: Christmas in China is Mardi Gras, Valentine's Day, Halloween, and New Years all rolled into one and ...

2nd Halt - Xian
Jun 19, 2005 (10 photos)

... earliest evidence of human habitation dates back more than 6,000 years to the villages of primitive Chinese tribes. Xi'an was China's capital during several dynasties. Over 2,000 years ago, Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first ruler to unify China, built his ...

Xian
Mar 4, 2006

... it was on to the Muslim quarter and the great mosque. There is a surprisingly large Muslim community living in Xian. The mosque a mixture of traditional Chinese and tradition Muslim architecture lead to interesting surroundings. Still wanting to fit a few ...

Terracotta Warriors
Mar 5, 2006

... hotel had managed to book us our train tickets to shanghai so that was one weight off our minds. We walked down through Xian to the internet place to book accommodation for Shanghai. Street performers as young as 3 were doing acrobatic tricks, which was ...

Loose Ends
Mar 6, 2006

... it was a long road. They got one and hurried back piled our bags in to the back and we were off. The concrete jungle of Xian station beckoned us once more we were soon in a massive queue just to get in. The queues continued inside and all bags had to pass ...

Big Buddhas and Small Cruises
Oct 10, 2002 (11 photos)

Our journey through China then took us through mid China from Xian to Wuhan. Xian - Terracotta Warriors. There is little else to see in Xian, partly because of the terrible pollution in the city which means that visibility terrible. The army ...

Xian
Nov 7, 2006

Saa er vi kommet tilbage fra Xian. Vi var rigtig heldige at have vores egen kupe i toget hvilket vi satte stor pris paa da jo var et overnatningstog.  Vi havde en rigtig god tur selvom det bestemt ik er vores yndlingsby. Enormt forurenet og ...