The Walled City and Teracotta Army
Trip Start
Nov 03, 2008
1
7
65
Trip End
May 2009
Xian,
Shanxi,
China
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Rented a bike and rode the wall around the city = 14k and if you do it in under 1hr 30 mins, you dont get charged more....they must have timed it using an olympic athelete! We managed it, but had to go some. Big parts of the outer city are being knocked down, while there are people still living in the remains, either that or they left in a hurry and didnt get their washing in.
The Terracotta Army is a must and well worth the bus trip out of Xian. If you go start with the 15 minute cinema show next to pit 1, as it sets the scene, then do the 3 pits in numerical order, the official guide route does the cinema at the end. You will need about 4 hours to do it all without rushing.
The backpackers hostel by the southgate was well worth going to for the interweb, although its very slow and you only get 30 mins, a beer, pizza and getting your washing done. You can also swap horror stories and watch the brand new movies which aren't even released yet!
Mac liked Xian as it was so smelly he didn't need to wash for three whole days. His fave place to eat was in a Japanese restuarant, when he remembers the name he will put it in. Mac thought he was going to have to sell his kidneys BUT it only cost about 3 pounds each. The group had their own chef who cooked in front of them, which was bad as everything he cooked looked better than what they ordered. Kelly, who always looked smart, was in the firing line for the squid splatters.... she carred it off well. If you look in some of the department stores food sections you can find peanut butter and jam..... great for the train journies.
