Beijing to Xi’ An and the Terracottta Warriors

 

We leave Beijing on an overnight train to Xi'an, which is 1250km distant. We get on the train in the late afternoon and expect to arrive in Xi'an at about 7am.

 

Photo 1 waiting room at Beijing station

Photo 2 tour group at the station

Photo 3 of train

 

I am pleasantly surprised by the train. We are in hard sleeper compartments, so I am expecting it to be rather like my Indian train experience, but it is way better. Each carriage has 11 open compartments, each with 6 bunks – 3 high, like the Indian train, but the bunks have clean covers on them and clean bedding on top of that. There is a Dutch tour group in our carriage and also Chinese people. It is all friendly and calm and by 10pm the lights are dimmed; everyone is quiet and the train trundles gently through the night.

 

Photo 4 of sleeper train

 

In the early morning we arrive in Xi'An and take taxis to our hotel. We can't check in yet, so feeling tired from the journey we go in search of coffee. Down the street we find a Starbuck's and are drawn inside and breathe in the familiar smell and environment. We order coffees and muffins, just as we would at home. We also take advantage of the nice western-style toilet and we howl with laughter at the notice inside which says in English and Chinese, 'For your own safety, please do not squat on the toilet seat'!

 

Photo 4 of Starbucks in Xi'An

 

After we have checked into the hotel and showered, we are all feeling much refreshed and take a walk around the neighbourhood. Xi'An is also a modern western-style city with clothes shops selling exactly what you might get at home, but it does have ancient city walls, which will explore a bit more tomorrow. This was the capital city of China from the 11th century BC and it remained so until 1000AD. The Silk Road started from here and opened up trade with the west.

Before we leave the city to visit the terracotta warriors we have a fantastic lunch. We share 8 different dishes – the gastro-tour continues.

 

Photo 5 of lunch

 

We take a bus for an hour out of the city. The terracotta warriors are at the site of the tomb of the emperor who unified China in 246BC, Shi Huang Di. He also introduced a common system of weights, measures and coins. He was also the one to join up the individual sections of the northern defences and so created the Great Wall.  His tomb was prepared so that he would have everything with him in the after-life – palaces, gardens, army, cavalry – everything. The whole site is huge and not everything has been excavated yet; they are leaving parts for the future, when techniques are more advanced.

Today Harvey resorts to the tour leader flag technique and it works well, as there are huge numbers of Chinese tours here.

 

Photo 6 of Harvey with tour flag

 

One Chinese tour groups assembles near to us for their tour photo and Rob from our group sneaks in on the end, then more of us join in and the whole thing gradually collapses into chaos. Luckily they think it is funny too. Rob is front left in the picture – i.e. the only western person.

 

Photo 7 of Rob in Chinese tour group photo

 

There are 3 open excavated pits to view, plus other exhibitions. Soon after the Emperor died and was buried in his mausoleum the tomb was sacked by another army and most of the statues were damaged and their weapons stolen. The work is still ongoing to put the statues back together.

 

Photos 8 - 11  of terracotta warriors in situ

 

Photo 12 of horses

 

Some of the best examples of the warriors are exhibited in glass cases. The one of a kneeling archer even has detail of tread on the sole of his shoe.

 

Photo 13 of back of kneeling archer

Photo 14  of tourists looking at an exhibit

 

In a separate museum there are two half-size bronze chariots displayed.

 

Photo  15 of bronze chariot

 

The next morning we go to the old city walls of Xi'An and take a tour around on bicycles.

 

Photo 16  of city wall gate

Photo 17 of me with bicycle

 

Cycling along the top of the wall is great and after some rain last night the atmosphere is as clear as we have seen it. There is even a tiny bit of blue sky and sunshine. The view from the top of the wall is interesting, with some old buildings inside the wall and modern high rise outside.

 

Photo 18 of wall tower with high rise behind

Photo 19 of Buddhist temple

 

At various points when we look over the wall we can see Chinese people taking their morning exercise. There are various forms of dance and tai chi going on.

 

Photo 20 of morning dance

 

We are glad to be getting this exercise, as later today we have another overnight train to Chengdu.

Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City

The next morning we take a walk from our hotel to Tian'anmen Square. The square is apparently the largest square in the world. We have to put our bags through a security scanner before being allowed to enter the square. On the way we have passed lots of policemen who are gathering and lining up in the side streets, then they come jogging and marching into the square. They look quite smart in their green uniforms, but their marching needs a little tidying up.

 

Photo 1 of policemen marching

 

The police are also standing guard at various points around the square. I try and take a photo of one man standing on a plinth and he barks, 'No photo' at me. Others don't seem to mind. Perhaps he is just camera shy?

 

Photo 2 of guards

 

On each side of the square are huge buildings; the Memorial Hall on one side which houses the pickled body of Chairman Mao. There are two huge queues of Chinese waiting to file past his body.

 

Photo 3 queue waiting to view Chairman Mao

Photo 4 Memorial Hall

 

The People's Congress Hall is on another side of the square, with the Museum of china opposite. In the middle of the square is a Monument to the People's Heros.

 

Photo 5 Congress Hall and Monument to the People's heros

Photo 6 Museum of China

 

 

On the 4^th side of th square is Tian'nmen Tower. This is the original gate to the Forbidden City, where the Emperors lived and is the place where Chairman Mao proclaimed the formation of the People's republic of China. A huge photo graph of him is attached to the front wall. On the right of this building are the platforms where the bigwigs stand when they have the huge military parade.

 

Photo 7 of Tian'anmen Tower

 

The square is very clean and tidy, with street cleaners constantly sweeping up. Large groups of Chinese tourists mill around following their tour guide, who invariably carries a flag on a stick; or they assemble for a group photo.

 

Photo 8 of flowers in the square

Photo 9 of me in the square

 

Forbidden City

 

We walk through Tian'anman Tower to enter the Forbidden City. This is a separate walled city where the Emperors lived and ruled from. It covers a vast area, containing separate palace buildings and courtyards and the whole is laid out in perfect symmetrical style in accordance with yin and yang. The palace stood in the centre of Beijing and Beijing was considered to be the centre of the universe, so this symmetrical harmony was vital. As we pass through each successive building it begins to become rather repetitive – haven't we just seen this one already? Here are lots of symbolic statues of lions and dragons etc.

 

Photo 10 of the Forbidden City

Photo 11 of the gate to the Forbidden City

Photo 12 of me in the Forbidden City

Photo 13 of lion statue

 

The Chinese tour groups are here too and listen patiently to their guide speak to them through a microphone or megaphone. Our group is rather more independent and must seem to Harvey rather like trying to herd cats.

 

Photo 14 of Chinese tour group

 

The number of animals carved onto the roof denotes the importance of the building. This is the most important one with 9.

 

Photo 14 of animals on a roof

 

After the ceremonial buildings, throne rooms and courtyards we come to the palace where the Emperors lived, with his Empress, concubines and eunuchs. In this area there is the palace gardens laid out with trees, bridges, pavilions and walkways. Here a group of small school children are resting. The boys wear blue tracksuits and the girls wear pink.

 

Photo 15 of garden

Photo 16 of school children

 

After we leave the Forbidden City 4 of us go to a restaurant as we are keen to sample the famous Beijing duck. Harvey suggests a famous old restaurant and I go there with Luke, Ann and Phil. The restaurant has an old portico, but when we go inside we are ushered by an elegant young woman with a walkie-talkie into a lift and taken up to the top of a tower block and are shown into an elegant modern restaurant with linen tablecloths and beautifully dressed waiters and waitresses. We are a little unsure if we are in the right place, or whether we have just been Beijing duck-scammed. The menu comes and it is an i-pad. One waiter speaks English and we ask him what we need to order. We get one duck between us, some pancakes and thinly sliced spring onions and cucumber, some sticky sauce and a bottle of white wine. The duck arrives on a trolley and a waiter carves it into thin slices. We are shown how to assemble the pancakes and they are delicious. This tour is turning into a gastronomic delight!

 

Photo 17 of Phil, Luke and Ann in the duck restaurant

Photo 18 Phil is shown how to make a duck pancake

The start of the China tour and the Great Wall

When I arrive in Beijing it is shrouded in the same hazy sunshine (smog?) as in Shanghai. The China tour group meets up in the evening at our hotel in Beijing. The tour leader is Harvey – this is his English name, I haven't got the hang of his Chinese name yet. The group is very diverse. There are 15 of us altogether: a family of 3 from New Zealand, mother, father and daughter of about 11; Rob a young guy from Australia who is very hyper; Phil from the UK, currently living in Toronto, who speaks loudly, quickly and constantly; Anne Claire from Australia (is she going to be odd?) who has been travelling since March; Peggy from the US who is 68 and lovely and very fit; Lesley from Canada who is my room-mate; Ann from Ireland; Katie from the UK; Jess from the US; Elliot from the US and a couple from Belgium who will arrive tomorrow morning. I'm sure that by the end of the three weeks I will love them all, but for now they are strangers.

After our introduction to the tour by Harvey, those of us who are hungry go down the road to a restaurant. Harvey orders food for us all to share and we sit around a large round table with a 'lazy susan' in the middle. The food is excellent and we begin to get to know each other.

 

Photo 1 of dinner on the first night

 

After dinner some of us go to a night market.

 

Photo 2 of night market entrance

 

It is an alleyway with mainly small food stalls and it is packed with Chinese and some tourists. 

 

Photo 3 of food stall

 

Tripe seems to be a speciality, as are insects of various sorts on sticks! There are scorpions on kebab skewers, which wriggle their legs and also star fish and beetles. Phil and Rob and Lesley decide they are going to try the scorpions and the stall holder deep fries them quickly. Phil chickens out but the other two crunch them up. Rob is so pleased with the experience he later eats some bigger ones too.

 

Photo 4 of scorpions and beetles on sticks

 

The next morning we have a tour to the Great Wall. We travel for 1 ½ hours on a bus out of the city to a place called Mutian Yu.  This is a tourist access point for the wall and here the wall has been renovated. At other places along its 6000km length it has fallen into disrepair, or disappeared altogether. We can see part of the wall high above us on the top of the hill. Below the wall there is a collection of stalls and as we walk up towards the wall we have to fight through the barrage of Chinese stall-holders wanting to sell us souvenirs.

 

Photo 5 of souvenir stalls

 

We can get up to the wall by cable car, or walking up steps. As I am already fit for steps, I choose this option along with Peggy. We climb up steps through woodland that is just beginning to show its autumn colours and suddenly we are right under the wall and we walk up onto it through a narrow stone gateway and up a steep roughly-paved slope.

 

Photo 6 of accessing the wall

 

It is exactly as we are all familiar with from pictures. It is built on a high ridge and snakes away into the distance following the line of hills.

 

Photo 7 of great wall

 

Every so often there are small towers which contain small rooms with fire places and windows that look out over the hills.

 

Photo 8 steps up to a tower

Photo 9 of inside a tower

Photo 10 of view through a window

 

We walk along the wall for an hour or so. It is strenuous walking as we are mainly walking up or down steps of varying degrees of steepness; in some places we are walking on a stone pavement, but it is never flat.

 

Photos 11 and 12 of me and Peggy

 

After an hour or so we reach the end of the section that we are allowed on and climb up to the highest tower so far. The steps are almost vertical and we have to use hands and feet to get up.

 

Photo 13 of steps to top tower

 

The view from here back the way we came is stunning

 

Photo 14 view back along the wall

 

As we retrace our steps there is a school group coming towards us, huffing and puffing and helping each other up the steps. We also see a bride and groom being photographed.

 

Photo 15 of school group

Photo 16 of bride and groom

 

We joke about whether it is actually the 'great' wall of China, or just the 'alright' wall. We think it's pretty great.