OUR ADVENTURES IN XI’AN (西安) ft. THE TERRACOTTA ARMY (兵马俑)

During the national holiday week 17 of us took a long, 19 hour train journey to Xi’an 西安 (North-West of Chin 中国). There are 3 types of tickets on the trains over here - hard seats, standing, or tickets which let you have your own bed. We were lucky to get hard seats (they are seats similar to those on Scotrail trains) as there were many people who had to stand in the isles for 19 hours (some of these people brought little stools with them)! There wasn’t much space so any opportunity to stand up and stretch our legs was appreciated. In my opinion those 19 hours proved a good time to sleep and bond with fellow scholars as well as these 2 little Chinese kids we met.  

We finally arrived in the beautiful town of Xi’an (西安) however 17 foreigners turning up to the accommodation for a simple check in seemed too good to be true - with only 3 beds available at our booked hotel, most of us were moved to a sister hotel which turned out to be the best place we could’ve asked for since there were 8 modern wooden bunk beds in an open plan room for us girls to share. It was a cute, charismatic hotel, central to everything!

On the first day we hired bikes and went for a cycle around the city walls. We stopped to take photos, we had races, and we enjoyed the beautiful sunset over 西安 before the city lit up for its night life to begin. It was one of the best group experiences I’ve had in 中国so far!

We spent our second day exploring 西安 in all it’s beauty. We visited pretty Muslim temples and the Muslim quarters (streets full of stalls selling everything and anything you can think of- mainly food). One minute we are buying rice sticks and then we turn back around only to see an ocean of heads just floating up and down in the mass crowd. I have never experienced such a busy place in my entire life! It was wonderful to see all the bright colours, smell all the different aromas from each stall and hear the busyness of the market with people chatting, food sizzling and many sounds clashing. It was almost impossible to stick together so we soon realised it was best to travel in small packs by holding onto each other’s backpacks/hands to create a chain of 3. We all regrouped at the scenic park/gardens of ‘Daming Palace’ nearby. Surrounding ourselves in calming, serene nature and loads of trees was a well needed breath of fresh air from the contrasting environment we had just been in. All of us leaving happy after a productive day of sightseeing within the city walls.

The next day was the big day- we were finally going to see what we came to 西安for - The Terracotta Army (Bīng Mă Yong 兵马俑). Once we managed to get through the massive hordes of people it was fascinating to see that every life-size model was unique - there was not one soldier with exactly the same features. The first terracotta warrior was discovered by a farmer in 1974 while trying to dig a well outside the city of Xi’an and ever since, archaeologists have been digging up to somewhat 9,000 soldiers, weapons, chariots and horses. It’s been said that First Emperor Quin demanded this army (兵马俑) to be built for a few reasons- to protect him/safeguard his imperial status in his after life, to remember the army he led to triumph over other warring states and unite 中国, and it’s also been said that the clay figures were produced in place of actual human sacrifice. They have been underground eroding for more than 2,000 years before discovery so nearly all of them have lost their original vivid colour. It was completely mind boggling to see how these detailed figures had been built by hand and these hundreds of small pieces had been found and put back together to build up a 160kg clay single warrior.

Later that afternoon Catherine and I took multiple public buses (after taking the wrong one) to get a cable car up to the mountain ‘Li Shan’. We saw the whole of 西安 in front of our eyes and admired how beautiful 中国 is. In the evening we found a gorgeous Chinese market with the typical red lanterns everywhere, china bowls being chucked at a wall for good luck, little trinkets at most stalls, an outdoor tea restaurant dedicated for tea drinkers only,  and noodles being sold left, right and centre. We tried loads of food from there- lotus root noodles, whole wheat noodles, blackcurrant juice (to take away the spice from the noodles), tofu, rice sticks, sticky date and rice cubes, bean paste pastries and we even helped mash potatoes using a huge hammer. There was traditional Peking opera taking place on the stage in the centre of this market so we listened to the Chinese music while eating our various findings. You couldn’t get more Chinese than this market!

Our last day began with a 6am start. 4 of us headed to the ‘Shaanxi History Museum’ nice and early so we didn’t need to wait in horrendous queues. We stood for 1hr 40mins in the express queue and when we finally got in there were so many things to look at- from pottery to gold plated goblets to clothing, coins, weapons, old Chinese writings  and info on the silk road (trading system) etc.… so it was all very interesting.

We went to get steamed buns soon after for lunch and pondered around the gardens of the ‘Giant Goose Pagoda’ before meeting everyone else in the breath-taking ‘Tang Paradise’ park. Hours were spent admiring the beautiful views and plantation as well as getting tons of pictures! We then made our way to watch a dramatic, extravagant water show at the pagoda which was a lovely way to end our group adventure. Xi’an 西安 was exactly how I imagined China 中国 to be- stunning and full of culture!

“One learns more from traveling ten thousand miles than from reading ten thousand scrolls.” ~ Chinese proverb ~

With love(爱),

Kăi Lín (凯琳) x