In normal SADJ fashion my flight was 1.5 hours delayed.....I had taken 1/2 day off work so spent the afternoon in the lounge with wine. A hard life! When we finally arrived we ere told it's 33 degrees and no rain - THANK GOODNESS. The rain is really getting to me in HK.
I have an opportunity to try out my Mandarin but all I think of is Italian (and no its not the wine!), its going to be an interesting weekend. Let's hope I can find a taxi that at least understands where I want to go.
Had a mild panic when my bag was literally the last to come out - so much for the priority bag tag. We then had to line up like I'm not sure what to put our bags through a scanner. For those of you who have been to China before you can understand, there was lots of pushing and no one had any idea of personal space! After my passport, blackberry and water fell out of my bag I nearly cracked it then realized there was no point as they would have no idea what I was saying. I was then out in the big wide world......and was jumped on by a local telling me he was a taxi driver. My kiwi brain was telling me absolutely not to get in a car with him so I told him I needed money, so off he led and I followed at a distance. Heard English being spoken on pounced on them, a very long story short ended up getting a ride to my hotel with 3 guys. All very normal so no need to worry and no I will not be returning to HK with a husband.
Checked myself into the hotel and was blown away with the service from the second we drove in. I even had the duty manager come and introduce himself to me, shake my hand and welcome me to the hotel. Goodness I feel like I should have dressed to walk in the door. Got to my room where there was a welcome note and some fruit - I'm very impressed and as most of you know that doesn't happen too often with hotels as typically something is always wrong!!!
My tour guide woke me at 11.20pm to tell me she'll collect me at 9am in the morning.
Saturday morning started early, and after room service breakfast met my guide and driver. The funniest thing is Anna, my guide, is the one I asked last night how to get a taxi. We both found it very funny.
My tour started at the Big Goose Pagoda. It was built to house the Buddhist statues brought back from India and I was told is the exact copy of a pagoda in India. Its 7 storey tall and is made of wood and brick, Anna assured me there was no cement used at all. Unfortunately its closed for renovations so we weren't able to climb to the top. The grounds surrounding it were great and extremely neat.
I felt like I was back in school as I was asked if I wanted to use the bathroom before we left for our next stop.
Saw a rather strange site, a small boy no older than 5 walking around with split shorts. I have seen this a few times in my travels in China so decided to ask Anna about it. Its to assist with the bathroom trip. (Karyn, do you plan on doing this for Charlie???? Tee hee hee.).
From here we made our way towards to the Army of Terracotta Warriors.
Of course no tour would be without the compulsory stop at the factory, so before we even made it to the terracotta warriors I was inside a factory learning how they made the warriors horses etc as well as shown the very large gift shop. I somehow managed to stop myself buying a lift size (1.8 to 2.1 metres) terracotta warrior. I didn't think Dragon Air would allow it on the flight :) We had a buffet Chinese lunch (actually was ok for a buffet), which had french fries as an option (I guess french fries became Chinese when KFC hit China) before heading out in the direct heat and sun for the 15 minute walk to the Terracotta Warriors. It was hot hot hot! The majority of people had an umbrella, a very wise idea.
For those of you that don't know about the Terracotta warriors here's a brief summary. There is around 8000 life-size soldiers and their horses that were discovered accidentally by some farmers who were digging a well. This was in 1974. They are in 3 different pits, and all standing in battle formation. What amazes me is that no two warriors are alike.
I can only imagine how long it would have taken to build them all (hundreds and hundreds of years ago).
I started the tour watching a 360 degree documentary film which informed me how the warriors were built as well as how they were destroyed (in less than 24 hours). The first pit we visited was pit 1, which is the largest and has the most restored warriors and horses. This was an amazing site and one I could have stayed at all day! I really hope my photos do it justice. I was fortunate to see up close the warriors and really noticed their faces and hands, which use to hold weapons.
Pit 3 was the next pit we visited which is by far the smallest. I noticed the warriors in this pit were 'standing guard'.
In Pit 2 the majority of the warriors and horses are still under ground, however they have removed 5 soldiers and have them in glass cases. The detail on the soldiers blew me away, all different and amazing!
After viewing the pits we tried to see one of the farmers who discovered them (yes they are still alive) however he was out to lunch. So we headed to the museum to view the bronze chariots and horses. Another amazing discovering and sight.
This ended my time at the terracotta warriors, I am thankfully to get into an a/c car :)
The last stop on my tour, after a small nap in the car, was the City Walls. Xi'an is one of the few cities in China where the old city walls are still standing. The city walls are surrounded by a moat and are 12m high, up to 18m thick at the base and have a perimeter of 14km. (I plan on hiring a bike tomorrow and biking around it.). I am amazed the walls are still standing and in good condition.
Back to the hotel where I relaxed over a cup of tea, chicken satay's and my sudoku book for a few hours. Ended up having a late meal at the restaurant in the hotel, I just wasn't up to leaving the hotel and trying to deal with the heat and number of people.
In my travels I've noticed Xi'an is a green city with lots of trees around and motorways everywhere. We found out the hard way that not all of them are opened yet. Like the other Chinese cities I've visited there are lots of bikes (push and motor) as well as the tricycles which hold either people or anything else from fruit to veges to bags to rubbish. I really noticed its not a loud traffic city, you can hardly hear the motorbikes.
Crossing the roads are of course fun/scary - you just have to go for it otherwise you would never make it to the other side. Woman who are the passengers on a motor or push bike sit with their legs on one side of the bike and hold on to I'm not sure! I saw a couple of times woman were holding onto small children as well. I'm sure not an easy task.
Due to the heat the men walk around with their t-shirts either off or pulled right up.
Sunday morning I spent relaxing at the hotel. Was wonderful not to be rushing off sight seeing. Took a taxi to the South gate where after lots of confusion and finding a friend (Jacob), we hired bikes and biked the 14kms around the city wall. Was amazing to be able to do this. If there was no population I'm sure you would be able to see for miles and miles. Not the case today! It was hot, humid and populated.
From here we walked (was strange to be walking again) to the Bell Tower then onto the Drum Tower. Both are amazing buildings that were built in the 14th century. The views were rather impressive. The Bell Tower reminded me a little of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, in the sense of the traffic in all directions and being able to see for miles. We then headed to the Muslim Quarter which is just behind the Drum Tower and has lots of tourist shops as well as food stalls. Surprisely enough we managed to walk through the market without being jumped on that many times which was nice change! Saw what we thought were pig trotters which was a little confusing given Muslim's don't eat pork.
Headed back towards my hotel and came across a few not so nice sites - beggars on the street; parents sitting with their deformed child. I was glad not to have seen this the whole time I was here. There were of course people for Africa everywhere!!! And crossing the street was a difficult task.
I relaxed in the hotel having a late lunch before heading to the airport. My driver from this morning asked if she could take me to the airport so I thought why not. We are now on our way and I notice her petrol light is on.....not good given the ride is around 1 hour. I'm praying we get there without running out of petrol. We took the back roads, obviously to save on petrol. I was fortunate to see a lot - locals sitting around playing board games; woman feeding the young; people waiting for their bus. Numerous fruit and vege being sold on the side of the road.
Xi'an is a nice city but you definitely don't need more than 2 days here.
Well you will be pleased to know I made it to the airport aok, feel very sorry for the person who will be getting into the taxi if the lady doesn't fill it up!
Would love to say where I'm off to next but I haven't got around to arranging anything. I do plan on returning to China before August 20, when my visa expires, but that will all depend on work.
I hope this finds you all well and happy and either keeping warm or cool.
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