After 2 long months, a holiday has finally arrived! We decided to embark on a journey down to Xi'an（西安） to visit some old friends and have a cup of tea or 2 with them. Ok, I was just joking.
We took a night train, Z19 from Beijing West Station to Xi'an. The soft sleeper category which we took was nothing like the trains from Singapore to Malaysia. It was new, comfortable and in typical Singlish.. SHIOK ar! The quilt, pillow and beds were so comfy I slept throughout most of the journey.
Day 1: Welcome to Xi'An
Groping around in the dark, I couldn't feel my valuables tucked in the pockets of my jeans. Awakening to the fears that my handphone and wallet in my jeans were stolen, I panicked. I have been told tales of how we should be extra cautious around Xi'an especially with numerous pickpocket incidents being reported. We arrived in Xi'an in the morning and proceeded to have breakfast: 4 baskets of Baos（包） with different flavours. Now, food is cheaper there compared to Beijing. I bet you can't find Baos at 0.5rmb (for 1) or a basket of 8 at 4rmb. Beat this! Bubble tea at 1.5rmb. RMB!
Terracotta Warriors （兵马俑）
One of the few things I have always wanted to do in China was to visit the Terracotta Warriors and boy, was I glad I did. Self-proclaimed as the 8th Wonder of the World; its without doubt when you set eyes on it. The museum is divided into 3 pits: Pit 1 - The first warriors were found. Site where most warriors were excavated. Warriors were lined up in battle formation.
Pit 2 - Site is still undergoing excavation but progress has slowed down as researchers have not found a way to preserve the original state.
Pit 3 - The headquarters or command post. Warriors lined up in formation that seeks to protect the headquarters.
You can't help but admire the warriors for their designs and sheer size. They are larger than the typical human size and each warrior is different and unique. For example, they have different sizes of butts, figures and expressions. Haha. How did they manage to recreate the different models without duplicates? Ok, I've compiled 7 fun facts about the warriors for your easy reading.
7 Fun Facts of Warriors:
- The warriors were initially painted. After excavation, the colours faded due to some reasons (oxidation maybe?)
- Their body is hollow. Only their heads and legs are solid to ensure proper balance.
- Each warrior was pieced together using many different parts. For example, their head is detachable.
- Only 1 warrior, "the kneeling archer" was found intact and is now housed in Xi'an Museum. The others were restored by archaeologists.
- In Pit 1: the battle formation. Army personnel in first line of defence were not wearing armour and acted as human shields to deplete the enemy's numbers by a certain percentage. Smart eh?
- Warriors weigh on average 300kg.
- Warriors were discovered by a farmer who sits in the museum almost everyday to autograph books.
I told myself I had to bring a piece of terracotta warrior back. Indeed I did! OMG. I feel like a tourist again. Now I got to find a glass ware to protect it when I'm back home.Qin's Mausoleum （秦陵）
fter getting past the army for his afterlife. We had to meet the person responsible for the Great Wall and Terracotta Warriors. The man himself: Qin Shi Huang（秦始皇）.
Well, technically we stood on his grave. It was quite a disappointing visit as there wasn't anything to see. Just some scenery and some of his history. Personally, I feel he's one smart yet sick person. Crude ruler but yet he manages to get his stuff done. You just have to look at the Great Wall and Terracotta Warriors. His men worked and slaved for decades to bring us the magnificent views of today. He buried those who designed alive to prevent the secrets from leaking out. How about, injecting high levels of mercury in your mausoleum so that it will deter grave robbers or archaeologist from finding out more? Enter and die: that's the message. Internal power struggle, an issue so rampant during all dynasties was simply laid to rest just by not naming his empress. Although his son finished the job for him by burying all his family members alive. More? Unifying China, creating a common language? What more can I say?
Hua Qing Hot Spring （华清池）
Behold the beauty of this place. Its almost like resort that one can dream about. So it was back in those days where Emperor Tang Xuanzong （唐玄宗）and Yang Guifei （杨贵妃）spend many days soaking in hot springs and simply relaxing. Its definitely a joy as the sights is splendid. Imagine greenery+mountain+flowers+wonderful Tang dynasty buildings+hot spring+alot of servants. Man, that's like formula that can't go wrong. I want to have a place of my own just like that. Too bad. No money, no talk. HAHA. Other than the sights, there isn't anything much that I could take home with. Can you imagine having a pool all by yourself? Add the hot spring into the equation. HEAVENLY. Oh, and a cup of coffee or tea or whatever you want. Btw, the emperor has 2 bathing pools. Wth, that's what I call enjoying life.
Dinner: Rou Jia Mo (肉夹馍)
Dinner was spent at a local small eatery, restaurant look-a-like place. Once again, the food was not bad. Really not bad at all. I love the pita bread with meat thingy which they call.. 肉夹馍. Different grades of meat = different pricing. Don't get the most expensive one, 6rmb which is labelled as high quality meat but in fact, its mostly fats 肥肉. Its super oily but quite good you know. You should consider the normal (4rmb) or the lean meat (5rmb) instead. Day 2: Lets scale some mountains!
Mountain Hua （华山）
The setting for Hua Shan Lun Jian （华山论剑）was our next stop. To engage in some sword fight like in the novels, we climbed out of our beds real early and head there. Luckily, we took a cable car ride up instead of climbing up 3999 steps to get to the climbing spot. Phew. After climbing for 2 hours, we finally reached the central peak （中锋）which is like 2052m if i don't remember wrongly. The view up there was marvellous and really beautiful. Due to time constraints, we didn't manage to climb up other peaks. Pity pity. Hopefully I didn't miss out much of it. There were some uncles carrying real heavy stuff on poles scaling up the mountains and they were singing those traditional mountain songs （山歌）at least I assumed. Power la! We took quite a number of crazy shots including an advert shot for Crumpler. Perhaps they should consider paying us a little.
Dumpling Banquet （饺子宴）
Would you pay 100rmb for dumplings. Just dumplings? We did. It was one of THE things to do while in Xi'an. Unfortunately, I've tasted better dumplings in my life. It was a good experience nonetheless. =) 18 different dumplings up for grabs. To name a few: Spicy kimchi, crab roe, spicy chicken and Guifei dumplings were some of the names that were easier to remember. The supposedly last dish, Guifei Dumplings came first as there was some problems with their kitchen. I assume its the steamer? Tiny, real tiny dumplings dumped into a huge pot with soup to savour again and again and again. Apparently they only gave 6 dumplings as there were 6 of us. The waitress would randomly divide the dumplings and auspicious words would be littered onto you when you get a certain number of dumplings. WAIT! Even if you DON'T GET, you're actually the luckiest as you won't have worries （无忧无虑）. WTH... LOL. Overall, it was a nice experience but not really worth the money if you're going for the food. Tried once, never coming back again. Next!
Muslim Sector
Yes, there are Muslims in Xi'an. An estimated figure of 70,000 has been reported. The Muslim sector is buzzing at night with many mobile stalls selling a variety of items; street food, traditional art, accessories and even dried food items. They have this tutu look alike which they call it 镜糕, loosely translated as mirror cake. Although it is very different in taste but its still worth a try. You can choose a flavour and they will spread it on for you like jam when the rice/flour is ready. There is seriously alot of food which you should try it yourself if you ever do come here. Its like a pasar malam but its more compact with narrow walkways. Do keep a close eye on your valuables as many have lost one or two things amongst the crowd. Do watch out for the very irritating motor vehicles that comes zooming your way even when there's like a 1001 people in front or at the back of you. They will keep horning you till you move aside. It has both day and night markets and they sell slightly different stuff.
Day 3: Inner city tourXi'an Museum
This wasn't in our itinerary but our tour guide recommended us to go there to understand the entire history of China. Reasons were that we had alot of time and the visit is free! Ok, free is good right? We had to queue up initially as the museum distributes free tickets to the first 2500 in the morning and 1500 in the afternoon. Somehow, our guide turned on her charmed and we were one of the first few to go in. WONDERFUL. It was really worthwhile to get in and understand some of the history. I'm truly ashamed that I don't know anything before going in.
The museum is divied into 3 sections and it started with the evolution of men before moving on to the different dynasties. Housing thousands of artifacts which were mostly dug out from the ground. I must say they were really well-preserved. I start to wonder.. Technology back in those days were so advanced. In fact, some of it still baffles the brightest minds of today. So what happened along the way? Why did the world take a step back before advancing to where we are today?
Big Goose Pagoda （大雁塔）
You will be surprised by who built this temple. Make a guess.
Táng-Sānzàng (唐三藏) or Tripitaka did.
It houses the scriptures which he obtained from the west and was the place he painstakingly translated the scriptures into mandarin. One interesting phenomenon to note is that the pagoda is actually not standing upright anymore. It is slightly slanted to the left when you first step through the doors of the temple.
There are different houses inside which tells of his tales of obtaining the scriptures and the building process of this pagoda. I always thought he was a character born out of fiction. Gosh. I am stupid. I can't recall the exact reason for it being named Goose Pagoda but it goes like this. There will be a day every year that the monks are allowed to eat meat. There was once a flock of geese flew by and 1 dropped dead onto the floor during that very special day and thus the pagoda was erected at that spot the goose dropped from the sky. I hope I didn't remember wrongly. There's a small goose pagoda in Xi'an not very far away from the big one.
Yang Rou Pao Mo （羊肉泡馍）
This was lunch. We had a choice to choose either DIY - tear the pita lookalike bread aka Mo (馍) into tiny pieces or choose take the shredded ones which the restaurant prepared for us using a machine. Mutton soup is poured into it after that. Its a local speciality there but I guess most of us ain't used to the taste of it. The starting first few mouthfuls were pretty nice but as you go along it gets to you. It leaves the taste of bread and mutton on your tongue until you can't taste anything else. Slightly disappointing for me but Ok, at least I tried some local stuff right.
Bell Tower （钟楼）
Situated near the centre of the city, the purpose was to tell citizens of the time back in the olden days where clock wasn't readily available. Nice bells, nice surrounding flowers, good view of city. Great night view if you pass by it at night. Otherwise, its just another tourist site. Haha. It was built by some emperor who I can't remember. The purpose was to suppress the Dragon pulse （龙脉）to prevent the rightful Heaven son （天子）from reclaiming power. I wonder if that works haha. Maybe it did? The position of the bell tower is not situated at its original position. It was moved years ago when damage was done to the original one (yet again, I think if I don't remember wrongly). The really huge bell that they have up there can ring for 1 hour if you strike it. However, you got to pay now if you would like to have a swing at it. Besides, they will stop the bell from ringing after you strike it. Where's the fun now. Hm. lol.
Great Mosque （清真寺）
Located in the heart of the Muslim Sector is a old but yet pretty magnificent building. This is the Great Mosque; the largest Mosque in China. It dates back nearly 1250 years ago and was built under the order of the emperor as a reward to the Muslims who have fought and stood by him. This was actually the first time I stepped into a Mosque believe or not. You will be greeted by the red gate after you first enter. The interesting thing about that gate is that it wasn't built using any nails, just brackets brackets and dried leaves. Cool huh?
As you walk further in, you realise that this architecture is unique as it combines both Chinese and Muslim culture in its planning and structure which isn't something you observe back home. Apparently, it is so important that even the signboard which states some important message just at the prayer hall was given to them by the emperor. The message is something along the line of.."going against the rules there is like going against the emperor", I hope I ain't wrong about this cause there was simply too much information during these 3 days.
Ancient City Walls （古城墙）
There are 4 ancient cities that remain today; Cairo in Egypt, Rome in Italy, Istanbul in Turkey and Xi'an in China.
The current city walls that exists today is actually the walls of the palace. HUGE. 14km in distance if you cycle on the walls. Put things into perspective, that's about 1.5 hours of leisure cycling on the city walls. When you first get up there, you might notice some scribbles on the bricks which your foot is on. Reason? Back in those days where the government didn't give a hoot about it, civilians took the liberty of taking bricks away and storing it at home. Don't ask me why. Perhaps it was cool to own a piece of history. Wait, that's cool indeed.
So when the government decided to preserve the city walls, they sent out an order for the people to return the bricks. The people actually did! Not without leaving their names on the bricks. Therefore, the mystery of the bricks is solved. However, some people failed to return the bricks and therefore you're in for a bumpy ride when you cycle on the walls. Cycling was pretty enjoyable with the wind in your head and the sun in your face. I can't imagine how the soldiers of the past walked from one point to the other. To be honest, the city wall is actually one of its kind. The walls are beautiful. I'm running out of superlatives here now. So bear with me.
Heavy hearts and Heavy Feets:
As the sun retreated beyond the walls, our hearts started sinking with every revolution of the bicycle pedals. This, marked the end of our holiday in Xi'an. We headed for the train station after dinner and were soon on the way back to my 2nd home: Beijing.
At least the sleep on the comfortable train pacified me a little. Just a little.Overall, it was a great trip. I still love terracotta warriors!
Prices are comparable to pubs back home. A Tsingdao beer cost 30RMB, Carlsberg cost 40RMB. Hard liquor ranges from 50-70RMB and beyond. For all you people (like me) who aren't use to touting, you might want to prepare yourself as the people will literrally follow you everywhere you go. However, not every single pub is hmm, decent. For those pervy friends out there; you will be able to find your share of eye candy here (I hope). Apparently, there are touters who will approach you telling you about how their shop offers “小姐”.
