We just got back from our trip to Xi'an (pronounced She-an); a 12 hour train ride southwest of Beijing. Xi'an was on our short list of places to see and because of the distance we decided to take the night train in order to maximize our time during the day. Our train departed at 8pm on Tuesday night and arrived on Wednesday morning at 8am. We first took a car to see the Terracotta warriors about 30 minutes outside of the city. In 1974 a farmer uncovered a warrior's head while digging for a well. Since then archaeologists have discovered over 8000 warriors dating back to 300 B.C. Every warrior has a different face which was based off of actual men in the emperors military. The site was interesting, but a tourist trap to say the least, with the now 67 year old farmer sitting in a souvenir shop posing for pictures with tourists who buy a book from him. When tourists aren't being hustled into his shop, he naps. We saw what we needed to see and moved on.
We also spent some time on the old city wall surrounding the city of Xi'an. As we biked around the top of the wall (on a chinese tandem bike) we listened to Kenny G's rendition of Titanic by Celine Dion on the loud speakers; not exactly what we expected in China. We spent a total of 12 hours in Xi'an before boarding the train once again for the return trip to Beijing; arriving in Beijing at 7am on Thursday morning.
Terracotta warriors discovered in 1974
Inside the covered Terracotta warriors in pit 1
Terracotta warriors
City wall in Xi'an dating back 700 years
Loving the noodles!
Chicken and noodle bowl...oh so good!
Train accommodations to Xi'an (with two bunkmates in the top bunks).
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