Asia 2008 – Day Fifteen

November 15th, 2008 - 10:46pm

Day Fifteen – 15th Nov 2008
Xi’an
22:46 – HQ Guest House, apartment 503

The beds of the train were supposedly “soft sleeper” (we had the private “Deluxe” room) but the beds were like wooden planks. In the middle of the night I woke with terrible back pain from having no support. Luckily, the blanket was quite wide so I put it under me and wrapped up in it, which helped a little.

On the platform were people holding signs for pickups. Ours wasn’t there. We had the address so no big deal. However, there was a guy waiting for us outside the station. He simply hailed a taxi, spoke some Chinese and let us go. Alone in the taxi we arrived at an alley where a young lady got in the front and directed the driver down the alley, handing him some cash. It turns out she was the person we were to meet.

The place we’re staying is an apartment complex off a main street. It’s a new but cheaply-made apartment. Two bedrooms with enough beds to sleep twelve people.

We checked in and hung around the place for a bit then headed out to walk back to the station to catch a bus to see the Terracotta warriors. Xi’an is—to me—like Beijing may have been ten or fifteen years ago. Dusty, dirty, many old buildings – many being demolished and many being built.

Like Beijing, people are rude, using the “me first” approach to, well, just about everything. People spit on the ground wherever they please, young children are encouraged to do their “business” on the sidewalk or street too. We hadn’t seen this in Southeast Asia.

While wandering around the train station area looking for the bus—many terminals are around the station, but the numbering isn’t logical—an older lady mumbled “laowei”, which is a derogatory term for white people. Certainly not the first time I’ve heard it this week, along with other racist treatment. Honestly, I’m surprised at the whole thing.

After asking a—non-English speaking but nonetheless verbose and helpful—policeman where the bus was we boarded the regular public transit bus to the warriors. It took around an hour.

The complex created for the Terracotta Warriors is both sprawling and uninspiring. It’s like a government complex, with square grey buildings every which way. Still, despite the seeming efforts to make the warriors less interesting, it’s still an amazing sight to see them all lined up, still in formation.

Since it’s winter it was almost dark when we returned to Xi’an. We spent almost three hours visiting the warriors as there is much to see.

As everyone in China seems to eat instant noodles frequently we decided to do the same for dinner. I only ate a little even though the packets are massive. Fighting off the cold, we watched TV on our laptop in bed.

Photos taken today: 128
Photos taken to date: 4149

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