Xi'an- The Terracotta Warriors and the 'Deadliest Hike Trail in the World'

Back again with more China talk, and now it’s time for a little reminisce of one of my favourite trips in China! At the beginning of December last year, I headed to Xi’an to tick off a well anticipated wish to see the terracotta warriors. Xi’an was not only the place where I developed more of an interest towards Chinese history, but I also noticed a few more everyday cultural differences between Chinese and English people whilst making the journey to Xi’an.

Before booking this trip, me and Meg agreed to fully immersing ourselves into China, getting around on trains and buses, living cheaply and eating Chinese food only (minus the odd hot chocolate after a very cold day of sightseeing). This all started with the 15-hour train journey from Shanghai to Xi’an. As we were trying to travel on a student budget, we decided against booking a high-speed train or a sleeper seat on the slow train (a rather interesting looking bunk bed, three beds high with no proper ladder) and opted instead for the well named hard seat. This cost us around 360 yuan for a return, the equivalent of £40, for a total 2770km journey.

We went into the journey with low expectations and I can confirm that these expectations were met right from the offset. When we arrived at our seats, we were sat face to face with a man who didn’t seem to grasp the concept of equal leg room! Every five minutes his legs would edge closer to mine making the already minimal leg room even smaller. It also seemed that him and everyone else on the train were unaware of the existence of headphones or were just very adamant in letting the rest of the train hear their phone calls and very interesting choices of music. To add to the cocktail of sounds, a few seats down we had a screaming baby, the violent cracking and crunching of monkey nuts and in the aisle, a constant stream of ticket officers and salespeople screaming at the top of their lungs, as if shouting three times louder was going to persuade me to buy a pot noodle.

Luckily for us, a few stops into the journey, just after midnight, the majority of people on the train got off leaving us with two seats each to lie across. The remaining people had also quietened down ready for an interesting nights sleep. Now I’m not going to lie and say that it was the best sleep of my life or that it was the most comfortable, but it really wasn’t the worst. Minus waking up at regular intervals due to the cold and an aching back, I managed to get enough sleep to keep me going and the 15 hours passed fairly quickly. The train journey overall was not the most fun thing I’ve experienced, but it definitely was an experience, and one that I highly recommend to anyone travelling in China. Even after the traumatic start I would definitely be happy to travel on a slow train again.

After arriving in Xi’an, we navigated our way to a bus stop and made our way to our hotel. The bus took around 20 minutes and cost a very modest 2 yuan, approximately 25 pence. After getting used to not carrying cash in Shanghai and paying for everything using WeChat, it was difficult to get used to paying for buses using change. Our hotel was the Xi’an Cypress City Wall Inn and it was a very good value for money and in a perfect location. We were able to walk or get a bus to the majority of sights within Xi’an and there were a wide variety of restaurants and shops around the hotel.

As with everywhere else I visit, one of the first things I made sure to do was to try some of the local food. If you are learning/ have learnt any Chinese before, I am 99% sure that you will have heard of biang biang noodles or have been shown the character biang due to its complexity and how impossible it is to write. Back in China and even during my online classes at home, this topic has cropped up multiple times and somehow one of my teachers found it so engaging that she once talked about the character and the noodles for a solid 30 minutes straight.

So, what are biang biang noodles? They are often described as belt noodles, and these very wide, flat noodles are normally topped with meat and vegetables. However, when me and meg tried them we opted for a vegetarian option that was topped with scrambled eggs in tomato, potatoes, carrots and a spicy nut topping. Sadly, even though these noodles looked and tasted good, the pure difficulty of picking up the rather slippery, wide noodles with chopsticks and perhaps the long build up to trying these noodles, made the result a slight anti-climax, and I can’t say I’ll be rushing to find my next biang biang noodle fix in England.

Next was a trip to the City Wall. Meg insisted on us hiring a tandem bike to cycle round the wall. After a few teething problems and a slight lack of coordination, which greatly entertained all passer-by’s, we were off, and it was such a fun afternoon. The Xi’an City wall was built during China’s Ming Dynasty and is one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world. Cycling around the wall gives you a great view of the city and some well needed fresh air and exercise after sitting on a long train. We went to the wall in the afternoon which was the perfect time as we saw the sunset and also saw all the lights and lanterns that line the wall turn on.

In search of food that could redeem Xi’an from the disappointing biang biang noodles, we made our way to the Muslim food street, as our good friend Alice had recommended a popular dish for us to try. This dish is known as 羊肉小炒 (yáng ròu xiǎo chǎo) or 羊肉泡馍 (yáng ròu pào mó). It was a very interesting looking bowl of what I can only describe as lamb soup that inside had boiled eggs, glass noodles, mushrooms and the most amazing broken up pita bread. I know it doesn’t sound or look the most appetising, but it was so full of flavour and exactly what we needed after a long day in the cold. For some entertainment, we headed to the Xi’an bar street, unfortunately it was a Sunday night, so it was very quiet, but the street was lined with very colourful bars all with either a live performer or karaoke advertised. If with the right crowd I’m sure this street could make for a great, rather China, version of the Leeds Otley run.

Once recovered from the long train journey, the time finally came for the well awaited trip to the Terracotta warriors. Seeing the Terracotta warriors had been high on my list of things I wanted to do in China way before I had arrived. Before our trip I had a vague idea of the history behind the warriors however I didn’t know nearly enough, and I must admit the main reason I wanted to visit them was because they looked impressive in photos that I had seen.

After some research I learnt that the Terracotta warriors were constructed between 246-206 BC. The first Emperor of China, Emperor Qin ordered for the army to be built to accompany his tomb as he wanted to have the same military power and status that he had during his life when he entered the afterlife. It took over 700,000 people to build the army and each warrior has a different face and distinct hairstyles and clothes depending on their ranking in the army. This history behind the warriors and the effort that has gone into and is still going into restoring and maintaining the army is a lot more than impressive, and I just felt pure amazement that I was lucky enough to be able to see them in real life.

Last but certainly not least, was a trip to Huashan mountain. A few weeks before our trip, videos of Huashan conveniently kept popping up on my Facebook timeline, and I noticed it was in fact only a short train journey away from Xi’an. The reason why Huashan was attracting attention on Facebook, was due to it being known to have ‘the most dangerous hiking trail’ and that it had a plank walk along the side of the mountain that you could dare to brave. Pitching this to Meg, she was, as always, keen to 爬 the 山 (climb the mountain), but she was sadly less keen for the plank walk. Leading up to Huashan, I was so excited, and the thought of the plank walk didn’t seem to phase me. My family on the other hand, weren’t going to hear about it until I was back at the bottom of the mountain on even ground.

Pre-plank walk, we spotted a section of the mountain and a pavilion, named chess pavilion, that looked as if it was stuck on to the side of the mountain. I thought it would be a nice ease into the plank walk and it looked like a stunning view, so I convinced Meg to go to it with me. Of course, to get to chess pavilion, a nice rocky abseil down had to be conquered first. Despite the picturesque surroundings, my confidence was gone in seconds and the nerves instantly kicked in. I am still shocked that Meg, or in fact anyone else on the mountain, didn’t push me off as I shrieked, cried, screamed that I couldn’t do it and that I was going to have a panic attack for the entirety of the way down. Luckily, after the rather traumatic experience for myself and everyone else’s ears, the view was so worth it.

Slightly worn out from the screaming, we made it to the plank walk. After the traumas of the abseil, I was not leaving Huashan until I had accomplished the plank walk and had photographic proof of it. To my delight, there were only a few downward steps to reach the plank walk, however my calmer state was sadly disturbed by the lady behind me who appeared to be in a great rush and did not seem to appreciate the cautions I was taking with each step I made. The plank walk itself was a delight compared to the abseil, with the scariest thing being passing my phone to the man in front of me and trusting him to not drop it off the mountain, as he offered to take photos of us. This was so unlike anything I have experienced before, the surroundings were absolutely beautiful, and it certainly made the prospect of another 15-hour train home worth it.

The train home dragged a little more than the way there, as it was back to our hectic uni life. However, fortunately, Meg was creative and discovered that for a petite person like herself, why travel in style, when the floor of the train is actually the comfiest place to sleep!

If the 15-hour train journey alone didn’t tempt you, please let me know if my stories and photos have made you want to make a trip to Xi’an after lockdown. I would happily jump at any excuse to go back myself and would love to be someone’s eager tour guide xoxo