Xi'an

Terracotta Warriors
see all photos »

Hey all,

Im in a grotty internet cafe in Nanjing at the moment and the diary is falling way behind so I'll keep it down to the basics as best as I can!

The last day in Beijing was an interesting one. I had my first experience of a rickshaw and how easy it is to be ripped off by the street vendors (not me, a mate on the tour was given a Korean note which he attempted to pay the rickshaw driver with. Half the street gathered around to see what the fuss was about) both of which caused us great amusement. Im haven't laughed so much in my life as I seem to be doing on this trip (sometimes a case of laugh or you'll cry, especially at the village house I stayed in the other day and at the moment where Im being bitten to death by mosquitos as my computer is positioned right next to the squat toilet and it stinks like you wouldnt believe!)

Terracotta Warriors
see all photos »

We left Beijing on Wednesday (I think!) and took the overnight hard sleeper to Xi'an. The train journey was wa bizarre experience which took some serious getting used to. We had an old lady pickpocket hassling us at the train station and the usual gawping, pointing etc. The train is divided into 6 bunk areas with no fronts and waking up in the night to find a chinese person staring at you from the bottom of the bed was a little bit odd to begin with. Beds here are like sleeping on planks of wood but its doing my back no end of good it seems. I do miss my nice big squishy double bed at home though :-( If you saw the toilets on these trains you would never complain about Bristish Rail ever again. The whole toilet thing is just too horrific to describe so I'll let the photos explain once ive got them uploaded. Be prepared...

Terracotta Warriors
see all photos »

We arrived in Xi'an at 6am and got a coach to the Terracotta Warriors. It was chucking it down with rain for the first time and reminded me quite a bit of England to be honest. I've got used to running the gauntlet of street vendors now who try to sell you the most extraordinary range of stuff from umbrellas to pomegranates as soon as you step off the coach. The Warriors themselves were amazing. There were 1000's and 1000's of them lined up in their original spots after being put back together over the last 30 years or so. The excavation work is still going on and the amount of effort that has gone into restoring them is unbelievable. I did find them pretty creey and Im sure they must come alive at night when nobodies watching. I wont bore you with the story behind them but it's worth looking up if you have the time.

Terracotta Warriors
see all photos »

We arrived at our hotel which like all the hotels we've stayed in was very nice. Money goes a long way in China it seems. We went out for lunch in the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an and ate at a restaurant where you pick your raw ingredients and cook the food yourself in a soup pot over a stove at your table. Kind of like a giant fondue set. This was where we discovered Hans beer, now nicknamed loopy juice because it has some bizarre effects on anyone that drinks it. One bottle gives you the giggles for hours.

Terracotta Warriors
see all photos »

We went to a Mosque in the Muslim area which was stunning and a small market with everything you could possibly want in terms of souvenirs. The thing I've realised about China is that ist's just like you would imagine from films and books but you would have to visit the country to see how it translates. China smells pretty minging most of the time so thats one thing that is well avoided however.

We went on to a street cafe which looked a bit like a greasy spoon only dirtier and had a few more drinks before going back to the hotel to get changed to go out. We had a few rounds of Top Trumps and drank the mini bar (At 30p a beer it would be rude not to!) and went to a club called Night Cat (after fighting off the street kids who pose as Flower sellers. They are basically pickpockets under the control of a guaridan who takes the money from them. Because China has such a strict policy on children there are a lot of orphans are many of them are bought by adults and forced to beg. I wasn't ready for all the beggars with horrific disfigurements. They are bought as infants and have their limbs bound then theyre left in salt baths so their legs become so deformed they cant move. This means they can beg more money and the beggers in Beijing can make more than the tour guides over here. Still very shocking to see it first hand and it makes you realise how civilised things are in England in comparision to some of the things i've seen here)

Terracotta Warriors
see all photos »

The Night Cat was one of the best nights out Ive ever had. The people were amazing the drinks were free and the whole experience will go down in China tour history for everyone who went I think. The music was a mix of the mama's and the papa's and the beastie boys over drum n bass and german techno, chinese versions of our songs and a lot of hip hop in various languages. All in all a brilliant night was had by all. There were a few incidents with an over excited chinese guy, a bloke on the tour called Matt falling off a huge podium into the crowd and flattening a few people then getting back on a promptly squashing the DJ, the crazy combination of sprite and red wine, the massive bowls of fruit you get everytime you arder a beer, strawberry flavored complimentary popcorn and having your bum slapped by a fat chinese guy everytime you walked past him. I wish everyone from home could've been there because its really hard to describe the whole thing adequately!

Terracotta Warriors
see all photos »

The next day was a well deserved lie in and writing my journal before another hard sleeper train to Tai'an to climb the biggest and holiest mountian in China...as you do!