The 8th Wonder of the World

Trip Start Sep 01, 2005
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Trip End Dec 04, 2006


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Flag of China  ,
Friday, August 25, 2006

It took three tries throughout the day at different agencies to secure an over night hard sleeper to Xi-An. The sleeper was a new train and we both had the top bed on the triple bunk that was surprisingly comfortable and we only had a minimal amounting people spitting and smoking which made the trip that much easier. A hot water dispenser was located at the end of each carriage and we had some Korean cup of noodles (the only good one available in China as everything else is crap or flavoured weird) whilst everyone had noodles + chicken feet + Chinese sausage + precooked eggs (they come prepared). Amber entertained herself watching speed whilst I devoted time to my PSP.

Xi-An old town still has ancient city walls surrounding the centre (most other cities in China have fake old walls built) which is dominated by a Bell Tower and a Drum Tower. A stroll took us past numerous street vendors with bbq sticks of squid, fried chicken, sweet and sour noodles?? and other good stuff. I was munching away happily on my 7th fried chicken stick when Amber reminded me of hygiene practices and I immediately felt sick. The museum here had much the same stuff as the one in Shanghai except the entrance was almost double and they had half as much pieces. The main Bell Tower was surrounded by not one but three McDonalds!

But Xi-An's claim to fame is the site of the Terracotta Warriors, an hours away by bus. Built in the Qing dynasty the massive site had 4 burial chambers housing thousands of these terracotta warriors, carts and horses. Unfortunately it has been raided over the centuries for its store of weapons but they never stole the terracotta stuff and the warriors are being pieced back together by a team of archaeologists. The amazing thing is that all the warriors are all unique and there are so many of them. The hordes of tourists could not be escaped and at times it was like a circus of flashing camera lights. A special area was set up and roped off for people willing to pay 150 RMB ($25 aus) for a "magical photo" which was really stupid as just out of the rope you could take a photo from just above the little stairway ramp??
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