Checking out Xi'an

  Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
Friday, August 8, 2008

The Terracotta Warriors

Thursday August 7th
 
Alison: We had a great sleep and then the kids and I headed up to have breakfast in the Executive Lounge before meeting Lily in the hotel foyer. We had met Lily in Shanghai near Wu Gardens and on chatting to her about where we were going she mentioned that she came from Xian. As she was so friendly and spoke good English, we asked whether she would like to guide us around Xian if we paid her train fare there and a retainer of about $50 per day. She explained that she wasn't a professional guide, but we didn't care about that, so after exchanging mobile numbers and email addresses we made arrangements to meet her after the Three Gorges Cruise in Xian. Having got in so late and exhausted on Wednesday night we put her off until the morning, but at 10.30, there she was in the foyer, ready to go!

An orginal close up

  
We had arranged for a taxi to take us round for the day, so firstly we dropped off a lot of washing at a nearby laundry (where they wanted to charge us a huge amount, but we argued for some time and negotiated something vaguely reasonable) and then headed off to view the Terracotta Warriors built for the first Chinese emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi. This was about an hour's drive away. Xian itself is a huge city and it was extremely hot - about 38 degrees. 

Mike, Rachel & Tom by warriors

We eventually got to the enormous complex that houses the Terracotta Warriors and Lily was full of fascinating information about it all, but between the tired and hot kids, especially Tom, dragging their feet around grumpily and Michael who has never been interested in details, she had a hard time of it!

Alison & Rachel next to more

Anyway, they were extremely impressive but we didn't stay there too long and after bargaining for some mementos - we thought our next door neighbour Chandler would love a warrior - we headed off to lunch. 
 

Lunch with Lily and the driver

We had a nice meal at a huge restaurant attached to a silk factory which we declined to enter, and then climbed all the way up to the top of the Emperor's Tomb. This was very steep and exhausting in the hot sun, but the view over the huge city of Xian in the distance was very nice and it had a good breeze at the top. The tomb itself has not been opened, so they have no idea if the emperor is actually buried there or not!

Looking back down & towards Xian

 

Temple at Hot Springs of Huaqing Chi

After descending and recovering in the shade for a bit we then went to the Hot Springs of Huaqing Chi, a lovely complex with beautiful pagodas and palaces which were lovely to look at, but again in the heat we didn't spend too long there. When we got back to our hotel in Xian we rested for an hour or so and had a swim in the pool to cool ourselves down before meeting Lily again.

Great Wild Goose Pagoda

 
This time we went to the huge park by the Great Wild Goose Pagoda where they had the most amazing series of fountains.

The fountains going off

We discovered the fountains would do their thing at about 8.00 so we ordered dinner at a local eatery where Lily helped us navigate the menu and then headed out to watch the fun. Huge crowds had gathered around the fountains and on them and when they went off it was really spectacular, with bursts of water shooting up into the sky accompanied by lighting and music. Even the kids hopped in and had fun ducking the jets of water that would go off seemingly randomly.

Rachel & Tom getting in the act

Then we went back and a had our meal which was huge and incredibly cheap - that's what eating like a local can get you! Finally we headed back to the hotel and collapsed into bed, exhausted from our packed program of sightseeing.
 
 

Kids on Xian City Wall

Friday 8th August
 
Alison: Lily arrived at a bit after 9.00 having collected our washing so then I finished packing and we took our bags down to the lobby. We headed out for a quick tour of the city wall, firstly going via an electronic store to buy Tom a new DS Lite as his had died, the surface having become so scratched that it could not register the stylus moving over it anymore. This was very annoying and expensive, but deemed a worthy cost considering how much value the kids were getting out of their DS's during our long travels.

Alison by the Arrow Tower site

 

View over moat by city wall

We climbed the wall and admired the view of the city and moat, but once again it was extremely hot, so after about half an hour we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags and go to the airport. We said our fond farewells to Lily who had been such a great guide for us and headed off to catch the plane to Guilin.