China - Xi'an

Yup, we were still (!) in China. People often asked me, why?! Why do you spend SO MUCH time in China?? My response: come and visit China and you will understand. It is such a humongous country, there are still many places I would love to see that I didn't get to see this time around!

I was so excited on our flight to Xi'an from Jiuzhaigou because I was going to see my mumsy!! When I was about 10 years old, I told her I want to travel around the world and I will take her with me. So, this trip was almost like me fulfilling my childhood promise.

She was also as excited as me. Here, she joined the bakery's employees' exercise routine whilst I run away on the background

Accommodation

We stayed in Grand Soluxe International Hotel in the family room and it was actually 2 separate rooms with 1 king bed and 2 very comfortable double beds. The location was excellent and walking distance to the Xi'An railway station, subway, as well as many shops and restaurants. However, we did need to catch taxis to most of the city's main attractions.

Sights

Drum and Bell Tower

Built in 1384, the Bell Tower is an imposing ancient looking building in a middle of a roundabout. To reach it, we needed to go underground, purchased the tickets and climbed up to this now museum. It is regarded as one of the grandest of its kind in China.  Its cousin the Drum Tower erected earlier in 1380 is just across the street, marked the entrance  to the Muslim Quarter. Whilst the bell in Bell Tower was stricken at dawn, drum was beat at sunset to indicate the end of the day back in the ancient days.

View from the bell tower

Drum tower at night - we didn't actually get in to this museum as we're not drums enthusiast (nor we're bells enthusiast but we checked that one out because it has beautiful flower garden my mum wanted to take picture of)

Muslim Quarter

Just as its name implies, it is the hub of the Muslim community inhabited by over 20,000 Muslims. It fills with restaurants and souvenirs stores.

Entrance to the quarter from the Drum Tower

Ladies selling all sort of snack

Massive yummy lamb satay 

Cleaned up properly

Mahjong playing square at the end of the quarter!

Terracotta Warriors

Regarded as the most significant archaeological excavation of the 20th century, it is truly impressive. In 1974, some locals uncovered potteries while digging for a well nearby; the rest is history (mind the pun). Archaeologists determined that it is a burial site for the first Emperor of all China; built back in 211 BC, it took 11 years to finish with many buried treasures and sacrificial objects. Excavation work is still ongoing at this site.

The largest pit: No.1 Pit, contained over a thousand warriors and 90 chariots of wood arranged in battle formations

Terracotta Cavalry Warrior - every single warrior has different hairdo/clothes/face expression to differentiate their status/rank. It was remarkable. 

We took bus No.5 (306) from the east square of Xian Railway Station (pretty obvious which bus to take, there were arrows pointing to the bus everywhere). It took about one hour and the fare is ¥7/8 pp. We were hassled by guides when we arrived offering their service (it should costs around ¥100 to hire a guide). We didn't get one because we didn't want to be ushered and followed by incessant chatters about facts we probably forgot after 3 hours (give or take). Anyhow, the exhibits are well explained in both Chinese and English.

For ¥100, we had pictures taken in this setup - with a massive canvas at the back!

Tip from China Travel Guide website: The museum has many group visitors in the morning. Independent travelers may visit in the early afternoon to avoid the crowd. In this case, please note that the last bus running from the museum to downtown Xian departs at 19:00.

Giant Wild Goose Pagoda

As my mum hadn't seen many Buddhist temples just yet, she was very cutely eager and excited to see this pagoda and the arrays of temples around it. It is a very famous pagoda holding the sutras translated from India, brought by the Chinese monk. It took him 17 years overland journey to get the sutras! That, my friends, is a dedication worth building a pagoda for.

If only we weren't yet templed out, we would probably find it fascinating as well! By now we probably had visited more than 20 temples across Asia.

Tang Dynasty Show

Clearly a rip off show for tourists, it cost us a bomb for merely a 1 hour show in a restaurant. There was the option to have all-you-can-eat dumplings beforehand (again, quite dear) that we didn't take. Ladies dancing around in costumes, some singing, flutes playing, etc. Personally, I don't think it's worth it - totally different than the face-changing-mask-show we saw in Chengdu (that one was good).

One can see ladies twirling ribbons in park for free - seriously

Another attraction people mentioned to do is to cycle on the wall bordering the city. But since it was way too hot, we didn't end up doing it. In total, we spent 3 days in Xi'an. On our first day we went to the Railway Station near our hotel to buy our onward high speed train ticket to PingYao. High speed trains do not depart from Xi'an Railway, but the Xi'an North Railway station (though you can purchase it in any Railway Station).

The train station looks like the airport! Another impressive display of the massive infrastructure build China has gone through

Next, to another fortified city - PingYao!