We left Beijing on our first overnight sleeper train trip to the city of Xi’an known for the Terracotta Warriors.
We all made our way in 4 separate taxis to the train station in Beijing where we were told in advance by Jess, our tour leader, that we would be stared at and boy was she right!! We all felt like we were on display at times. Locals would stroll by gazing at us in awe and some even tried sneaking a few pictures of us. The looks and gazes we received probably not only had to do with the fact that we were a large group of foreigners but also because of the large number and SIZE of all of our bags. The locals don’t travel with too much and here we were, 14 people (most of whom are traveling extensively on more than just one trip) with very, very, very large backpacks and bags. We did not find the staring or looks offensive at all as we understood that the locals were just curious about us and wanted to know where we were from and some were farmers whom have migrated to the city in search of work and are seeing foreigners for the first time.
When it was time to load the train, we were warned that it might get a bit crazy as many locals would be trying to push their way through to the train to get a seat as many did not have pre booked seats confirmed. Luckily enough, we had our sleeper beds booked in advance but joined in on the mass group of people who were waiting in line to get the full “experience”. Despite a little bit of shoving and pushing here and there, getting onto the train was not as bad as we had thought it would be and eventually we all made it on.
All 15 of us were in the same carriage but dispersed amongst the carriage into different compartments. Chris and I were in a compartment with 4 other individuals, none of whom were from our group. We shared a compartment with three locals (one young man who knew bits of English and an older couple) and one young Thai man who had just moved to Beijing from Thailand to learn Mandarin. He too was on his way to Xi’an, like us, to visit the Terracotta Warriors. Although at first I had hoped we would be put with the other members of our tour group, we found the dispersal welcoming as we not only got to meet new people, we also got the chance to try and communicate with some locals. We met this one wonderful dear old Chinese lady who kept looking at Chris and I and was so very sweet. She kept thinking Chris was Chinese (like almost every local has thought) and would laugh when Chris couldn’t respond to her in Chinese. We tried numerous times to have a conversation with her and Chris ended up using the English-Mandarin dictionary to communicate with her. He did well but at some point and we have no idea how, he ended up being called “a yogurt”. Yes, a yogurt. We have no idea what it means or if it even means anything at all but that’s all we could get from the translation.
So we spent the next couple of hours communicating and laughing with the locals, listening to Jess’ very loud and unique laugh (which by the way we adore), eating the famous packaged noodle soups that the Chinese are so in love with, having a few cheap local beers with next to no alcohol content (2.9%) and getting to know members of our tour group a bit better. It was an enjoyable evening and the 16 hour train ride was not that bad at all. Despite the fact that we had no doors to close off each compartment (the compartments of 6 were separated by walls but the common corridor to get from one carriage to the next was down one side of our beds), the beds were hard as rock, throughout the evening the train operator would slam on the brakes and make the train jerk numerous times and all the old men and women on the train were up at 4:30am, we were able to get a few hours of shut eye before arriving in Xi’an.
We were greeted bright and early by our local tour guide, Lee. Lee was a wonderful guide who had a great sense of humor (who can forget the reference to the movie “Ghost” – definitely not Jess who couldn’t stop howling in hysterics). He tried to make us laugh right from the start and gave us some great history tips on Xi’an and the Terracotta Warriors.
The Terracotta Warriors were commissioned by Emperor Qin Shi Huang around 2,200 years ago and are a unique and awe-inspiring sight. The statues were made from clay and then baked in the kiln before being painted in detail by roughly 70,000 of his servants. It is believed by many that the Emperor had these Warriors built to accompany him in his afterlife so he can further conquer the rest of the lands to the East. The Warriors were discovered in 1974 by a farmer during the digging of a well. This army consists of 8,000 life-sized sculptures guarding the Emperor’s tomb, each warrior having individual features and most carrying real weapons. Three pits have been discovered, each containing thousands of soldiers, horses, archers and generals. There was only one soldier which was found in tact, all remaining 7,999 Warriors were found in numerous pieces which archaeologists are still continuing to reassemble today. Lee advised us that it takes roughly 3,000 hours to put one of these statues back together – remarkable! Chris and I found not only the statues themselves but the entire idea behind the Warriors amazing. The fact that an Emperor ordered 8,000 warriors to be built for him is an astonishing thought and then finding these and trying to put them back together is even more incredible. This is an actual part of history that these archaeologists are reconstructing. This has been regarded by UNESCO as the eighth wonder of the world.
After a wonderful afternoon with Lee and the Warriors, we then made our way back to the city and had a free afternoon to wander around Xi’an before meeting up with the group that evening for dinner.
Xi’an is a wonderful city with lots of charm and character from its Chinese heritage to its Muslim quarters. It’s not surprising that it’s so rich for it was the main capital city of China for more than 1,100 years (13 dynasties). We were lucky enough to stay within the Old City quarters which were enclosed by the massive city walls, surrounded by a moat and housed in the centre the beautiful and traditional Bell and Drum Towers. We enjoyed walking to the East and South Gates taking in all the activity around us and watching the locals in action. We also were able to wander through the Artisan Street near the South Gate which had a very traditional feel to it with the red lanterns lining the streets of vendors trying to sell their artwork. There were beautiful paintings, wood carved instruments and intricate paper cuttings illustrating the Chinese way of life.
Later that evening, we were able to experience the liveliness of the Muslim quarters of Xi’an. The evening started off with a wonderful and DELICIOUS dinner at a Muslim restaurant which consisted of skewers of BBQ’d meat, fried rice, Muslim bread (consisting of many spices), vegetables, tofu and many, many bottles of cheap beer. The meal was divine and the cost was next to nothing. Together Chris and I paid 40 Yuan which is equivalent to $5.88 CDN. You can’t get those kinds of dishes and stuff yourself silly with food and beer for that much in Canada. With full tummies, we decided to walk through the streets of the Muslim quarter. The streets were alive and busy with people eating and drinking, vendors selling food on the streets, plenty of shopping and even a Mosque in the centre of it all. We all went our separate ways for a bit but all wound up at the same place – the local beer stalls on the streets – of course!! We all enjoyed a couple (okay, so maybe it was more than a couple) bottles of beer right there on the street along with the locals, again being able to “experience” rather than just “see” what Xi’an was all about.
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Xi’an and found the change between this city and Beijing a welcoming surprise. It was a place to wind down for a bit and just enjoy all that was around you.
Our next stop is Tai’an where we will climb Mt Taishan and enjoy a farm stay with a local family. We look forward to what awaits us next....
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