Day 125 - Xian at factor X

A fairly good nights sleep, all and all. Went to freshen up only to find a queue of people doing the same. We pulled into Xian just after seven. Walking out of the station, I see my name printed on a piece of paper and being held in the air. A pleasant young rather roundish guy smiles and greets me. He is waiting for two others off the same train. I help him by holding one of the sheets. I notice some whities walking towards us and as they get closer, I recognise one of them. Racing through the memory of faces I try to make the association. Can you imagine how bizarre to see it from his point of view. Some guy he's met in China two weeks ago, holding his name on a sheet of paper, as he walks out of a random train station. He smiled and we shook hands. Still no recollection. He informed me it was Nanjing. The other guy with him I had met also. I was also introduced to a new travelling partner of theirs from the Ukraine, called Alexandria. Our guide asked us to follow him. Bit surprised when he walked us to a local bus instead of a minibus. Nevertheless, he did pay the fares. Xian seemed to be another super city. I caught up on the guys adventures in the 20 minutes it took us to get to the Bell Tower youth hostel. It was raining and pretty miserable as we got off the bus. My decision on staying the one day seemed to be a wise one so far. When guys heard the tour was 280rmb they decided they'd organise it themselves. Due to my time restraints I didn't have that luxury. After grabbing a bacon butty and Skyping Jojo I made my way with my guide to a nearby hotel. He informed me that due to it costing so much they'd include lunch as part of the package. I was introduced to my guide, who I paid the 260 to. He chatted to me for a bit and then I was brought to a minibus that had pulled up outside. Suddenly my guide was gone and another new guide was introduced to me. I jumped in and said hello to all the whiteys on board.

We began our tour by driving around Xian. I got to see and hear about the wall which surrounded the city. Our first stop was a museum built over an archaeological suite of a prehistoric site. Like a hole in the ground. It was this vast warehouse style building with the dusty and unrecognisable remains of an old village. Coming from Ireland it didn't seem that big deal when every second field has some historic remains. I quickly befriended the English couple who found the museum as hilarious as me. We made our comments fairly clear as we laughed at seeing a glass case were they had cut out a section of earth that contained an old fire pit. Other humorous sights were holes that they excavated to tell us this used to be a hole for a stick. We were beginning to realise this tour was a lot of padding. After being given 10 minutes to do our own thing we were off to see a factory to see where they made replicas of the Terracotta Warriors. As expected it was 3 minutes of a chat to say how the pottery had being made and then a tour through a very large shop. I joked with Tom and Sarah that this might the opportune moment to get some pics beside some life like warriors. Handy if you want to pretend to friends that you had being given a special tour. We proceeded to have fun laughing and trying to escape from the warehouse as quickly as possible. When I walked out I was informed by my guide that he was changing me into a different tour bus to ensure I got back in time for my bus to the airport at 5. I was sad to say goodbye to the possie I had being touring although I think a relief to our tour guide 'Andy' who I think had become a bit annoyed with us not taking it seriously. So I waved Tom and Sarah and the rest of the bus goodbye. Jumped in to my new bus.

By the time we arrived at our next location I was getting to know the new group. Two Candian girls were very chatty. We were brought into a reconstruction of the Qing Emperors Tomb. It was a bit of a joke. Tacky looking place with loads of colourful lights. I met Tom and Sarah again and they were laughing at the state of the place. We were shipped in an out in less than 8 mins. Next we were brought to a restaurant for lunch. People that hadn't got lunch thrown in had to pay 40rmb for a shared lunch. Delighted I munched and drank my free worth. Finally we arrived on the outskirts of the Terracota Army. They parked over 1t mintues of a walk away. We learnt along the way that the original owner of the land, a farmer, had to give over the land to the government. Large concrete grey buildings housed the museums. We were brought into a 360 degree theatre to watch the storey of the find and some history of the warriors and the emperor. We got to see the last five minutes. Herded along by our guide, a sweet little Chinese girl, who looked particularly cold and bored through the whole thing. At long last we arrived into the main Pit, Pit 1. It is quite a sight when you walk in to this vast aircarft hanger style building. You stand at an elevated position overlooking the sunken earth. Below large pits containing rows and rows of terracota soldiers stand in military formation waiting some great feat. Its quite a sight. Some of the pits hold the broken remains piled on top of each other. You are able to walk around the outside of the enormous archaeological dig site. Sadly you are just that bit too far way. For 400rmb you can get a little closer if you want a photo taken. A lot of the site is still in place and has not being excavated due to fear of destroying the paint on the warriors. They are waiting for further technology to exist before taking this venture forward.

There are two further dig sites held in separate buildings. One of these contains an interesting collection of generals displayed in hallways with a large ramp leading into the room. Its quite a thing to realise the ego of this emperor and his need to recreate a life size army to protect him and to continue to show his strength after his death. We spent the next hour walking around taking the usual obligatory photos like the good tourist you are. The other big dig site was pretty much in its original state, with only a very small amount of it excavated. I was glad to have had the experience of the terracotta army although it did blow me away as much as I thought it would. The group gathered outside in the drizzling rain and made their way back to our minibus. We were pretty much soaked to the skin by the time we got there. The journey back into Xian was uneventful.

I was shown to the airport express bus by our tour guide after we got back into the city. For 45rmb you get brought out to the Xianyang airport, over 1 hour and 50kms away. We pulled up to Terminal 1, just before six o'clock. I checked in and went straight through to gates. I found a cafe that had an internet connection and logged on. As I was sitting there, a lady from airport security, came over and said something in broken English. She took hold of my bag and started waking away with it. I grabbed it off her and pulled it back. She was desperately trying to explain something to me. I asked her to wait while i grabbed my laptop, before she just walked away with the bag. She looked embarrassed as we walked back to the security check-in that I had already being through. She tried to explain again and this time I understood. A lighter, was in the bag. She checked through the bag and indeed she produced a lighter. I never understand what danger a lighter is on board a plane. Can you hijack a plane with one? So, all the excitement over I headed to my gate to board. Two staff members were standing handing out, dinners in a box. I was informed the plane was to be delayed for 3 hours. I gratefully took my free dinner and sat in a diner next to my gate. Loaded up some Heroes and watched the first 7 episodes of the 3^rd series. Throughout the time passengers were conversing with airport staff. All airport announcements in Chinese and English although the airport staff were only calling out in Chinese what was going. As the crowd seemed to get more and more anxious, i knew something was up. I asked the guy who had being taking to everyone. He told me the plane was delayed again. Next thing I started hearing was planes were being canceled. One after another. Our flight was still listed as delayed. The same airport employee returned to announce something to the crowd. He spoke for around 5 minutes in Chinese. People seemed pissed off and started calling out questions to him. I had no idea what was going on. As he walked away, everyone started to stand up and follow. I caught him and asked him what was going on. All planes had being canceled due to the fog/smog. We were to be driven back in to Xian and put up in a hotel for the night.

Everyone was loaded into awaiting coaches and we were off back in to the city. Quite ironical that my reason for flying was to save time and now at this rate I would get there sooner if I had taken the 16 hour train journey. One hour later we pulled up outside a business hotel in the centre of Xian. The crowd raced off the bus to get to the reception desk. People were pushing to get there IDs into the staff to book in. When I handed my passport in, I was told I'd have to pay 80rmb if I was in a room by myself. I refused and next thing he called out something to the rest of the crowd and he gave me the room key card.

Not knowing what happened i stood there wondering if I was sharing with someone. I waited, although no one approached. As I went up to the room a Chinese man was standing outside my hotel room door. I asked him was he sharing and he didn't speak a word of English. I opened the door and he looked at me quizically. I went in and he stood at the door looking in. After a few minutes he walked in and rang reception. Obviously this was to be my room mate for the night. He spoke to me in Chinese and I spoke to him in English. This went on for a while. We both laughed. I plugged in the laptop to see if there was an internet connection. No luck. I turned on the TV and gave the remote to my new room mate. He headed off and freshened up before he went to bed. It was kind of strange. Me sitting up on my bed and him on his. Neither of us had ever met each other and could not communicate one word. He stayed watching TV the whole time I was on the computer. After a while I turned off the light and we both went to sleep.

Day 124 - Back in the driving seat

As soon as I picked up my card I headed to Beijing Railway Station to get the first ticket to Xian. Knowing now that I only had a week left, I needed to start moving pretty quick. Wanting to see at least some of the west. My bank card worked first time I tried. Delighted to suddenly be independent again, after nearly a month, is a great feeling. With this new sense of purpose I marched over to work out how to get a ticket out of Beijing. Expecting the worst it was actually a lot easier than I thought. Be aware that, next to nothing is written in English in China. You'll see toilet signs and some basic ones although that's about it. Try to stop a young person. As them do they speak English and tell them what you are doing. If that fails, try to find a westerner. Otherwise you need to queue, hope the person behind the counter speaks English and you don't have to queue again. Hard-sleeper ticket booked on that evenings night train to Xian. Was planning on doing a zoom trip o Xian and then heading on to Chengdu that night. Jumped on the metro and went to back to the Youth Hostel. Grabbed a ride on one of those hilarious rickshaw type things from the metro stop to the youth hostel.

Grabbed my laptop and went into Fish Nation for the Big Breakfast. Deserved the treat. After many hours online, Ian joined me and then Eoghan and Aidan came in for the much loved over Fish and Chips. I had booked a flight from Xian to Chengdu for the same evening as arrived. Allowing me to hit two cities in one. With less than a week left there had to be some trimming. I got my stuff together, bid my farewells. It was going to nearly 6 weeks before I saw Ian, Peter and Aidan again. Eoghan walked me to a taxi at the end of Nan Lu Guo. With my directions to West Beijing Railway Station written down I was on my way with loads of time to spare. Five mintues later we were stuck in a four lane bumper to bumper tail back. Knowing I had time to spare I remained calm. Fairly calm. My trust in taxi drivers is never the best. The lack of language, kept me quiet, lets say. I was certain he had brought us into the middle of this madness to mount up the fair. We got to the station 40 minutes before the trains departure. The outside of the railway station was similar in size to the front of the terminal in Dublin Airport.

People had already started boarding by the time I got to the waiting area. I went straight through and down on to the platform for the awaiting train. Hard sleeper is the same as AC3 on the Indian trains. 3 bunks opposite 3 bunks. There is a bit more headroom and no additional bunks across the passageway. Instead there are two small fold down seats and a table. The beds are all fixed down so, you either have to climb into your bed or hope that you can grab one of the small seats. The trains are impeccable and staff are constantly moving through the train. There is a hot and cold water supply, toilets are spotless and toilet paper available. There is a pleasant dining car and smoking areas available throughout the train. Food and sundry carts travel up and down the train. I purchased a flask, similar to the ones you see Chinese people constantly carrying. If you thought the Irish like tea, well the Chinese are in a different league of their own. They carry these flasks of tea everywhere they go. After walking around for a bit I rang a youth hostel in Xian to book a trip to the Terracotta Warriors. They were happy to facilitate and even agreed to pick me up at the the train station upon my arrival. Next I the I sat down and watched some of the new series of Heroes on my Asus Eee PC. I went to bed with the laptop and watched another one or two episodes before getting to sleep.