Xian: Not My Cup of Green Tea

As a traveller it as much about the experience of another culture as it is about the sights and views, and I always try to enjoy immersing myself in a new place. However, I’m afraid there is little good I can say about my experience of Xi’an.

I arrived by sleeper train around 8am, bleary-eyed and looking forward to checking into a hotel for a few nights of luxurious solitude. I had arranged a driver to pick me up from the station. But when I got off the train and emerged into the crowds of beggars, touts and everyday Chinese travellers in Xi’an, he was nowhere to be seen. As it turns out, his company had told him I was arriving on a later train, and it is only because my train was delayed, and through the kindness of my sleeper train bunk-mate, that I was able to survive this experience relatively unscathed. When I got to my hotel, I was absolutely exhausted and in a pretty foul mood, so I went up to my room for a nap. I awoke refreshed a few hours later and went to explore the city. My hotel was located right next to the famous Bell Tower, with the Drum Tower just down the road. So, I explored the area a little and found a bustling street market where I was able to get some street food to fill my stomach – fried quails eggs on a stick and some very spicy, but tasty, tofu. Although there was lots of meat available as well, I didn’t much fancy it, and figured I was being smart to avoid it and the potential food poisoning it promised.

Stomach full, I walked south to see the city wall, I had read that you could get up onto the wall from one of the four gates (North, South, East and West Gates), and the south gate was closest to my hotel. But arriving there they were doing a lot of building work, and try as I might, I couldn’t find an way up here. So, I figured that this gate must be closed for renovation (the off season has just started, so that was quite plausible), and decided to walk the few blocks to the west gate and enter there. This took longer than I thought, but took me through a delightful street market selling all manner of interesting and weird fruits and vegetables. About 20 minutes later I arrived at the west gate, paid the 54 rmb entry fee and climbed up to the top of the city wall. Xi’an is one of the few cities in China whose city wall still stands, and from up there I could feel the age of the city, as well as the contrast between old and new – outside the city walls many new skyscrapers are dotted around, and I counted no less than 20 cranes, presumably mostly constructing new ones. But within the city walls, the buildings were old, and across the way I even saw some locals sitting on an ancient roof top playing drums. As the sun set I walked back round to the south gate. My legs were starting to ache by this point, so I was relieved, although somewhat frustrated, so see that the south gate was in fact open after all, and I could exit this way. After nearly being trampled by some Chinese men dressed in traditional soldier’s attire, I headed back up to the Bell Tower and my hotel.

That evening, after a little blogging and catching up on emails, I decided to head out and try and find some dinner. I walked north from my hotel, but I couldn’t find anything other than street food and fast food restaurants. I just wanted some noodles. I found one place that looked quite promising, but turned out not to have an English menu, or even a Chinese menu with pictures, so I realised it was hopeless and left. Defeated, and starving, I bought a pot noodle and a couple of beers (for less than 2 pounds!) and headed back to my hotel room to eat.

The following morning I got up fairly early, and my driver met me at 9am to take me to the Terracotta army. If I was already not particularly enamoured with Xi’an, this morning would be the nail in the coffin. We drove for about an hour outside the city to the site of the amazing archeological find, and when we arrived my driver handed me over to a guide. If I had been more on the ball and less sleepy, I would have remembered that my tour didn’t include guide. Unfortunately I was not that smart. She charged me 150 rmb (15 quid) for her services, which frankly I didn’t really want – I’d much prefer to see the place at my own pace, but I wasn’t given that option. Worse still, although she did take me round the three pits containing the remarkable army of terracotta statues, she seemed far more concerned with taking me to the shops (both inside and outside the museum) and pressuring me to buy extortionately expensive souvenirs. Repeatedly I told her I didn’t want them. She continued to pressure me. Several times she sat me down with jade sellers and forced me to listen to their spiel. She kept telling me that we had to stop at each place so that she could get a stamp – presumably her company insisted that she took tourists to each shop in turn and pressured them out of their hard-earned cash. I saw a lot of souvenirs at prices often 10 times what they were in central Xi’an. I got pretty grumpy about all this, which inadvertently made me an exceptionally good haggler, and I did buy a couple of small things at only perhaps slightly inflated prices. I didn’t spend more than a fiver, though.

The whole experience left me angry and exhausted. They asked if I wanted to get lunch. I said I just wanted to go back to the hotel. When I got back, I had a long nap to recuperate, and didn’t head back out again until late afternoon. Now starving and very grumpy, I gave myself a free pass to buy some western fast-food, and tried to find a Sub Way. Failing miserably, and getting hungrier and hungrier, I defaulted to McDonalds. I’m not proud of it. I haven’t eaten a McDonalds in years, but I just simply had no more energy for anything else.

Feeling a little better after some food and drink, I spent my remaining afternoon in Xi’an checking out the Drum Tower (where I caught a drum show which was quite impressive) and the Bell Tower. The Bell Tower at sunset was really nice, but did little to lift my mood. When the sun had finally set, I popped back to my room to drop off my nice camera, and decided to head out to find a noodle restaurant recommended in my guidebook. I must have spent an hour wandering around the area where the restaurant was supposed to be, with no luck. Just as I was about to give up hope, I passed another restaurant where 5 distinctly western-looking people were sat eating noodles. It wasn’t the one recommended, but clearly the restaurant had an English menu, and clearly it served noodles. I headed in. Turns out one of the group was actually a girl I had met previously at my hostel in Beijing. She invited me to join them and we had a lovely meal and some beer and a good chat. We made plans to meet up again later in Shanghai, and I headed back to my hotel around 10pm to pack for my flight to Chengdu the following morning, optimistic that the next leg of my journey would be more pleasant. I was excited about the prospect of seeing Pandas!

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