A Week in Xi'an

Alright, it’s time for the vacation rundown (it’s taken me so long to write this because it’s so freaking long…sorry! Go get a snack or something, cause this is gonna take a while).

 From October 1^st – 7^th, I was on vacation for the National Day holiday, aka one of the ‘Golden Weeks’. This holiday celebrates the founding of the P.R. China on October 1^st, 1949. Most of the schools get a week off.  Some workers get 3 days. Your average Chinese don’t really get much of a vacation though. For farmers, the work is still there, and shopkeepers tend to stay open, often for longer hours to accommodate increased business, during the holiday. Most of my students went home and worked for their parents’ farms or shops, or at least helped around the house while their parents worked; or they took on part-time jobs for the week.  If you are lucky enough to get the time off work though, this week is a popular time to go home and visit extended family or take a rare sightseeing trip. It is also a popular time for weddings. When I asked my students what they did on their holidays, I was surprised to hear how many of them went to their brother’s/sister’s/cousin’s wedding. I guess it is a time when more people will be likely to travel to the event, so it makes a lot of sense. For many people though, this is one of the few vacations you get a year (only about half of Chinese workers get paid vacations), so tourism also spikes in all the major cities.

With all the travelling that goes on at this time, I was warned that public transportation would be horrendously busy. I didn’t realize quite how bad this would be. We (Laura, my fellow Jiujiang CIEE teacher, and I) only finalized our travel plans about a week or so before the holiday, so the seats were all sold out by the time we bought train tickets. So, on Friday night (September 30^th) we headed to the train station, ready for a 16 hour train ride, squatting on the floor. This is what that looked like:

UNfun. Fortunately, we only had to squat on the floor between the trash can and the smokers until about 4 or 5 am when a few people started getting off and we were offered seats. By the late morning, we had two seats each and were able to actually get some sleep, although it was still rather uncomfortable. But, we eventually made it to Xi’an, which is really all that mattered in the end.

Rather than give you a day-by-day rundown of our week, I’ll just hit the highlights (which will probably still take a while).

THE FOOD: We discovered that food in Xi’an is much less spicy than in Jiujiang, which was at first a little boring to be honest. But, we still managed to find some delicious masterpieces.

first meal in Xi'an

extremely delicious fat noodles

There is a large Muslim population in Xi’an, so there were lots of delicious noodle dishes. We actually ate a lot of our meals in the Muslim Quarter which was about 5 minutes from our hostel and is full of relatively cheap and quite delicious dishes.

around the Muslim Quarter

We of course tried some local specialties. This one is called yangrou paomo. You rip up some flat bread into the bottom of your bowl, and then they cover it with a delicious mutton soup. Mmm yummy!

We also tried roujiamo, pita bread meat sandwiches, and some others that I don’t know the name of, including little noodles steamed in balls and covered with a spicy sauce, and fried sweet potato cakes!

more delicious food in the Muslim Quarter

sweet potato cakes

Although, there were some questionable restaurants that we avoided…

this reminds of the elephant graveyard in The Lion King

our hostel is the left part of the building

THE HOSTEL: Our hostel turned out to actually be pretty great. I was worried that since we were booking it so late, we would be stuck with a questionable hostel.  And, its reviews online weren’t so great. But, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone traveling to Xi’an! We stayed at the Bell Tower International Youth Hostel. The location was absolutely perfect. It is located right in the middle of the old town right next to the Bell Tower. Like I said, we were 5 minutes from the Muslim Quarter, where all the food was, so that was great. And, since the Bell Tower marks the center of the city, you can catch a bus to pretty much anywhere from one corner or another. 

hostel bar/restaurant

 As for the hostel itself, it was pretty much what you’d expect from a decent youth hostel. It was pretty clean and the bathrooms were definitely just as nice as some of the good ones in European hostels (and better than some - anyone remember the questionable showers in Prague? Eww). They had free computers with internet access, the staff was nice and helpful, and there was a bar/restaurant run by the hostel too. The food there was pretty expensive, but we splurged on the last day and had a legitimate western breakfast – first since I’ve been here, and last for a while I’m sure! The drinks were overpriced, but that’s pretty much the case in all the bars. 

view of the Bell Tower from the hostel

One+One

The best part was definitely the people. We stayed in the 10 bunk dorm rooms and got to meet some cool people from all over: Canada, Germany, Poland, France, etc. We had an epic night out to a club called One+One, complete with drunken Chinese friends with questionable dancing skills (see facebook videos for more on this).  It’s comforting to find you’re not the only one off on some crazy journey through China, or wherever. It’s so cool to think about how you’re kind of intersecting each other’s paths at different points, and you get to share a small part of your journey with them, and vice versa. 

THE SIGHTS: Alright, time for the best part. You know, the reason we actually went to Xi’an. It is one of the oldest cities in China and considered one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. It is therefore overflowing with historical artifacts and places of significance – a treat for any history buff and a must-see if you’re making a trip to China. Here’s some of what we saw while we were there (as always, refer to fb for more pictures!)

 

small goose pagodoa

ride 'em cowboy!

 XI’AN MUSEUM and SMALL GOOSE PAGODA: Our first stop of the trip was to this (free!) museum. We actually meant to go the Shaanxi History Museum, which is more famous and supposed to be much better. But, due to my poor sense of direction and an overcrowded bus system, this is where we ended up. We still managed to see some pretty cool stuff, including a scale model of the old capital, then known as Chang’an. The grounds were quite beautiful and included the Small Goose Pagoda. We even managed to find a Belgian tour group to stalk and eavesdrop on some historical facts en francais!

best fountain ever

model of the old city

BELL TOWER and DRUM TOWER: Since these structures were located just outside our hostel, I got many late night shots of them all lit up in their splendor. We only paid to go up the Bell Tower, which was a little disappointing on the inside. But, we got some good shots off the top and the entrance fee was only about 4 USD, so not too bad.  

bell tower

view of the drum tower from the bell tower

 

 

OLD CITY WALLS: Instead of renting bikes (which looks like it would have been rather unpleasant given the bumpy and uneven nature of the surfaces), we decided to set off walking the 9 mile track around the city. The views were so-so, but the people-watching was fantastic! We only made it about ¾ of the way around before getting off in favor of some souvenir shopping at the south gate.

winning outfit of the week on the city walls

 

chillin' at the mosque

GREAT MOSQUE: Located in the Muslim Quarter, the Great Mosque of Xi’an is the oldest in China, founded in the 700s. It was a neat mix of cultures, with distinctly Chinese architecture covered in Arabic calligraphy.

 

XINGQINGGONG GARDENS: A little off of the normal tourist path, these huge gardens are located further away from the center of the city. As long as you avoid the cheesy Chinese amusement park rides and novelty pedal boats, it’s really quite beautiful. Of course you can’t avoid the curious Chinese youngsters stalking you and wanting photos with the waiguoren, but it makes a nice (free) escape from the overcrowded tourist attractions. 

 BIG GOOSE PAGODA: Welcome to Xi’an’s most overpriced tourist attraction. It costs 50 RMB to get in and another 30 to climb the tower, and really, the views weren’t that great. There’s some neat architecture on the grounds and some beautiful Buddhist statues, but I’m not entirely sure it was worth it. That being said, it makes for some beautiful night photos. One must see here, however, is the fountain show. Supposedly the most expensive in Asia, it was really impressive! The music was cheesy, but the fountains were awesome. Oh, and it’s huge! Although you might need an umbrella if you get close enough during the grand finale!

TERRACOTTA WARRIORS: Alright, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Xi’an’s most famous tourist attraction and one of those “check it off your bucket list” sights, this one was well worth the trip. It’s expensive, but COMPLETELY worth it. It’s about an hour’s bus ride outside of the city, and something of a trek to the actual excavation sights once you get on the grounds. Tip of the day: if you’re going, do the pits in reverse order. That way, you start with the smaller pits and end up with the largest and most impressive. Really, I’m not sure how well I can describe what it was like, seeing the warriors. It’s one of those things that I’ve heard about for as long as I can remember. Or at least for as long as I have been interested in history. It’s both awe-inspiring and slightly disturbing (pretty much everyone who worked on it was buried alive) at the same time. But the soldiers themselves are phenomenal. They really are all unique. While many of the better preserved statues have been carted off to various museums, there’s still a lot to see there. The largest pit is HUMUNGOUS. And it’s still being excavated. It was neat to see how the digging is still in process and the different levels of completion in different areas. It makes you rethink archaeology as a major! Of course, many hilarious statue photo opportunities were seized. Overall, a definite winning experience and a great way to finish up the week!