We arrived in Xi’an around 6 in the morning, something one hates to do for the obvious reason of being exhausted. We waited around an hour for our hostel to pick us up, and were relieved when we met up with them. We checked into the hostel, put down our things, and went out. The first thing we did was return to the north train station to pick up bus 306 to the last bus stop. The journey takes about an hour and costs around 14rmb.
Terracotta Warriors
When we arrived at the Terracotta Warriors (bing ma yong 兵马俑) tourist attraction, I felt sick to my stomach. Despite living here and being quite interested in Chinese culture, I find that these kinds of tourist traps make me die a little on the inside. I was extremely bored and annoyed throughout the three hours there and was pissed about spending 90rmb to see it all. In addition to it all, English guides kept hounding us to use them as they felt we were all dumb tourists. I refused to pay for one, but Richard insisted so she tagged along for 100rmb.
Muslim Food
We got back to the hostel around 5pm and dashed to the Muslim Quarter (hui min jie 回民街) to have some delicious Muslim food. Because China is so cheap, it’s easy to sample many types of food without spending more than a few USD. We first had some flat bread, then potatoes, rice with pita bread, you name it! We finally sat down at a little restaurant and ordered lamb on a stick, rice with pita bread, and some naan bread. It was all amazing and well-worth the $5 we spent altogether!!
Fortress Wall
One of the must things you should do when in Xi’an is rent a bike and ride on top of the old city walls. One whole lap around the wall is about an hour if you ride quickly, but the more common time is about two hours. Unfortunately for us, it was a particularly polluted day and we all got sick. It was so bad that a full inhale caused immediate coughing, so we completed the ride as fast as possible and returned back to the hostel to clear our lungs. Just because this was a bad experience for us doesn’t mean you shouldn’t attempt the ride for yourself! Bikes cost only 20rmb for 90 minutes!
Tea
The next morning as we prepared to leave for Xi’an, we returned to the Muslim Quarter to visit a tea shop we had seen the night before called Huang Shan Tea. The owner is a very sweet middle aged woman who can throw a few English phrases out at random times. She, like most other Chinese tea shops, sells you on the tea by having you sit down and taste every tea you want until you decide what to buy. She was amazed at my Chinese, so she gave everyone a discount (they also bought about $100 worth of stuff, which is a lot of money here). Once you enter the Muslim Quarter’s main street, turn left onto a huge street and her shop is about the 5th on the right. If you get lost, you can reach her at 13060388728.
'Great Mosque'
I was expecting the Great Mosque (qing zhen si 清真寺) to be awesome like the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. If I said my expectations weren’t just not met, but smashed to pieces, it would be an understatement. It was so boring and ugly. Muslims have been known to spend a good penny or two on mosques and their other holy areas, yet this place was beyond poor and ugly. In addition to this mediocrity, I was allergic to something there which made me sneeze uncontrollably until my eyes watered. To make matters worse, tissue was nowhere in sight, until Richard finally “remembered” he had some in his pocket, but by then it was too late and the snot was running down my face.
After blowing my nose and demanding we leave for higher ground, we returned to the hostel, packed up, and thankfully got the hell out of Xi’an. Of all the places I’ve traveled to in my lifetime, I was the most disappointed, appalled, and whatever other words you can think of that describe mediocrity and disgust. This is one place I have NO interest in returning to ever again. Travelers beware, YMMV (your mileage may vary).
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