Xi'an
When I arrived in Xi'an, I instantly had the impression of having arrived in a very touristy city. The historic city wall divides the station’s court. Directly behind these are Chinese and Western 24 hour fast food restaurants, following that smaller shops and restaurants, then hotels and shopping centers.
I walked on foot from the station to my hostel. So I witnessed a crazy marketing campaign. I was approached on the street by a guy giving handouts and led to the store. In front of the store was a chariot with stuffed horses and a red carpet was rolled out. This was a William and Kate wedding photo promotion. I was shown two very well-made photo albums, after that I could continue to my hostel.
The hostel had beds for about 150 guests and was fully booked out. It also had its own restaurant and a decent bar. All in all not a place that promotes contact with locals.
On my first day in Xi'an I had a couple of things to do and wanted to explore the modern city. I still prefer to see the everyday life of locals, rather than four or five temples per day. The first thing I had to do was to buy me a new Chinese Simcard. My first one, I had bought at a slightly seedy dealer in Kashgar, stopped working two days earlier. This time I bought the Simcard directly from the mobile operator. It did cost twice the money, but it still works. After that I wandered a bit through the shopping centers and on the seventh floor of one of them I found an ice-skating rink. Then I went with the intention to buy me a train ticket to the station. There I was told that there are no tickets for the coming three days, only standing tickets were available for the ten hour ride. This was not an acceptable option. So I decided to buy a bus ticket on the next day. On my way back from the station to the hostel I walked along the historic city walls. In the park that runs along the wall, I witnessed martial arts, Chinese music, ping pong, and other everyday scenes.
In the evening I drank a few beers with three Americans and found that I am not the only one, who had experienced something like being touched on the train. One of the Americans leg hairs was plucked during a train ride. The other story is too long to be reproduced here. While walking with a beer in hand, we looked at the bar scene in Xi'an. At 11 pm on a Friday evening the busiest bar had twelve people in it.
The next day I went to the station and gave my big backpack for storage. Then I bought a bus ticket for the evening to Taiyuan. Most of the day I had left to visit the Terracotta Army. The Terracotta Army is about an hour by bus from Xi'an. The most impressive of is the idea to protect the grave of a clay army of that size. The views of the army were still impressive, but it was massively destroyed by tour groups on photo safari. Moreover, you can’t get close to the statues. So there was no intimacy between viewer and object.
Xi'an is regarded as one of the starting points of the Silk Road. The Silk Road chapter of my journey is therefore over. I have traveled it from the end of it in Venice to the start in Xi'an. Later that night I traveled on to Taiyuan in a sleeper bus
When I arrived in Xi'an, I instantly had the impression of having arrived in a very touristy city. The historic city wall divides the station’s court. Directly behind these are Chinese and Western 24 hour fast food restaurants, following that smaller shops and restaurants, then hotels and shopping centers.
I walked on foot from the station to my hostel. So I witnessed a crazy marketing campaign. I was approached on the street by a guy giving handouts and led to the store. In front of the store was a chariot with stuffed horses and a red carpet was rolled out. This was a William and Kate wedding photo promotion. I was shown two very well-made photo albums, after that I could continue to my hostel.
The hostel had beds for about 150 guests and was fully booked out. It also had its own restaurant and a decent bar. All in all not a place that promotes contact with locals.
On my first day in Xi'an I had a couple of things to do and wanted to explore the modern city. I still prefer to see the everyday life of locals, rather than four or five temples per day. The first thing I had to do was to buy me a new Chinese Simcard. My first one, I had bought at a slightly seedy dealer in Kashgar, stopped working two days earlier. This time I bought the Simcard directly from the mobile operator. It did cost twice the money, but it still works. After that I wandered a bit through the shopping centers and on the seventh floor of one of them I found an ice-skating rink. Then I went with the intention to buy me a train ticket to the station. There I was told that there are no tickets for the coming three days, only standing tickets were available for the ten hour ride. This was not an acceptable option. So I decided to buy a bus ticket on the next day. On my way back from the station to the hostel I walked along the historic city walls. In the park that runs along the wall, I witnessed martial arts, Chinese music, ping pong, and other everyday scenes.
In the evening I drank a few beers with three Americans and found that I am not the only one, who had experienced something like being touched on the train. One of the Americans leg hairs was plucked during a train ride. The other story is too long to be reproduced here. While walking with a beer in hand, we looked at the bar scene in Xi'an. At 11 pm on a Friday evening the busiest bar had twelve people in it.
The next day I went to the station and gave my big backpack for storage. Then I bought a bus ticket for the evening to Taiyuan. Most of the day I had left to visit the Terracotta Army. The Terracotta Army is about an hour by bus from Xi'an. The most impressive of is the idea to protect the grave of a clay army of that size. The views of the army were still impressive, but it was massively destroyed by tour groups on photo safari. Moreover, you can’t get close to the statues. So there was no intimacy between viewer and object.
Xi'an is regarded as one of the starting points of the Silk Road. The Silk Road chapter of my journey is therefore over. I have traveled it from the end of it in Venice to the start in Xi'an. Later that night I traveled on to Taiyuan in a sleeper bus
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