Xi'an and The Terracotta Warriors, 29 December 2010 - 3 January 2011

Climbing aboard the overnight Beijing to Xi'an train was a totally different experience to the last train I was on which was from Ulan Bator to Zamiin Uud. We were travelling in the hard sleeper which in China means you have 6 berths per compartment without a door whereas soft sleepers have 4 beds per compartment with a door. The carriages were surprisingly clean and modern and the only problem we had was understanding the ticket and finding our bed. In Russia each berth in the compartment has a number which are clearly stated on the door of each compartment but in China the compartments are numbered and then it states whether you are upper, middle or lower berth with a Chinese character.

City walls of Xi'an

My ticket apparently stated that I was on the lower bunk but I was met by an elderly lady who pleaded with me and asked me whether she could swap beds as she was given the upper bunk which she clearly couldn't get up to. I was, of course, happy to do this, plus I like to have the upper bunk on the train anyway as it's your space and if you want to sleep you can. June and I were in the same compartment but Karin ended up in the compartment next to us but it was a very short train journey anyway of only 12 hours over night. In our compartment we met Trina Li who worked for a company creating links between universities in China and the Western world. She was heading to Xi'an to do a presentation and then head straight back to Beijing the next day. We didn't have much time to talk with Trina as the lights got turned off mid conversation which were our orders to go to bed!

The night was awful, it was so hot in the train sweat was just pouring off me. For the first time I had to remove most of my clothing. I thought I was the only one but I found out in the morning that both Trina and June felt exactly the same. We pulled up into the station around 9am and were thrust into an incredibly busy station and were greeted by touts trying to get us in their guest houses or giving us lifts. We barged through them and found the girl who held up a hand written piece of paper with KARIN written on it. It was for us, she asked us whether we wanted to walk or get a taxi which we thought was odd as when you use a pick up service, they usually collect you in a car. We asked how far the hostel was and she replied just around the corner. Why we would need a taxi was beyond me and we opted to walk and arrived at the hostel five minutes later.

My god my face hurt. After my trip into the Terelj National Park in Mongolia a lesion appeared on my left temple. In Beijing we suspected it may have been frostbite from where I had been sweating onto exposed skin. However, during the Christmas period the lesion had spread further down my face, onto my left elbow, my left little finger and my left thigh. This expelled the diagnosis of frostbite and it was beginning to hurt and become infected so my first excursion in Xi'an was to find a Pharmacy. It may seem strange to some but going into pharmacies in foreign countries is a fun adventure of mime artistry. Sometimes a little embarrassing but this time little mime was needed, I walked in, greeted them and pointed at the lesions on my temple, arm and finger. The two girls gathered round me to inspect my arm and recoiled with a tut that would compete with an mechanic who had just inspected your car and was preparing to tell you the bad news. The girls stood there for a moment speechless, motionless, leaving me pondering what their diagnosis was. They weren't saying anything and wondered whether they thought I was just sowing them what I had got and didn't want anything, so I mimed rubbing cream into it and taking pills. Finally they sprung into action and retrieved some cream and two packets of antibiotics and tried to explain how many I should take and how often in Chinese. I had no idea what they said and later checked with the hostel staff who could translate for me.

Lucky Archer

The main reason for people to visit Xi'an is the Terracotta Warriors, bīngmǎ yǒng, which is only a 7 Yuan (70p) bus journey away. Although it took us some time walking the streets to find the buses when we did find it it was so simple to climb aboard hand over the money, sit back and relax. The Terracotta Warriors was the brain child of Emperor Qin who was the first emperor to rule the newly unified China. The creation of the Terracotta Warriors began when Qin was only thirteen years old and he demanded that no two soldiers should be alike. It is rumoured that Qin actually wanted his whole army to be buried alive with him to protect his soul from evil forces and continue to fight with him in the afterlife but his close advisers luckily managed to discourage him from this idea. Qin was a harsh ruler and to protect and create a stable society he burned certain books and even buried scholars alive who may have posed a threat.

The whole complex is huge, there are over 8,000 unique soldiers and hundreds of chariots and horses. Unfortunately through time the majority of the warriors were destroyed as pits collapsed as fire broke out in several sections. Qin's mausoleum adhered to the principles of Feng Shui as he was buried with a hill to the north and his army and a river to the south. Although the history and concept of the Terracotta Warriors is astonishing and inspiring, you can't help but be a little disappointed when you actually visit the site. There are very few warriors that are standing and they have all been restored to their original structure but the magnificent colours have faded. I believe that when we see pictures of the complex, we imagine the warriors going on into the distance, but there are only a few. To have great expectations is always a bad thing as you usually get disappointed. No matter the slight disappointment, to see the warriors and their intricacy is not to be missed or underestimated. As I said before, no two soldiers are the same and they used a few face moulds to create a general face and then used clay to create the unique features. The warriors were originally brightly coloured, unfortunately the colours deteriorated when they were exposed to the open air and sunlight. The authorities have kept many soldiers buried so that they remain full of colour and one day they may have the technology to protect the colours from fading.

June and Karin on the wall behind me

Xi'an is a city of great historical importance to China as it was one of the great Chinese capitals and the eastern terminus of the Silk Road. Despite this, there is not much else to do here. One day June, Karin and I thought it would be fun to cycle the city wall which still surrounds the inner city. A journey of 25.7km on the 12m high wall around the city was a fun trip and gave us a semi bird's eye view of the city.

New Year's Eve arrived which meant I was going to lose Karin and June who headed off to Chengdu. I was going to follow them the next day but unfortunately once I battled my way to the front of the ticket office queue I found out that there were no available trains until 3 January!! Buying tickets in the train stations is an experience. Of course there are no queues and when you get to the front you are continually being pushed and shoved from behind by people who think they should go before you. That's where the elbows come into play. My top tip for buying train tickets abroad is find out which train you want before you go to the station and write the train number down, including time and if possible get someone to write down a Mandarin translation for you. This way, you save a lot of time with translation problems and your ticket is promptly issued.

As I was on antibiotics, I was unable to drink but that didn't seem to matter as my hostel was full of Chinese people who didn't celebrate the calendar new year anyway. I spent the evening feeling a little depressed as I was alone for the first time in many weeks and it was New Year's Eve! Kaela, the Australian guy who was in my room, convinced me to go out for one midnight drink and go into a club. So we left the hostel around 23:30 and headed towards the main road to grab a taxi to the club. We had an issue getting a taxi to stop so we flagged down a rickshaw driver and got him to take us. Time was ticking down rapidly and we only had 15 minutes to get to the club, into the club and buy a drink before midnight. The rickshaw was struggling and I thought we were never going to make it but the driver pursued the goal, running red lights, weaving around stationary cars, bikes and pedestrians and we pulled up outside the club and got into the lift that was going to take us in. Nightmare, we arrived and were refused entry because they were full. This presented serious issues and we needed to find an alternative bar to have a New Year drink, fast. We headed round the corner with a quick stride and found an Irish Bar, went in a bought a drink just as the clock struck and Auld Langs Syne rang out of the pub's speakers whilst Hu Jintao appeared on the TV with his message of propaganda. I'm glad I got to have my one drink at midnight, New Years without a drink just isn't the same!

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

Happy New Year to one and all. I spent the day on a massive trek to the southern side of the city and the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda which was a little more difficult as there had been snow showers overnight so it meant slipping on every paving slab. The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda was all right, but even more impressive is the fountain in front of it which is, on China's Superlative Tour, the biggest fountain in Asia and the biggest water, light and music show in Asia. The area was just full of Chinese tourists taking photos and blatantly ignoring warning signs by climbing into the fountain to pose. On my walk back to the north side I stopped at a stall where a man was selling some corn on the cob, I specifically said not too spicy but I think he heard the opposite because my mouth was melting all the way back into the centre of town until I could relieve it with a ice cream bought besides the Drum Tower. Sitting in the snow, in China eating an ice cream seemed strange but it was worth it!

Drum Tower

A short walk from the drum tower is the Muslin Quarter and food street, my favourite part of Xi'an by far because there are so many food stalls selling delicious and interesting delights. It's a great area to stroll around and just pick up little bits and pieces to eat. Sometimes you get the odd thing which is disgusting but the majority of time you are pleasantly surprised. Food is one thing China does well to a certain extent. No matter where you are or when it is, you will be able to find something to eat somewhere.

My last day saw another trip to the chemist, this time for a cough and cold which I had had on and off since Moscow. I went to find the pharmacist I visited for the flesh eating bacteria but missed it and ended up in a traditional Chinese medicine shop where I gave a well received performance of cough and cold. He then gave me some random pills and wrote in broken English some directions on how to take them. I know you're reading this thinking that I am becoming a hypochondriac but this cough was not only keeping me from sleeping but the rest of the dorm.

Food Street

Pills in hand I headed for the Shanxi history museum which has been noted as one of the best in China. It was free entry which was a bonus but after looking round hundreds of artefacts I couldn't fathom why it was one of the best. Perhaps I have reached the point where museums begin to bore me and I can't stand seeing hundreds of pottery bowls with a label stuck to it stating the estimated year. There is, however, an area of the museum which you need to pay for that might have been better but I wasn't in the mood to go any further. I left the museum after watching a couple of films on the Terracotta Army and the old capital of China and hopped in a rickshaw for an exhilarating journey back to the hostel.

I collected my belongings and joyfully headed over to the train station to get my train out of Xi'an and onto the homeland of Pandas, Chengdu. Getting on a train in China is like getting on a flight. You must arrive at the station around one hour as you are required to pass through a metal detector and your bags must be x-rayed before entering. Then you have to check the departure boards to find which boarding gate you must wait at. I was sitting in the departure lounge for a long time, the departure time approached fast and I was concerned as I hadn't boarded the train yet. I was trying to have a look at other people's tickets to ascertain whether they were on my train or not. I asked people and finally an official told me that it was late, so I sat down a little relieved and bored.  Kaela appeared through the doors accompanied officers because he was carrying two Japanese swords with him. They stopped to talk with me before all heading back to their office and they seemed very friendly.

Another fifteen minutes passed and my anxiousness hit an all time high. I was perched on the benches with my backpack still on fully prepared to spring into action. I kept making eye contact with the official who stood beside the door with his computer and controlled the masses boarding trains but was continually met with him shaking his head. The train was now nearly an hour late and I decided that it was time to remove my backpack and get comfortable but the moment I did the official motioned for me to go over to him. He told me that my train was there, checked my, told me the platform number and opened the door for me. This was a really pleasant thing to do as he made sure that I got through before the other people that were waiting to board the train. It was great, not having to push and shove my way through a queue and be apart of the race to get aboard first.

I got to the platform and boarded the train, my compartment was already occupied by three other people, no sorry four other people, two men and a mother and her young daughter. I made myself at home and promptly fell asleep after reading a couple of pages of 'Tuk to the Road'. I woke up during the night to discover a man hovering over my face reading his book. His nose can't have been more than two inches away from mine and he was taking up most of the person's bed. I'm not going to lie to you, it creeped me out and it's a perfect example that respect of personal space does not exist in China.

The morning arrived after a night of tossing and turning in the heat and I began speaking with the girl that had swapped with one of the men during the night. She was a student at a university in Chengdu and had just visited her parents. She was studying to become a teacher and we continued to have a confused conversation throughout the rest of the journey. The train passed through fields with crops and green trees borders and I suddenly realised that this was the first greenery I had seen since leaving the UK in November!

The train finally arrived in Chengdu around 11.30am and into a dull grey Chengdu.

Beijing, 21–28 December 2010 - Part Three - The Wall, The Lama Temple, Acrobatics and Christmas Frivolities!

Christmas Eve, The Great Wall and Party Time

Christmas Eve was upon us and what better way to spend the day than a visit to The Great Wall of China. Our hostel organised trips to the wall everyday but the cost was far too much to even consider it when you could go to the bus station and get a ticket to the wall for practically nothing. So June, Karin, Sam and I hopped on the subway and headed over to the bus station. We found the station easily and there was a sign pointing towards a line of buses that should take us to Badaling and the wall. I say 'we' found it easily but really Sam did and I just followed. We stumbled onto the bus and were greeted by the bus driver's rejection who said that there were no more buses that day. A man outside with a red armband was there to assist us and luckily Sam spoke some Chinese so she could communicate with him. He told us that there were no buses after 10am and that we would have to go tomorrow OR we could pay him some money and he would take us to the wall in his car. SCAM ALERT we thought and moved on to try the next bus along but we were greeted by the same rejections and another man offering to take us. The girls and I gathered in a conference huddle to decide whether we should either try again another day or just pay a little bit extra and go ahead as planned. We decided to go for it. So we got in the man's car and made our way towards the Great Wall of China via the great whole in the wall to get some money out to make a greater hole in my pocket!!

After an hour of weaving through traffic on the immaculately smooth highway and an extensive conversation between Sam and the driver was exhausted we approached The Great Wall of China. Driving through the hills you can see the wall wind it's way into the distance. We soon arrived at the tourist welcoming centre and said goodbye to our driver who had asked for no money yet but was going to wait for us at the bottom for as long as it took us to climb up the wall and fall down again. We entered and began to climb the greatest wall on earth which was originally constructed over 2000 years ago when China was unified under Emperor Qin and he connected existing walls that were there protecting the Northern provinces from roaming nomads. Of course the wall never protected China as it fell victim to bribery and Mongolian troops over ran it easily. It was however perfectly suited for transportation of goods from one side of China to the other and was part of the Silk Route at some points.

The climb was long and the steps were awkward to navigate as they were varying shapes and sizes. The angle of climb was also changing which sometimes came as a relief and sometimes came as an attack on the legs! From the bottom of the wall we were all very confident that we could climb it easily and in a short time but the further we climbed the more it became apparent that it was a lot further than we thought. Just as we thought we were near the top, new sections of the wall opened up around every corner and we wondered whether we were about to walk along the entire length of the wall right across China. We reached the top and relaxed for five minutes enjoying the stunning landscape that had been cut with the wall that stretched out as far as you could see. The experience of being on the wall is different to what I expected, I think when you have finally clambered to the top you are too exhausted to enjoy it fully. The wall had been restored and was looking in good shape for such an old thing. I think I would have liked to see the unrestored sections of the wall so that you could compare as the tourist parts are full of souvenir shops and it made it feel a little fake.

The wall stretching off into the distance

After we paused to enjoy the scenery, it was time to do the dreaded descent back to our driver. I never look forward to descending as it's quite strenuous on my old knees. After descending half way Sam stopped as her legs were physically and visibly shaking mine were trembling but not that bad! We carried on regardless to catch June and Karin, the crazy Scandinavians, who had ran off ahead again as they did on the way up. As we got near the bottom of the steps we passed a young girl who was walking up. She must have only been five years old at the most and I couldn't believe her parents were dragging her up there. There was a celebration as we reached the bottom and Sam and I rejoined Karin and June who had already got their sandwiches out which we bought earlier from the hostel. Sitting there in the cold sunshine eating a sandwich, followed by a compulsory ice cream felt so good. We found our driver and headed off back to Beijing where Sam was about to meet her parents who had flown out to meet her for Christmas after waiting in the airport for a week due to the unexpected heavy snows across Europe causing flights to be cancelled.

Once we got back into Beijing Sam and I decided to go for a celebratory Hot Chocolate and Baileys across the road at 365 Hostel where Tom and Hannah had moved to because it was far too cold over in our hostel. Sitting there, I was hearing the coffee machine preparing delicious drinks but all I could think about was it sounded like people were hacking up and ready to deposit the phlegm on the floor. I will never understand how the Chinese people think it's socially acceptable to spit everywhere, including restaurants. Prior to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the government had implemented a no spitting law which stated that if they were caught, they would be fined a substantial amount of money. Unfortunately the habit has been a way of life for the Chinese people for too long so the law failed and the spitting continued stronger than ever. If any Chinese person is reading this please stop the incessant spitting, it's disgusting and it's wrong and I don't want to hear it when I'm trying to munch down my Peking Duck!

As it was Christmas, the very kind and hospitable staff in Leo Hostel put on a party for us in bar so I headed back across the road to change my clothes and get ready for an evening of fun and games. When I arrived at the hostel I was greeted Caué who had finally arrived from Ulan Bator. He followed the same route as me but managed to get a bed as it wasn't full (lucky git) and he got a train instead of the bus, which got him in later than the bus.

Club House, somewhere in BJ

The party started early and the staff had prepared a series of party games for us to enjoy. It was like we were all six years old again, playing musical chairs and pop the balloon with your bum but my full respect goes out to the staff who pulled out all the stops and made it a thoroughly enjoyable evening. After many bottles of beer, Yves decided that it would be a good idea to go and buy some Baijo, which is an extremely potent Chinese rice wine that you can buy from the local shop for practically nothing. The rest of the night was a huge dance off and a few of us ended up going to a club called 'House' returning back at the hostel early the next day, perhaps around 5.30/6am, not really sure but Yves and I managed to get in a local restaurant and get some very delicious dumplings before heading to bed.

Christmas Day

Not really a hutong but still a side street in BJ

Merry Christmas everybody! Waking up at 10 and heading down to have a fry up with a strong sugar filled mug of western tea was the best idea ever! I'm not really sure what the others did that day but I headed out to explore the hutongs of Beijing. The hutongs are the maze of small streets that wind their way around certain areas of Beijing with traditional Chinese courtyard housing. Unfortunately these are slowly but steadily being raised to the ground to make way for new modern buildings and roads. It is a big issue at the moment because people are being removed from their homes which their family's have owned for generations and relocated in the apartment blocks. The hutongs are wonderful, you can just walk about the peaceful streets past people's houses and small shops which are dotted around.

Erhu

On my Christmas Day stroll I came across a small music shop and thought that I'd check out the indigenous instruments and the prices. The shop was run by a middle aged grey haired Chinese lady who greeted me and proceeded to give me a music lesson, showing me all of the different instruments and how to play them. It was a very enjoyable experience trying out these weird instruments that I had never been able to play before, some of them like the Erhu make such a racket I cannot believe they still exist but then I suppose every instrument has the possibility of sounding beautiful when the right musician is playing it. For instance the violin, I made an awful sound with it but Nigel Kennedy is something quite different. I decided that I wanted to buy myself a Christmas present and so I settled on a price and walked out happily with bamboo flute. Before I walked out I asked the lady about Peking Opera which is something that I really wanted to see whilst in Beijing. Beijing Opera is a style of opera that encompasses music, dance, mime and singing but can be enough to destroy your eardrums from the obscure sounds and noises that are created. When you listen to the erratic music you wonder whether the Chinese people actually have any sense of tone or timing.

I headed back to 365 Hostel as I felt like I should have a soothing Baileys and Hot Chocolate and rejoice in my new instrument. When I arrived I found Thom and Hannah sitting there having a quiet drink and so I joined them and showed them my new instrument. The next half an hour turned into a flute off with all of us trying to get the best sound out of the instrument. Surprisingly Hannah was a flautist but was the last to get a sound out of it, which caused her great pain and anguish, nevertheless she would not be beaten and persisted until the flute sprung into life. We went back over to the Leo Hostel and met up with June, Karin and Caué and went to Chinese for our Christmas Dinner. The drinks then began to flow and we geared ourselves up for another fun evening of drinking.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day activities including getting up around 10am again, having a fry up and heading over to the Lama Temple. When I got there I paused for a minute or two as I wasn't totally convinced whether I should go in or not as it was 'just another temple'. Whilst in Munich our guide would refer to churches as 'ABC... Another Bloody Church...' and it's true, why do we have the inherent desire to go into every church and every temple in the world when the majority all look the same? After procrastinating for a couple of minutes I decided that I should go in, I was already there so I might as well see what it had to offer because I might have missed something really beautiful and only regret it later. The temple was what I would call, a working temple, it may be a tourist attraction nowadays but it still has its monks and pilgrims burning their inscents which created a thick layer of sweet smelling smoke hanging over the temple. The temple also has the world's biggest Buddha carved from a single tree. Yet another example of superlative China. I enjoyed wondering around the temple and soaking up the atmosphere, I even discovered a hard revelation about myself. As I was walking down some steps I tripped and fell flat on my back, a pain shooting up from my left buttock made me realise that I had been drinking too much over the last few days and had too little sleep to recover!

The Bird's Nest

On my way back to the hostel I decided to stop over at the Olympic Park and take a look around the complex. As it was nearing dusk I thought it would be perfect to see the Bird's Nest with the lights on. Back in 2004 when the Olympics were on in Greece, I made a vow that I would get on the Trans-Siberian train and get to Beijing in time for the games of 2008. As you know, this never happened and I was still a Prisoner of Mother England as the Australians would like to call us! Nevertheless, I made it, a little late but I got to Beijing and managed to see the park where it all happened. The Bird's Nest is an absolutely amazing piece of architectural engineering. Although I was impressed by it, I was also disgusted by it when you think about how much it cost and the hundreds of people that had to be relocated from their homes so that this complex could be built. My next plan is to be in London for the games in 2012, let's see if that happens...

When I arrived back it was time for yet more drinks as Hannah and Thom were unfortunately leaving the next day for Japan and Sam was leaving on a jaunt round China with her family. So we began drinking again at 365 Hostel and although they were adamant they were not going to have a late night because their flight was early the next day, they managed to stay up well into the next day. We played a few drinking games but the most popular and easiest by far was a drama game Hannah and I taught the group where the group have to take turns counting but in no particular order and if two people count at the same time, they had to drink. I had never played it as a drinking game before but with a large group it was good fun. We even made Hannah and Thom race to pack their suitcases which caused great hilarity. Later we were joined by other people an Australian guy and Natalie, an English girl living in Hangzhou learning Chinese and between her and Sam I had learnt some very important sayings, Happy Christmas, Happy New Year and Terracotta Warriors.

27-28 December 2010

BANG BANG BANG, my head was hurting, my stomach was cramping, all of my body stiffened as I got up from the bathroom floor. The last three nights of heavy drinking, eating and lack of sleep had caught up on me and I was officially thoroughly hungover. I went down to the bar and consoled myself with a steaming mug of tea which the lovely Summer had graciously made and delivered for me. The only thing I did that day was go to the train station with June and Karin to buy our onward tickets to Xian for the next day and eating a McDonald's as a hangover cure. Even though my hangover had hit hard, it didn't stop us going for another drink, but this time in our bar.

Acrobatics

At some point during my stay in Beijing, Thom, Hannah and I went to see the Tianqiao Acrobatic Company which is notably one of the best acrobatic performances in Beijing. The performance was awe inspiring and the technical difficulty that the troupe showed was spectacular. We just sat there throughout the performance gasping each time a performer jumped of their high perched and landed safely. This was the only piece of performing arts that I managed to see in Beijing and I was content as it was so good.

Leaving for Xian

Our last day in Beijing was a write off as I was completely shattered and all we did was sit around talking and watching films until we had to leave for our train. As we were leaving we had a huge problem trying to get a taxi to take us to the train station. There were plenty of them but they just refused to take us and we are still unsure why that was. We finally managed to get one after Karin smiled sweetly at the driver and got to the train station with plenty of time to spare.

As June, Karin and I boarded the train heading to Xi'an I had a smile on my face as I thought back on my time in Beijing, how great it and the fantastic people I had met. June and Karin, Thom and Hannah, Eric and Justine, Sam, Caué, Yves, Natalie, the German guys, the Russian guys and even the strange Irish guy who we couldn't understand. Without those fabulous people, Christmas wouldn't have been so good. We had so many laughs together it is hard to remember them all and it is incredibly hard to express the fun we had in this blog. Spending our days floating from the Leo Hostel to 365 with friends made it feel like home. So thank you for making it a great experience and memory!!

That's it for Beijing. There are so many things that happened whilst I was there I cannot possibly write them all down for you but it was perhaps the best part of my trip so far. Stay in tune for more on China.... Thanks, Andy.