After an uneventful overnight train we arrived into Xi’an at 12.40pm where we were met by our new guide Lei Lei, a very fun, kind and interesting young guy and got a five minute bus to our hostel. The hostel was buzzing when we arrived, with lots of other guests about. Due to this it meant that all of our tour group was spread out in different dorms. Thankfully the two of us were together in a room, with four other travellers. After sorting out some of our stuff and making up beds we wandered down the street from the hostel and found a local restaurant for some noodles (10) as we were starving. Full up we headed back to the hostel for a quick shower and to meet our group at 3.30 for a walk around the town. We headed past the local bell tower to Xian old city walls. Usually an activity of the tour is to be able to bike along the city walls. However there was a festival/ very security heavy event on which meant the bikes were banned. Instead we mooched along the top, taking in the sights a bit more slowly. We walked around to the west gate, taking about an hour and the climate had changed significantly with it starting to be very cold. From the city walls we made our way to the muslim quarter. Here we explored the vibrant, lively fake goods markets (Where you really could get knock off of anything!) and more importantly all the food stalls. The aromas were so fragrant and we ended up getting baby potatoes covered in all sorts of spices, marinated beef in pittas that fell apart and mutton soup dumplings (these were not the best!). The rest of the day we spent chilling in the hostel, which definitely looked like a place to stay if you are backpacking China- they had loads of day trips, tours and events on. We ended up doing a chinese rice wine tasting with Lei Lei, which then somehow turned into having lots of shots!
The next morning Dave was feeling pretty rough but I fully tucked into the buffet breakfast. The whole group met back up with Lei Lei at 9.30am where we took an hour and a half coach journey out to go and see the terracotta warriors. We first explored the shop and the museum, however these were very underwhelming and didn’t explain much. Lei Lei instead spent 40 minutes telling us the history of the place. The first emperor took over all dynasties in order to create a united China. He began the building of the great wall of china initially to hold the Mongolians out. The site of the terracotta warriors is actually the first emperors tomb, with it being upside down pyramid. He had himself placed at the bottom of the pyramid, 80ft deep then had his concubines, children and animals killed and put in with him. All of their blood was drained and this section he had filled with mercury. To this day they are unable to open this section of the tomb due to it being so poisonous. If it is a liquid it could seap into the soil and contaminate water or food supplies and if it gets into the air it is poisonous. Above him he had commissioned the Terracota Army- models of his real soilders, the sites of these were huge with the top layer being 50 sq2km (20 football pitches). Pits 1-3 the soilders were all standing and there were even horses modelled in terracotta. Most of these have been destroyed and they are still working through piecing together lots of these warriors to this day. The scale is quite unimaginable even as the hall with the rectified terracotta army today is impressive.
Following the cultural morning we headed into Xi’an main city to find more weather appropriate clothes. It had been freezing as we stood outside having our history lesson. We also new it was only going to get colder as we headed further up north, and further into November. Luckily between Uniglo and Miniso we managed to stock up on leggings, hats, gloves and warmed ourselves up with a Starbucks Hot Chocolate. We spent the rest of the evening back at the hostel, joining Lei Lei for a fun, dumpling making class- where once you mastered the folding technique was actually quite straightforward. We did end up with a mish mash of different dumpling sizes and shapes between us though, although all equally tasty. Along with dumplings we had a group movie night, with Lei Lei opting for Mean Girls- always a winner. Plus we got to meet Lady- Lei Lei’s husky dog who was amazing.
Unfortunately that was all the time we had at this lovely hostel and with Lei Lei. The next morning we were up early at 6am, getting in a quick buffet breakfast before getting a private bus to the bus station. From there it was a 6 hour public coach journey to Shaolin. Luckily 3 hours in we got a quick service station stop (never quite sure if/when you are going to stop for the toilet/drink/food on bus journeys in asia). Meat bao buns and sweet potato snacks later and we were back sleeping on the bus all the way to Shaolin.
Alex
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