Terracotta Warriors, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China – Images by Jamie McDonald

Well, one thing I have learnt in the past week since leaving Xi’an and arriving in Beijing. Don’t ever, ever catch the bus from Xi’an to Pingyao – it is bus number AF432 and it leaves from the bus station next to the train station in Xi’an.

It is a sleeper bus that costs 144 Yuan, and whilst in the first instance that is steep, when they leave over 2 hours late, and then fill the corridors with twenty to thirty people who sleep on the floor it’s a pretty darn expensive 6 hour experience. To be told at 4am that we needed to get off the bus as we were in Pingyao is a sometimes groggy experience, especially after sleep deprivation, but as far as all of could tell we were in the middle of nowhere at a toll gate.

As the bus leaves a sign to Pingyao, World Heritage Ancient Town appeared – 4km to the South Gate. Left with either an incredibly inflated tuk-tuk price to be paid, or a 5km walk to our hostel it was not a great situation to be in. The walk won as the tuk-tuk rider wouldn’t be bargained with, so we walked with the sun rising over the ancient walls of Pingyao as locals practiced Tai Chi. It would have been great if there wasn’t 30 kilograms on my back…

Pingyao is a great town to do nothing in. The lack of any interesting sites and the almost 40 degree heat was a great incentive to catch up on some sleep, work, and relax with some beer. That’s not to say it’s not a pretty town, with old city walls and gates, and traditional chinese buildings lining the streets. If you only had a couple of weeks in China and you were going to Beijing and Xi’an then it would be a perfect stop over for a night, it’s just lacking the good food, fun, and character of somewhere like Dali.

But back to the bus – we decided to catch the bus as the hard and soft sleepers on the train were booked, and we didn’t want to be in a seat for 9 hours overnight. Given that the hard sleeper would have been 89 Yuan, a guess would be the seat was around 50 Yuan – if you are given that choice go with the seat. At least it would leave on time, you will be safe, and the train will arrive at the edge of the old town in Pingyao.

I met Max in Pingyao – an Austrian who has ridden from his place to China on his bicycle. If that’s not an impressive effort then I’m not sure what is – he has ridden through Europe, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Iran, Central Asia, and will arrive in Beijing in a week or so to finish things up. I’m looking forward to catching up with him when I’m in Austria in a few weeks to see how the final leg of his journey went.

To get this back to some sort of chronological order we left Kashgar for Turpan, 22 hours away by hard sleeper. Turpan ticked off something else on our list of places – the hottest place in China, and the second lowest place in the world after the Dead Sea. After gathering our thoughts and minds in the heat we learnt that we weren’t in Turpan, as indicated by the ticket, rather we were in Daheyan, 60km away. A taxi took us there for 60 Yuan, which in the scheme of things isn’t much, but is it too much to ask that they put the actual destination on the ticket? It would be akin to getting a ticket to Melbourne and landing in Geelong and having to make your own way – wait a minute, Jetstar does that already…

Once we got to Turpan and the stifling heat it became apparent that it wasn’t really a town that interested us – all the sites were out of town, and we didn’t want a tour, further I was hesitant to eat street food in a town where the butcher shop still hangs the meat outside and the thermometer’s mercury was about to push past 45 degrees. We stayed a night and then caught a taxi back to the train station where we secured soft sleeper tickets for the 27 hour journey to Xi’an. We normally travel hard sleeper, but soft was all that was available, and we paid the 80ish per cent extra that it costs to travel in comfort.

Unfortunately it was also another day of sitting around waiting for the train, but a few beers, card games and a bite to eat and we’d boarded our little bit of luxury that was home for the next day and a bit. In truth the step up into soft sleeper is well worth it, even from the 4 bed compartment hard sleeper, but after recently doing over night on an open carriage 6 bed hard sleeper I wouldn’t hesitate to pay the extra for privacy, room, comfortable wide AND long bed, and cleaner western toilet.

We left at 9.20pm and arrived in Xi’an at after midnight the next evening so to get to our room at the Square Youth Hostel and see that it was comfortable, clean, and had an en-suite it was a great relief. The hostel was very clean, new, and comfortable, but it seemed as though it could use someone in charge. Often everyone seemed to be running around without anyone knowing what the other was doing.

The obligatory trip to the Terracotta Warriors was undertaken and of all the sites I’ve been to it was probably the one that was worth the 90 Yuan entry fee. Whilst it was great to get up close to a few of the warriors in their glass cabinet in Pit 3, it is the scale of the project in Pit 1 that left the greatest impression for me. Just how crazy must the Emperor have been to have ordered the thousands of intricate soldiers be created?

Like any site in China the Chinese tour groups were there with the tour leader holding the team flag up high and with either a megaphone or a crackly speaker on their hip. Why oh why? The rest of the world seems to manage quite well without a loud speaker to talk to people, and apart from football cheer squads, most folk seem to stay in a pack without a banner proclaiming who they are and where they need to be.

Even after arriving late in the night after a long train trip we could appreciate that Xi’an is a great looking city, with tree lined streets and beautiful parks. The food behind the hostel in the street stalls is fantastic, and we got a couple of great meals by doing our usual pointing and smiling.

We’re in Beijing now, having arrived yesterday, and will set off for some exploring today. We’re following the sage advice from some fellow travellers and ignoring the big sites whilst it’s still the weekend, and will do some shopping and organising of tickets for Beijing Opera.

Cheers

Jamie