Day 3: Next Stop...Xi’an

The previous night, Tony told us we were meeting at 6am the next morning so it was an early bed for us. I was up at 4.45am to shower and finish packing before checking out of our hotel room; I’m really not a morning person!

It was so early, we left before the hotel breakfast had even opened but we were given a box with a boiled egg, bread, a roll, water, milk and a chocolate bar; i`m sure you can guess what I ate! It took an hour to get to the airport to catch our China Eastern flight to Xi`an but check-in and security were reasonably quick given that there were 30 of us! Our flight left at 8.40am, arriving in Xi`an at 10am. We got a breakfast on the flight which was as equally unappetising (rice porridge! Ugh!) but thankfully our resaurant meals have all been top notch.

On arrival in Xi`an, we were met by our new local guide, Amanda. She told us a little bit about the city as we headed to a restaurant for lunch; I know what your thinking, all we do is eat! That has pretty much been true for the trip so far. Xi`an is the capital of the Shaanxi province and is the starting point of the Silk Road.  It is a relatively small city, by China standards, with a population of only 10 million people. It also appears to be very clean and less noisy compared to Beijing; phew! 

Lunch was a buffet and was served in a place that is also a theatre, apparently we are going to a show tomorrow. We got to try their noodles, a Chinese speciality of the region. I loved them as they were served with a hint of chillie and lots of coriander. The best part of the buffet was their chips; I know, typical westerner, but sometimes you just want something plain so it was a nice change. 

After lunch we headed to the city wall for an hour or so before going back to the hotel for some relaxation before dinner and the evening tour. The walls date back to the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century and give you a bird`s eye view over the city. There are a number of ramparts along the fortification which are all very beautiful. We were only at the wall for 40 minutes as it had been a long day already and it was starting to get pretty warm, especially for us Brits. It was time to check-in at the hotel and relax for a few hours before our evenings activities. I have to say, the hotel appears to be far superior to the Beijing hotel, plus we have a massive double bed and living room!

We met the group at 6pm to go for dinner; I wasn’t particularly hungry but its amazing what you can eat when it’s put in front of you. I`m glad I did too; some of the flavours and food were very different to Beijing. We had the usual banquet of 10 dishes but this time we got a type of fried chicken, beef with different mushrooms and a wheat flour bread that appeared to be fried too; everything was delicious but that’s another few pounds gained. 

After dinner we went back to the hotel for a quick “happy room” visit before embarking on the evenings optional city tour. I haven’t mentioned this yet but the happy room is the toilet; it`s a much more pleasant way to describe it!

Most of us joined the evening tour as Tony told us that Xi`an has two faces; one during the day then the other at night. If the weather is good, the whole city is illuminated and people congregate on the squares and dance. The dancing is to stay fit and healthy which is very important in Chinese society. We also saw the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, so called because of the hungry monks asking for food while a flock of geese flew overhead, one dropped dead and landed near them. Seeing it as a sign from Buddha they buried it (apparently not that hungry after all...) and built the pagaoda!

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We walked from the square at the pagoda all the way down a Tang Dynasty street; the architecture of the buildings down each side were all Tang and down the centre there were various monuments, decorations and people playing music. It is a very relaxing city and has a completely different vibe to Beijing; hopefully you will see from some of the photos below:

After walking down the avenue, we got back on the bus to drive around the South Gate of the wall; this is where Queen Elizabeth entered the city on her to visits here. There is a drawbridge which used to be opened in the morning and closed at night, if you were unlucky enough to be stuck outside the walls, tough luck! We didn’t get a particularly good picture of it as we were on the bus but hopefully you can just about see the bridge.

The bus circled a few times then drove us all back to the hotel. We decided to go for a wander before bed and picked up a few beers and some water; thankfully it’s a later start tomorrow but it’s midnight now and time for bed!