Adrian.gfc's travel blogs:
|
|
  | |  |
Xi'an
Entry 2 of 3 | show all | print this entry |
|
Xi'an
Finally arrived in Xi'an at 5pm the next day, the train was an hour late after hitting something on the track only about an hour from Xi'an.
Found our way to the Youth Hostel, freshened up & sank a few deserved cold beers, & then met up with our lovely sister Rhainnnon, who has been living in Xi'an for 1 year, teaching local kids English.
So, we were in Xi'an for 9 days, to spend some time with Rhi, do a bit of the culture thing & relax a bit.
On our first night, Rhi fed us Peking duck with Vegetables & took us to Bar Street, conveniently located near our hostel, a road full of pubs!
Next day me & Jez went on a 15km cycle ride along the famous City Wall, which completely encloses the old city. It's been immacuately preserved & kept - a fine sight.
We took our time cycling around, stopping for snaps & getting our bearings around this huge city. The exercise done us a bit of good too!
The following day was a real highlight - a trip to see the Terracotta Army, the Terracotta Warriors, which date back to 221BC, but were only discovered in 1974, by a peasant farmer digging a well out. The warriors were built to protect Emperor Qin after his death, as he believed himself & his warriors would come back to life & continue ruling the dynasty.
Many thousands of them were smashed by the next ruling Emperor, but amazingly many survived & even the ones that are smashed are being meticulously reassembled piece by piece by archeologists.
It is a truly humbling sight, looking at the thousands of warriors.
A huge roof has been erected over them , to save the remaining warriors from erosion & pollution, which is a very wise idea, although the roof has its critics - its a necessity.
And we both bought some souvenir warriors for the shelf at home - no trip to the Terracottas would be complete without taking some souvenirs home!
That night we met most of Rhi's work colleagues - a good bunch who seem to like a good time! We started drinking bottles of vodka, & then at 2am decided it was a good idea to go to a karaoke bar - KTV!
It was an amazing place, nothing like i'd experienced before - you actually hire out a large room with your own karaoke kit & choose your own songs with your dozen or so mates.
Fantastic - you couldn't get the mike off me, me & Jez seemed to sing non-stop for hours, singing all kinds of crap, from Sinatra to the Verve, to Europe, to Abba, to Coldplay to Monkees, it was ace!
We all had a good old sing song, with Rhi in charge selecting our fave tunes. I lasted until just gone 5am, when the booze took its toll & i had to get home.
Jez, Rhi & some of the others lasted until 7am - & even had a KFC as it opened!!
Woke up the next afternoon with a hazy head, as predicted, but had a wicked night!
This is where it then rained for at least 3 days, possibly 4, & the temperatures plummetted from 35c down to 22c, it wasn't chilly, but it was still quite a change! It never usually rains in June, i think the chinese weather was coming out in sympathy with Glastonbury!
Over the next few days we visited all the other historic sights in Xi'an, the Bell Tower, the Drum Tower, the Muslim Quarter, the Market, the Muslim Temple, the Little Wild Goose Pagoda & the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.
All were very interesting, perhaps my favourites were the Big Wild Goose Pagoda & just strolling around the Muslim Quarter, checking out all the smells & sights.
We managed to escape the city for 1 day, into the country, 5 of us went trekking up a very tall hill. Me, Jez, Rhi, her flatmate Rachel & chum Jan all jumped on the public bus for the hills. We trekked uphill for ages & ages, eventually reaching the summit & found a Buddhist Temple.
Got some nice views & snaps from the top, then we walked along the river for a while, but then got stuck when the path ran out, so we had to jump over what seemed like a huge ravine with rushing water passing under us. In fact we had to jump maybe 6 feet over a ravine, but it still makes you think twice!
I also celebrated my 35th birthday in Xi'an, which turned into another messy night drinking bottles of Vodka with Jez. Rhi, Rachel & Gaz - a colleague of Rhi's who's from Chatham, top bloke!
I mananged to get very drunk again, ending up in some night club which stayed especially open for us for about an hour after everyone had gone home! We also got a free fruit platter with each bottle we purchased!
Jez managed to get himself covered in blood when we got back to the hostel, after drunkenly walking into a window frame in the basement. Not clear why he was in the basement, as our room was on the 1st floor. but he turned up in the room with blood all over him, & tissues and water provided the concerned night watchman!
Anyway, no harm done, & it was then time to say our goodbyes to Rhi & Rachel after an ace 8 days or so in Xi'an, we'd had a thoroughly excellent time experiencing everything, the culture, the food, the boozy nights, the karoke(!) & headed for our next destination - Shanghai!
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries by adrian.gfc, from China or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
