Day 10: Xi'an: Terracotta Warriors - Flight to Chengdu
The alarm rings at 6:30 in the morning. Today we have another day of the most complete in this trip to China for free and that is that yesterday we arrived in the city, where we visited the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an, and today we have to know the famous icing on the cake Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an.
We leave Xi'an Traveling With Hostel An Yuan Men at 7 in the morning, after having had breakfast the cakes we bought yesterday and we go straight to the train station, not the high-speed one where we arrived yesterday, if not the one there is in the center of the city, next to the walls and that is 1.5 kilometers from our accommodation in Xi'an.
Although we carry the indications of where to take the bus and what number, once there it is not exactly intuitive.
You have to pass the central ticket offices of the station and right next to it you can see a parking lot full of buses. There you will see some blue and other green (more than buses are minibuses) in which they put Xi 'an - Terracotta Warriors. Well, as you are thinking, these are the ones that will take you to the Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an.
After asking a police officer and receiving an unconvinced response, we just see one with this signal that starts to move, so we take a run and after confirming that it is the right one, we pay 8RMB per person and we ride.
It's 7:30 in the morning when we're leaving Xi'an station on the way to its famous Terracotta Warriors.
Another good option to learn more about the history of Xian warriors is to book a guided tour in Spanish or this one that includes a tour of the city of Xian.
As a comment we will say that despite what you might think, being this, like the rest of the visits we are doing on this trip to China, which are the most tourist and therefore we should meet many tourists, we have to say that In the whole trip we will not have crossed with no more than 10 tourists. Including places like Terracotta warriors, where for example, on the bus we are the only Westerners. The large percentage of China's tourism is local and it shows.
Two kilometers from the Terracotta Warriors are the Huáqing Springs, where you can stop if you want on this same bus. On this occasion we have missed the visit, for lack of time, although we have read that if you have time, it is worth making a stop.
It also goes through the Tomb of Qin Shi Huang, another of the stops that if we had had some more time, we would have valued.
We arrive at 8:30 in the morning to the enclave where the ships of the Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an, just an hour after our departure and we go straight to the ticket office to get our tickets.
We pay 150RMB per person, the expired student card does not pass here, if it had not been 75RMB per person and we travel the meters that take us to the three graves where the Terracotta warriors More the museum. There are also electric carts in case you do not want to walk the road, but the truth is that being only about 10 minutes, it is not worth waiting to be filled. You can book here the ticket without queues in advance.
The first thing we do is enter the Xi'an Terracotta Warriors Museum, where we have a unique vision of some of the weapons found next to the Terracotta warriors and two bronze cars with their horses, found 20 meters west of the tomb of Qin Shi Huang.
After the visit to the museum, we first enter the pit 2, although the recommendations are to start with the 3, the smallest of the three and we find a pit in which it is perfectly intuited how everything was found.
Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
In pit 2 we find about 1300 warriors and horses and we can closely examine 5 of the soldiers found: a kneeling archer and another standing, a cavalry soldier with his horse, a mid-range officer and a general.
Detail of a kneeling archer. Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
Back of a kneeling archer. Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
The expressions, hairstyles, armor and even the drawings of the sole of the footwear are different.
Terracotta warriors
We are practically 45 minutes surrounding the pit number 2 and on leaving we take the opportunity to stop for a moment to take the first express of the trip in a small cafeteria where we pay the change 4 euros each! It is clear that coffee in China is not especially economical.
More practical information to prepare your trip to China
- 10 essential places to visit in China
- 10 essential tips for traveling to China
After a short break, we return to visit the Terracotta warriors, with pit 3, the smallest but not least impressive, where we found 72 warriors and horses, who are believed to be the headquarters of the army due to the number of senior officers.
From here we go to pit 1, the largest of the three and where at this time we find many more people than we expected.
Trench 1. Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
Trench 1 is believed to contain 6000 warriors of which only 2000 and horses can be seen, all facing east in battle position.
Trench 1. Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
At the forefront there are three rows of archers, armed with bows and crossbows, followed by the bulk of the army, which were originally armed with spears, swords and other long-handled weapons.
Details of the Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
Details of the Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
The infantry was accompanied by 35 battle tanks, but since they were made of wood they had long since disintegrated.
Details of the Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
We gradually surround the pit 1, trying to capture every detail of everything we are seeing and that as much as we try, we practically do not assimilate. It seems incredible what we have in front of us.
Details of the Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
It is 12 noon when we go out and the truth is that we are starving and want to sit down, so we ended up in a KFC doing a fast food assault for 87RMB. In the exit area of the graves of the Terracotta warriors There is a whole infrastructure of different fast food restaurants and shops where you can buy any souvenir you want.
The best tours and excursions in Xian in Spanish
If you prefer to forget about preparations or have little time, you can book the following tours in SPANISH
- Excursion to the Terracotta Warriors
- Guided tour of Xián
- Offer: Xián + Terracotta Warriors
A few minutes before 1 noon we return to the parking lot of the buses where they left us this morning and for 8RMB we return to Xi'an.
It is a one hour bus ride until we get back to Xian station and from there we return to the hotel to collect our bags and rest for a while until we go to the airport shuttle to catch a flight that will take us from Xi'an to Chengdu this afternoon-night saving us a train day, thanks to an offer that we found in OneTwoTrip, after circling a few flight search engines.
Here we had our first problem with the China censorship of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and a wide range of websites that cannot be accessed from China, unless you have or know the trick. Here we explain How to connect to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram in China.
To visit them Terracotta warriors, if you do it by local bus, count at least 7 hours in total from the departure of the hotel upon arrival again to Xi'an, since the bus is one hour round trip and another one back and the visit is around 3 -4 hours later after the transfer times from the hotel to the bus station.
We arrived at 14:15 at the Xi'an bus station, an hour after leaving the Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an
At the hotel they tell us that the shuttle bus stop to the airport that left the city center no longer exists, so we have to go to the Xian Longhai Hotel, next to exit A of the Wulukou metro stop of the line one.
For not wasting time in the subway, since we have to change, we choose to stop a taxi and thus go quieter.
Well you can believe that after 5 minutes mounted, with a map in hand in Chinese, indicating the point where we wanted to go and a plane drawn at the exact point the taxi driver has not been able to understand us? This is something that happens to us often, they start to speak in Chinese, as if we were able to understand them and when you say no to the head, they look at you with the face of strangers and leave.
And we are not going to deceive you, the Chinese have somewhat curious customs, which sometimes influence the trip. For example, this morning we left the room to check out at 7 in the morning. The reception was totally dark and one person "unidentified"sleeping on a sofa covered to the ears.
Our reaction has been to leave our bags in the room and knowing that the maximum check-out time was at 1 noon, we leave at Terracotta warriors, waiting to arrive more or less at that time.
When we returned the receptionist reminded us that the check out was at 1 noon. By telling him what had happened to us this morning, he answers with all normality that we should have woken up the boy who was sleeping and thus have checked out in a normal way. Ole him !!
Noted for this trip to China that night receptionists sleep soundly on the sofas of the reception 😉
Total that after the experience of the taxi and without wanting to repeat it again, in the end we have chosen to take the subway and for 4RMB we have planted at the bus stop to the airport, which for 25RMB per person has taken us in an hour to Xianyang International Airport in Xi'an, where we will catch our flight from Xi'an to Chengdu.
Xi'an bus to the airport
We arrived at 16:45 at Xi'an airport after a slightly tortuous trip to be with a driver who has not stopped yawning and close our eyes all the way, which has kept us in suspense all the time and even It has made us doubt whether we would arrive in time to catch the flight.
We enter the airport and go straight to the counters of China Eastern, the company with which we flew from Xian to Chengdu at 8:30 in the afternoon.
Xi'an airport
We spend the remaining 2:30 hours between room and room and store and store, taking advantage to finish the travel diaries and reading a bit since, we still have no internet connection.
The truth is that we had read that in China there are usually enough flight delays, so we are quite alert to the screens, just in case we have to suffer some of them and then go to Claimant, as happened to us on the trip to Cinque Terre, when they canceled the flight from Pisa to Girona.
But this time everything is rolled and we embark at 19:35 in the afternoon in a most modern plane and spend the hour and a half of flight reading and reviewing the planning of the next days in Chengdu.
Xi'an to Chengdu plane
We arrive at 9:30 p.m. and after picking up our bags we go directly to the bus stop 10, which leads to the city center, although when we ask, they do not know how to tell us if the stop is near our accommodation in Chengdu We ask again and in the end a girl who speaks English with confirms that we have to get off at the second stop.
We arrived in Chengdu in 30 minutes and as soon as we got off, a few men assaulted us to take us wherever we wanted.
We show the paper with the name of our hotel and with the face of not knowing very well where we are asked for 40RMB.
We know that we are two kilometers away, the CityMaps2Go does not fail, so it seems quite expensive. We decline the offer, stop a few meters ahead and take an official taxi with a meter that for 11RMB in about 15 minutes leaves us at the door of the Ibis Chengdu Hotel.
Sometimes it is worth spending some more money, but there are times that it is also worth stopping a few seconds and assess whether it is worth paying double or triple for not walking a few more minutes.
We arrived in the room in good time, just looking at a few things on the internet and getting into bed. Tomorrow we have a day full of pandas 😉
Day 11: Chengdú: Panda Bear Conservation Center, Tianfu Square, People's Park, Old Jinli Street
