The Walled City of Xian

Sofitel Xian on Renmin Square
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Day 6

We arrived in Xian, the home of the Terracotta Warriors, mid morning after a good night on the train. Lined up with 100 locals to get a taxi, no problems 6RMB or $1 which was a good start. Sofitel on Renmin Square was very impressive on the outside, even better inside, then even better inside our room. As we had no breakfast on the train, only s...house coffee and orange water (which Richard had the porter get up early to prepare so that it was cold this time), we hit the lunch buffet at the Sofitel and filled up for just over $20 for the two of us including drinks. ( Smoked Salmon, Duck Curry, all of Julie's favourites).

5th Regiment of the TCW
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In the afternoon we walked the city checking out some of the historical sites, Bell Tower, Drum Tower, Muslim Mosque and markets. Too tired to go out so early to bed.

Day 7

Up early to see the main reason tourists come to Xian, the Terracotta Warriors. Take a taxi back to the Railway Station to catch the local bus, all the way the driver starts touting to drive us to the Warriors, starts off at 200RMB and slowly works down to 100 by the time we pull up where we are confronted by another barage of touts offering tours, guides, taxis. We hopped on the local bus and paid 7RMB for the 45KM trip which was great value, comfortable and no hassles.

TCW
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The actual pits with the warriors are about a 15minute walk from the entrance, so once again the barage of professional guides tackle you and you end up negotiating all the way up. We thought that if we negotiate a low price, she will give us the quick tour so she can get back and hopefully get a more generous tourist. Things were going well, whilst the Warriors, the size of the pits and the restoration work involved was impressive, we were still a bit underwelmed over all, maybe because we had seen so much about them prior to the visit. We had seen enough and were happy to leave, but the guide had other ideas, we had to visit the souvenir shops where we might be lucky and buy a book autographed by the farmer who discovered the Warriors in 1974 when he was digging a well. You must buy some local jade jewellry. No, we want to go, but she will get into trouble if we don't at least enter the required number of stores. Piss off, no tip for you.

All alone on the Wall
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Following the great buffet lunch the day before we decided to try it for dinner, well what a good idea that was, they had everything again for about A$45 including beer & wine.

Day 8

Our last day in Xian, we headed off to finish the tourist spots, Big Goose Pagoda, and next to it the Northern Park where they have a huge fountain area where they have a dancing fountain display at midday and another show at 9pm. Whilst it may not be as sophisticated as the Bellagio in Las Vegas, the sheer size of the display was just great. Initially they time the fountains to Strauss Waltzes which suited the show, and then attempted Chinese Music which was not as good.

The other side of the Wall
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Next was a walk on the Wall that surrounds the inner city, Xian is the last walled city in China and is approx 14.5KMS around. Julie decided that we should walk from the South Entrance to the East Entrance, not far she says, I was trying to break it down into so many Par 5s a couple of Par 4s and a long Par3. But we made it and it was fun, at times there was no one else within sight which makes a big change for Chinese tourist sights.

For our final night we decided to eat at the hotel again in their Chinese Restaurant, Le Chinois, and had a great meal. A fitting end to great time in Xian.