Xi'an is the ancient capital of China, it was a very close vote as to whether Beijing of Xi'an became the new capital of the Communist state...it is crammed full of historic sites, but we only had a few days.
After a big breakfast on the 25th floor with great views over the city (if it wasn't for the smog !) we wandered off to see the ancient city walls, these were 14 klms long with just 2 entrances, but eventually 4 due to commerce. It was a bitterly cold day so wrapped up with all the clothes we had, we decided that 14klms was too cold to walk (or run) so opted for the golf buggies that ran every few hours. We spent some time looking around each fortified gate, where there was an array of gruesome killing machines for viewing.
You could also see the train station, this was packed.....and our guide told us that up to 4 million people try to get away from here for the Spring festival each year !! you can imagine the chaos. The big event was going to see the Terracotta warriors, but we started with the obligitory tour of a factory where they are reproduced, just in case we wanted to bring home a full size version for the garden....shame, but couldn't get it in the back pack. The warriors & museum were overwhelming, we have never seen anything like it in our lives....some were smashed to pieces and were being painstakingly put back together by dedicated people (who have a lot of patience)....each face of the warriors was individual and there were over 10,000 originally, including chariots & horses. The Emperor had these made over a period of 10 years so they could accompany him into the afterlife to conquer the next world !
The food in Beijing was all the same & a bit boring, so when we arrived we told the guide to try to give us something different, so he came up with the Dumplings dinner & hot pot...so we were happy....at least for now !! More thumbnails ...
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