Seeing as this week is a national holiday we decided we should take a trip somewhere. The only problem is that all 1.3 billion other people in China had the same idea. We were planning an epic train journey spanning multiple cities but we anticlimactically weren't able to get any train tickets, so we settled for plane tickets to what would have been our first stop: Xi'An.
The trip over was smooth - a little too smooth. I had packed my medicated shampoo and sunscreen in my backpack because we thought we could carry them on. It turns out the rules are the same as the US. I surrendered my sun screen, but obviously didn't want to part with my special shampoo. After a little bit of explaining, they put my shampoo in some little scanny machine, gave it back to me and let me go on my way. I was happy, but on the other hand it was a little unsettling (but not surprising) to see that rules aren't strictly enforced, even at the airport.
Our hotel in Xi'An (Kempinski) was a little ways outside the city center. We figured it wouldn't matter much because we were only staying for 2 days and were only planning to go into the city once. Unfortunately it did end up mattering. We caught a taxi to the city, and after sampling the famous local Muslim dish 羊肉泡馍 and strolling around for a bit, we were ready to head back to the hotel. Unfortunately, empty taxis were nowhere to be found, and even if we did happen upon one they refused to take us to our hotel (too far away). I won't go into the shady details, but suffice to say we eventually made it back. Emily was not happy.
The next day we chartered a taxi to take us to and from the Terra-cotta Warriors. It was interesting to see that basically an entire city had sprung up surrounding the dig sites. There were countless restaurants and shops and vendors... and people. Once we made our way to the actual exhibit, we quickly felt how the area was simply teeming with history. So historical, in fact, that there was even a museum about the museum. That's right, inside the museum part of the area there was a wing dedicated to the history of the exhibition itself. Apart from the museum building there were 3 pits you could tour. They were large dig sites enclosed in big warehouse-like structures. This is where you actually get to see the terra-cotta army. We didn't dilly-daddle too long (mainly because it just isn't comfortable being around that many people), leaving as soon as we had laid eyes on all the dig sites.
We headed back to Beijing the next morning. Interestingly, the first class tickets were only 50RMB (less than $10) more than economy, so of course we sprang. The VIP lounge at the airport was about what you would expect in China. It looked okay, but we quickly found the coffee machine, wireless internet, and flight status displays all didn't work. That didn't leave many amenities left for us VIPs. Our flight was delayed a little, but soon enough we were en route to Beijing in style.
