Amiram Hayardeny's My China Experience

Trip to the Heart of China - Xi-An: Where it All Started

This post is going to have the word "surprisingly" very often.  The fact that I use the word so often isn't due to my really low expectations compare to the reasonable results.  More often than not, it would relate to the reasonable expectations compared to outstanding results.  Bear with me, if you go to Xi-An, the ancient Chinese city, close to the mountain range which separates North and South China, you may find a tip or two which could actually change your experience to the better.

We wanted to go to Xi-An long ago.  For some reason, we never got around to actually do it until this week, the May Day Holiday in China.  This time we were determined to go.  When we sat down to plan the trip, we considered, for the first time, taking a train.  The Z19 train goes directly from Beijing West to Xi-An non-stop.  The Z20 goes back.  Express train, non-stop.  We decided to take our chances, we didn't regret it.

In Beijing, we've met a much younger couple, Itay and Galia and their two cute children Yinon and Roi.  Dorit told Galia we were planning a trip, and before long, and to our great pleasure, this had turned into our first two-family-trips in China.

Here's the deal.  When you plan a train trip in China, you must take into account the following inconvenience.  Tickets go on sale roughly ten days before the actual trip, not before.  One more thing.  You can't purchase the return tickets in the city of origin, you can only purchase them when you're already at your destination.  So here's what we have done.  We paid a travel agency, with branches in Beijing and Xi-An, to purchase the tickets for us.  We chose the sleeper cars, four beds per car.  The hotel (Shangri-La) was booked at ctrip.com.  We left for the trip on April 31.

The train station is huge.  Beijing West is the largest in China, and apparently it sends 300,000 people on their way daily.  It's relatively well organized, and welcoming even to the non-Chinese speaker or reader.

The train left the platform on time (9:24).  Not a minute late.  Here's the first surprisingly.  The room was small, as expected, but surprisingly (2) comfortable and functional.  The bunks were reasonably comfortable, and there were four personal TV sets for each bed.  Shiri and Guy were ready to go to sleep shortly after departure, and both slept through the night.  With the exception of about a dozen American kids who, with the help of quite a few six packs of Tsingtao beer, made a lot of noise and disturbed the rest of the travelers, the night went uneventful.  The Americans, repeatedly asked by train crew and others to lower it down some, eventually went into the coma associated with large amounts of beer, and went to sleep.  The train crew showed up in the morning and took out a surprising (3) amount of empty bottles.

We arrived on time, and were surprisingly (4) well rested and ready to go.  It was a pleasant trip.

If you travel to Xi-Am from Beijing, taking the night train is a good choice.  It's comfortable, it will save you an average of about $100.00 per person each way on the actual trip, plus a hotel night...  Not a bad deal.  Tips: purchase the tickets from a travel agent, the service fee is not bad, plus you get the tickets for the trip back home (some may think I might be too hung on having all legs of the trip upfront, what can I say, that's me).

The train station in Xi-An is a lot smaller, but still big, compare to the tiny train station in Tel Aviv.  Taxis are pretty available, and the taxi rate is cheaper.  The Shangri-La, upon arrival, not only checked us in at 10:00 in the morning, but also offered us an upgrade to its Horizon Club.  The difference was as follows: the Horizon Club room includes a free breakfast for all,  free network (WiFi or wired), access to the Horizon Club lounge (a great perk) and on top of all this - a late check-out time (17:00).  All that for the surprisingly (5) low price of RMB 400.00 (about $60.00) per day.

After depositing our stuff in the rooms, freshened up a little and went to the old city.  We have visited the Old City Gate, the Drum Tower, and the Bell Tower.  We're not completely sure, but at the Bell Tower, the local pickpockets showed us how surprisingly (6) effective they are.  They managed to open my wife's bag, take her purse, and close the bag again.  We only discovered that the purse was missing when she went into a taxi back to the hotel only to realize she was broke...  Nonetheless, the old city is beautiful, the Drum Tower and the Bell Tower are spectacular.  In old times, the bell would sound in the morning, after which the city wall would open up.  In the afternoon, the drums would sound, and the city wall would close for the night, isolating Xi-An from the rest of the world.  The city is filled with history, and for those who are interested, Xi-An was the city of emperor Qin who was the first to unite China.

We went to the local youth hostel to explore the possibilities of a trip to the Terracotta Warriors site, which is a few dozen miles out of Xi-An.  We booked one, for the surprisingly (7) low price of RMB 200.00 per person (less than $30.00).  The trip included a van, a driver, a tour guide, hotel pickup and drop-off, and the entrance fees for both the Terracotta Warriors site (which comes to about RMB 90.00 per person, RMB 60.00 per child), and the BanPo museum (RMB 35.00 per person, RMB 25.00 per child).  Not a bad deal at all.

We first visited the Banpo museum.  It was surprisingly (8) exciting.  An entire civilization, which lead a matriarchal life over six thousand years ago.  And we think we're smart...  The site is nicely preserved, the excavated parts show the life of the village in a very nice and charming way.  It was an eye opened to the pre-historic life in China.

Then we had lunch, in a regular tourist joint, well covered with t least a million small, medium, large, x-large and life-size Terracotta Warriors, made of a variety of materials starting from plaster posing as clay all the aluminum posing as bronze.  A set of warriors would start at about RMB 100.00 and will eventually go for about one tenth.  We bought none.  Reason: the market is so flooded with this pretty relic, that it gave us no pleasure to own one.  I ended up buying a real Terracotta Warrior (25 cm) at the hotel's highway robbery store, simply because it was a model I've never seen before.  I loved it, and I thought it was worth the high (and non-negotiable) price.

I thought that I was so pumped up with the Terracotta Warriors that when I actually see them, it wouldn't be such a big deal.  I was wrong.  It was.  Seeing the rows of warriors, with their different faces, postures, armor, ranks was touching.  The thought that someone, well over two thousand years ago, took the time, effort, labor to make them, and invest so much creativity and art into them, only to make sure that he has an army in the afterlife, is well, amazing.  I thought that he must have been a genius because nothing would support unity more than some joint projects...  We were told that this project was the first well documented quality assurance project in the world.  The artists whose warriors were qualified, were given freedom to leave.  The artists who created unqualified warriors were simply put to death.  What an incentive.

The next day was surprisingly (9) cold and rainy.  We went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.  The place is beautiful.  Seven stories, many stairs, great 360 view of the town.  Spectacular.  Downstairs we went to the largest musical fountain in the world.  Ended up at the local KFC.  I know, but they did have coffee, and the kids WERE hungry...

Back to the train in the evening, for a punctual departure (not surprisingly anymore) and arrival eleven hours later.  Great trip to Xi-An.  If you are a foreigner living in Beijing, don't wait too long.  If you're a foreigner living elsewhere, don't wait too long either...

Read more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army
http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/banpo.htm

Posted at 04:31PM May 04, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[3]