In this post we will tell you what to see and do in Xian, an essential stop on any trip to China.
Something had to go wrong... or at least not going well! If apart from the robbery of the motorcycle in Vietnam, forgetting a backpack in a taxi, and that our card was locked in a bank in Thailand, nothing happened to us that greatly disrupted the plans. This until we reach Zangjianjie. Do not worry! Not! Not! Nothing horrible has happened to us. But catch a 10-hour train and waste precious time for NOTHING. Puff! What a stick…
We already imagined there, jumping from one mountain to another, shooting thousands of photos, and painting our faces blue to feel true avatars. There is in fact the national park from which Cameron took inspiration for the beautiful mountains of the Pandora planet.
Of course, our imagination flew without considering a subtle and bratty bastard: fog! Dammit! If you don't see it here ten meters away! What do we do? Do we pay the supermegahiper face ticket to see nothing? Well, no! So to look for a quick solution…
Look how the bastard Chinese boy laughs at us ...
Plan B activated: very quickly we will see if we are lucky to catch a train to go to Xian tonight. Success! We leave: 10 hours of train to Ankang and from there change of train that in 4 hours will take us to the city of terracotta warriors! Neither Avatar nor na, besides that if we really get to paint our faces blue, I already know what we looked like: two smurfs!
In a plis plas we catch the train, we eat, we sleep, we eat, all the Chinese look at us, we sleep, and we arrive at the first stop. The other train is already there waiting. Really Trenitalia, you have a lot to learn from the Chinese !!! And in less than 4 hours we are already in Xian, of course, queuing at the ticket office to reserve the next destination. Done.
Well, let's go to the hotel !!! Bus, get off, walk, map! Ah we don't have aiiiii! "Excuse me, do you speak english? ” Mmm it's going to be no! And you? Do not! And you? Do not! And you? "Hey I speak english! ” An achinged angel stands and reveals that we have gone in the opposite direction. What a novelty! Back and after a while we finally got to step on our room! But where is the bed? This is true, if we book a hotel with japanese room. That the word futon sounds very beautiful! But if this is sleeping on the floor! Arg !! Nothing happens! Go if we have slept in worse places! What memories ... hihi
Now to explore the city that has something like 8 million inhabitants ... my mother these cities are all megalopolis! What most caught our attention was visiting the muslim neighborhood. And it did not disappoint us, especially because it was full of food !!! And of the rarest, are you curious! Look at the post with Chinese cuisine 😉
We also stroll around the two giants of downtown Xian: the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower, we have lost ourselves wandering around and went to eat one of the best dumplings of our lives. Please, more dumplings for everyone!
But if you visit Xian it is for a reason: Terracotta Warriors! And is that this site less than an hour from the city has about 7,000 figures, in real size, and each with different features, hairstyles and details! A job of Chinese go! This army had been buried with the objective of protecting, caring for and defending Emperor Qin Shi Huang for all eternity. What a fuck! It seems that there are still troops under the ground, so the army of the 7,000 will soon be joined by others! If our villages do not have 7,000 inhabitants! These Chinese are the most!
Do you know more things to see and do in Xian?
What do you think of Chinese terracotta Berlusconi?
Transportation How to get to Xian?
We arrived at Xian from Yangshuo, with an infructiferous stop in Zangjiajie:
- Yangshuo-Zangjiajie: from Yangshuo we caught a bus at 11am to the city of LiuZhou, it cost 60 yuan each ticket and took 2.5 hours. From Liuzhou to Zangjiajie the train cost 106 yuan in hard berth, departs at 21.46. It takes about 10h.
- Zangjiajie-Xian: There is no direct train, you have to go to Ankang. The train to there leaves at 17.30, costs 113 yuan in berth and arrives at 07.50 am. In the same platform there is a train for Xian from 08.10am, it costs 59 in berth, it lasts 4 hours (we bought the two tickets in Zangjiajie).
Accommodation Where to sleep in Xian?
We stay in the Zifengyuanient'l youth hostel. Japanese style room without bathroom, 88 yuan. The room consists of a cupboard, a floor, but it is clean and cheap, next to the south door.
Visit to the Terracotta Warriors
You can go for free to visit the Terracotta Warriors and it is very simple, and you save a lot of money. There are public buses that leave from a parking lot to the right of the train station. We took the number 306, but there are different so ask. It costs 7 yuan. The entrance to the warriors museum costs 75 yuan, we catch it reduced with a student card. Normal entry costs 150 yuan (June 2012).
