Visit Xian

For the people that know me, you’ll know I don’t really care for the normal tourist trail. I like to see the real world, not the bit that has been polished just for me.

That said, I do appreciate the tourist stuff sometimes, as an example, The London Bridge Experience in London is probably the best tourist attraction I’ve been to in the UK. In fact, I think I’ve been to it three times and I’d still happily take a visitor for another poke about. Furthermore, sometimes if you’re ‘there’ then you simply have to see what all the fuss is about, right?

Those Soldiers

Xi’an (西安市) is one of those places that when you visit, for the first time at least, you need to visit the terracotta soldiers.

Xi’an is a large city and capital of Shaanxi Province in central China. At archaeological sites in Xi’an’s surrounding plains are the famed Bingmayong (Terracotta Army), thousands of life-size, hand-molded figures buried with China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang.

Indeed, this is a site to see. However, if you’ve ever seen the Mona Lisa in Paris, you’ll have an idea of just what the experience is actually like. Although, I would say the picture in Paris is a little less impressive, yet that’s only a personal opinion. The similarities are around the crowds that are there to see the same thing that you are there to see.

Hundreds of people, pushing and shoving and trying to get to the front for either that perfect ‘snap’ of the scene or that perfect selfie. This is true of both the Parisian picture and the Terracotta Army experiences!

It is worth seeing, but be prepared, you might need to get those elbows out and it’s probably not going to be quite how you imagined it.

Getting there..

Of course, one of the things to know about what is probably the most famous tourist attraction in Xi’an is that it’s not in Xi’an. You can take a cab but a bus (306) from Xi’an train station is very cheap (¥7 per person), it takes an hour or there about but it runs regular enough that seats shouldn’t be a problem (if you get on at either end (Xi’an or the Soldiers)).

The bus terminates just outside the tourist attraction, you’ll need to walk across a car park, and as soon as you step off the bus, the foreigners are usually approached by someone trying to sell something. Truth be told, all the stuff they are selling is pretty much the same as what you’ll find inside the tourist shops within the attraction, but far less in price. That said, I wouldn’t bother just yet, keep those hands free for the pushing needed to get to the best photo-op’s. Also, please don’t assume that I’m suggesting you should go there and push, what I’m suggesting is that plenty of others will push you and you might feel the need to be a bit more rigid than normal to hold your ground.

The bottled water at the site or around the site is at least double the price of the same bottle back in the city – buy it there and bring it with you!

When you come out of the attraction, you seem to come out in a little market street, many street food vendors and little shops selling the same replica terracotta soldiers you no doubt saw many times inside the attraction but for a fraction of the price. Furthermore, as you wander towards the bus station, you’ll stumble across those folks that were trying to sell to you as soon as you jumped off the bus. Your opportunities to buy things will be plentiful.

The City Wall!

Now this is more my kind of thing. It’s huge. I think you can easily spend a day meandering around this place, stopping for a few pictures, perhaps having a packed-lunch. It’s quiet, peaceful, not that busy, fairly flat offering little challenge beyond distance so it’s friendly to families and disabled (excluding the steps up-to and down-from the wall and a couple of other odd steps along the way, but mostly flat!

One warning to the fairer skinned folks, the distance is fairly decent, there’s very little shade, much to my surprise, even the September/October sun can be quite intense if the skies are clear. Take sunscreen!

The Bell & Drum Tower (钟楼)

Always amazing, especially by night, it is an area that’s full of tourists, but it’s so big and the places to stand are many, you’re always in for a good photo opportunity here.

There’s also loads of food places around here, nice restaurants, street food, little cafe’s etc. It doesn’t matter, you’ll find something to suit your tastes and budget for sure. Head towards Beiyuanmen. Personally I like the cafes and street foods more than the restaurants, but that’s a personal thing.

The Fountain Show (sometimes referred to as the Spring show)

Really good show, I don’t know if it runs through the winter, but definitely through to late autumn for sure. It begins at 20:30 local time and it is quite amazing how many people turn up for it, especially in the last few moments before it’s about to start.

On our trip, we arrived early, it was almost deserted, we popped over the road for some food, came back out 5 minutes before the show kicks off and there were hundreds, maybe more, already lined up and waiting for it to begin.

Xi’an Airport

As with most airports that borrow the name of a big city; it’s no-where near the city! Expect a 50 minute cab journey to/from the city centre with more time if you’re travelling around the rush hours.

Nice airport though, small and therefore far quicker to get around than something like the international airports in Beijing. However the queues for passport control to enter the customs area are slow going! I still believe the international customs checks within China are the strictest and most thorough that I’ve personally experienced. Not a bad thing, but it really slows things down, plan for this!