Xi'an - Home to the 8th wonder of the world
Trip Start
Jul 11, 2006
1
8
32
Trip End
Jun 28, 2007
Xian,
China
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
As soon as I got off the train I was immediately harassed by someone offering a room at their hostel, so I just told them I'm meeting a friend at the Bell Tower Hostel (which I wasn't, I hadn't even booked there, or anywhere). He gave up and actually took me to the Bell Tower Hostel rep who was at the station. She was holding some pieces of paper with people's names on and one of them was actually Julian (the German guy who I met in Mongolia and again in Beijing). Yet again I bump into someone I know!
Xi'an is a cool city, smaller than Beijing and way bigger than Pingyao, with a very energetic atmosphere not unlike Beijing.The hostel was right in the centre of the city, with a brilliant view from the balcony of the Bell Tower
As my Dad would say...acting daft...
.Me, Julian and his friend Tilo had a wander around the Muslim Quarter of the city, and, after a lot of pointing and grunting, we managed to get a feed on some noodles. We then grabbed a taxi to the Big Goose Pagoda and climbed to the top to check out the view (like true tourists).
We booked on to a tour to the famous Terracotta Warriors the next day, not cheap but unmissable!
They were stunning! Life size Terracotta warriors all standing to attention in precise lines, hundreds of them! It is estimated that there are 6000 buried there, yet you only see a fraction of that! I think everyone was in awe of them, really spectacular!
That night we went out to check the night life in Xi'an. We ended up in a club called MGM which Julian and Tilo had scoped out the previous day. After some warm up beers in the hostel we headed on down there, and what a night it turned out to be. I didn't spend one penny all night long! All the Chinese were buying me drinks and I was happily drinking them all. Then I had girls dragging me the dance floor, then more beers, then more dancing, followed by more beer, then I lost everyone! I made it back to the hostel in one piece though! See the pictures!
Sleeper train to Chengdu, the adventure continues...
