The Walled City of Xian

The trip up from Kunming to Xian, or rather “down” to the lowlands J, was quite comfortable and went reasonably fast for a 36hr train journey. The “hard-sleeper” wasn’t too hard at all and was equivalent to the “soft-sleeper” class in Vietnam really. MUCH better than the sleeper bus by far!!

Filled in the time by sleeping (it was sleeper class after all), reading and conversing with some of our fellow passengers. Our bunk mates were a family heading for Xian as well and eventually the daughters (10 and 12) built up the courage to chat abit and practice their English. They were quite good at it and translated for their parents. I also went thru my pics of NZ (and the family of course!! The kids loved the pictures of Persia the kitten) on the laptop and we had quite a little group in the end looking on.

The sleeper carriage is set out with 20 compartments, each with 6 bunks (3 bunks on each side) and unlike the “soft-sleeper” set up, there are no doors or end wall so you are a real part of the community lol. Lot less claustrophobic too although the beds are once again way too narrow.

So to Xian. It’s a pity but Western culture has truly taken hold here as well. Several Big M’s, KFCs and Starbucks sit shoulder to shoulder with fast food type noodle houses and Wal-Mart supermarkets. We even spotted a couple of sex shops down by the railway station between the traditional food shops!! The Chinese element is still evident, thank goodness, in the architecture both old and new. There are quite a number of construction sites on the go, and most of these appear to be being built in replica of traditional Chinese style buildings, which is miles better than the square concrete block buildings that are more common. One of the new developments under construction is …. wait for it ….. a replica China Town!!

The city itself is probably the most visited city in China, outside of Beijing, mainly due to the Terracotta Warriors about an hour away. There have of course been having tourists here for hundreds of years as this was the starting point of the Silk Road and the city was established over 4000 years ago. The wall that surrounds the city is magnificent, built of stone, 12 miles in circumference, and around 30 metres high.  It is wide enough for 30 armed men to march side by side along the top of it, although it was only Ross and me today along with several cyclistsJ.

 I was also here 25 years ago and again changes are noticeable. The huge propaganda posters that used to be everywhere have now been replaced by advertising posters (same thing, different message), cell phones have replaced cigarettes as the coolest item in town, the twenty-something girls seem to be a competing to see who can wear the shortest hot pants and the number of guys with died hair and spiky type haircuts is scary!!!  The Red Guard must be turning in their graves.

Something’s don’t change however. There are still those who ignore the service element of tourism and cause that little bit of frustration. Like the local rail ticket issuer who refused to serve us (to much hassle dealing with English speakers more than likely) and posted a piece of paper up saying “get tickets at railway station” (over the other side of town) and like the hostel we are staying in – the restaurant had NO Chinese food available for lunch and I had to get an American breakfast instead!!

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