China - Xi'an

From Yichang I had another 19hour train journey to get to Xi'an. The train station there was even more crazy than Chongqing but I was approached by a hostel guy so I went along with him. I had to wait for ages until a car came to pick me and various other backpackers up. I then had to queue for ages at reception until I got my room. I got talking to a group of four English who ended up being in my room. Once I had showered I went on a mission to find the advanced train ticket office which was cunningly hidden as part of a bank. I actually came across it by chance as I was more intent on finding a bakery at the time. I failed to book a train to Shanghai because there were no sleepers left so I went to try and book it through the hostel which also failed. I gave up on train booking and went to join the English group in the cafe. There was Bonnie who lived and worked as a teacher in Chengdu, Andrew who knew her from uni, Wendy who knew her from work and Gemma who knew Wendy from school. Random group! I asked if I could go along with them for the day - yey! It turned out Bonnie and Andrew had been at Durham and had been Collingwooders - small world.

We went to the bell tower which was right outside our hostel and then to the very similar drum tower. They were both quite interesting and we watched musical performances (bells then drums of course) in both. It was raining and we were all tired so we had a pit stop in Starbucks, it was completely full of foreigners! View out of bell tower:

Performance in bell tower:

Drum tower (me and Bonnie):

View of bell tower from drum tower:

After the coffee we braved the rain and walked through the Muslim quarter. It is really cool, there are loads of market stalls and food stalls so we bought lots of random food. I was staving having not eaten a proper meal for 4days. The first thing I bought turned out to be a chili sandwich which actually gave my lips pins and needles!

Bell tower at night:

That evening I had a great time with them all. We played shit head and consequences, which was hysterical, and drunk far too much red wine. This is us failing to make it quietly back to the dorm:

The next morning was a slow start because we were all slightly heavy headed. Bonnie and Andrew went out to get water and Bonnie got her purse pick pocketed - rubbish. She had to spend a long time sorting that out so I went to the train booking office again. I managed to get a slow train to Hangzhou. It was so annoying because all the Shanghai trains were booked up but at least I was going in the right direction. About midday we walked to the train station and caught a bus to the Terracotta Army. It's a really surreal thing, amazing but quite bizarre. Our visit there was greatly increased by the President of Serbia because they closed the main hanger for him to go around and we had to wait an hour to see it. The majority of the army seems not to have been excavated yet. I was flagging because all I had eaten was 2 bread rolls, had to have a coke and an ice cream to pick me up!

Pit 3:

Pit 2:

Weird exhibition:

Pit 1:

Gemma, me and Bonnie:

We had a very short stop off in the hostel and then jumped on another bus to the Big Goose Pagoda to watch the biggest fountain display in Asia:

Luckily the pagoda was closed because I don't think I would have had the energy to go around it, I was actually starving!

We went for dinner afterwards - so good! It was my first proper meal (not snacks) for 5days. Back at the hostel we had another bottle of wine in the bar and played a round of cards but mainly got entertained by rather pissed Chinese girl who was very excited to talk to us:

In the morning we went to the South Gate to get on the city walls and then rented bikes and cycled all the way around. It was really good fun and cool to see the city from above:

Crazy train station:

We then parted ways. Andrew came with me into the Muslim quarter and we got a bowl of very filling noodle soup which was good until we suddenly realised in was 3.30pm and my train left in an hour. I literally ran back to the hostel and picked up my bag then sort of panicked about how to get to the station. I started walking but it was too far and I tried to catch a taxi but they were all full, eventually a man with a moped took me which was a bit hairy. I had my big rucksack on my back and my little one on my front. He tried to charge me 20Y so I laughed at him and give him 10Y and walked off. I then had enough time to buy some pot noodles and snacks and get to the station in time to walk straight onto the train. The train was 22hours but luckily I had a bottom bunk so I could sit on my bed. I played solitaire and had about 5 people come to watch, slightly off putting. A young girl sat on the end of my bed watching me so eventually I taught her how to play and then we played pairs and another little boy joined in. It was sweet, they knew some English from school but weren't brave enough to speak it so instead they wrote it down. I think the train journey did me some good because I had a bad cold and it forced me to sit down and rest for nearly a whole day.