Xi'an and Beyond

With my recent spending spree in Shanghai, came a need to cut costs. So I decided to go ultra-budget and go back to my backpacking routes, electing for a 2 pound a night dorm room when I arrived in Xi'an, one of the old capital cities in China.



Despite the low price, the hostel was fantastic. Even better, it always provides an excellent way to meet new people when you are in a city with no-one you know.

I met by chance a person who was also speaking to the front-desk. After striking up a conversation, I discovered that he was fluent in Chinese and had a passion for Chinese History. Even better – he was planning a hike over a mountain pass which had only been undertaken by a single westerner since 1930. Sign me up!

Whilst preparations were made for our trip, I went off to see the Terracotta warriors. An hour's bumpy bus ride later, I walked wearily over to the three huge hangers housing the warriors. Once there, I was greeted by a whole army of warriors, some of whom were still buried, until a time when our technology allows us to salvage the colour which promptly oxidises within the first week, leading to the discoloured warriors we all know.



As a symbol of China, I find the warriors rather fitting. Individually, they are not that impressive. Whilst they are fairly well made, it's hardly going to win any prizes for best clay model ever. What is impressive is the sheer scale of the army. With somewhere close to 1600 warriors (okay, I'll admit that I wasn't listening to my guide as hard as I could, but instead taking in the view) the scale is hard to capture. I think this is rather fitting for a country like China, who are well renowned across the world for their ability to copy, rather than innovate. Parallels could be made here, but I shall leave any deep and meaningful stuff for later.



On the return walk, there was the usual affair of forced shopping trips, but my Mandarin is now good enough and I have enough stock phrases to quickly dismiss any unwanted sellers. I also saw the largest building to content ratio ever - I am honestly no joking when I say that what was shown in this building could easily fit into three "normal" sized rooms. Quite astounding!



Upon returning to the hostel, it was time to hit the streets of Xi'an before my imminent departure to the mountain pass. With one of the people from the dorm, we ventured off into the streets with the challenge of finding a full meal and a beer for under a pound. It's an exciting game, one which hones your ability to find a good bargain. With the evening drawing to a close, we took in some of the local sights before retiring to the bar for a few beers, a game of free pool and a game of “dodge the Bijo” (Bijo is a local spirit of about 50% alcohol, which tastes like petrol mixed with nail varnish remover, and costs about 70p a bottle. It's vile, but serves a good role to get one drunk.)



After a late start the next day, my new American friend and I were off to “Treasure Chicken”, a local city of a few million, about 5 hours bus journey away from Xi'an. Here we were to spend the night before leaving early to get to our destination. On the way to Treasure Chicken, we decided to take in a local museum and a tomb.



Pushing through the throngs of tourists in the dense fog, we soon realised that there wasn't a great deal to see at the top. Unfortunately, we had missed the last bus of the day to the bottom of the mountain, and with a 10km trek ahead of us in the cold, were rather cheesed off. Especially as the last bus went at 3pm!?



Luckily our white faces and the generosity of a local driver saved us from the trek after only a few hundred metres and we soon arrived in the museum.



Here we found many gems which were given more than adequate commentary by Jesse (my American friend). My knowledge of China was expanding, fast. China knows how to do history, and with a good five thousand years of the stuff, they kick even the European's ass. Whilst we were playing with rocks and flint, they had already mastered many of the things the Western world was not to encounter for another few thousand years. Consequently, the artefacts on display were pretty impressive, made even more so by the fact they were about a thousand years older than any European equivalent.



In an effort to ensure that the information was not flowing in just one direction, I attempted to fill in Jesse with any science or primitive skills I was aware of. Usually this was simply kept to what kind of elements or chemistry happened behind various preparation methods, but sometimes included items such as flint-napping and other survival techniques.

Arriving in Treasure Chicken rather late, we checked into the nearest hotel and decided to watch some episodes of the British comedy, “Blackadder” on my laptop after failing to find any bars.

With another whole day of travel ahead of us, we headed off early to ensure a timely arrival with our guide. The guide had been arranged on the recommendation of the previous westerner to take the mountain pass, and was known as the local historian; an expert on the pass and its role in history.

Before the departure from Treasure Chicken, we had to take in at least a few sights though – including what was supposed to be one of the best collections of bronze artefacts. I'll be honest here, I never really enjoy the museums who follow the item behind glass formula. However, I've never had someone as informative as Jesse by my side, so often a simple jug would spark a twenty minute conversation on how various aspects of the Chinese dynasty evolved.

Thinking that the rest of our journey would be rather remote and that food may be primitive, we decided to eat at a local duck restaurant, which was almost certainly the best in town. Sitting there, backpacks in tow, we certainly didn't fit in. One would even suspect given the rather personal service we were given, that they hadn't seen a foreigner before. Actually, I'd be pretty certain.



It was time to leave.

Bus followed bus, with roads climbing and descending over endless valleys. Finally we arrived in our destination, much confusing the locals on the bus, who were vexed as to why the foreigners, who were on the bus to a tiny town, would not want to go to the tiny town, but instead to the small village in the middle of nowhere.


[Yes, the pose was taking the mick...]

Here we met our guide and were treated to a hearty reception. With most of the village turning out to see what was going on, we were ushered around, finally resting in the local communist party HQ to see a spring festival dance by the local ladies.



Later that evening, we realised that our guide had warned the local government of our arrival. The greeting party were on their way...


[They were camera shy...]

As the very fancy 4*4 Toyota cruised up to the front door of the village house, we realised this must be a government official. Everyone else in the village was lucky if they had a car, let alone one I couldn't really afford back in the UK! In the dark dust of the evening, three mysterious figures slowly emerged from the vehicle. They were from the local Communist party, and some representatives of the tourist office for the regional head town, about 40 minute's drive away. With one interpreter, the two men proudly stated their names and titles, which could be roughly translated as the vice head of the city (of about 600,000) and the head of tourism.

It was clear that western tourists didn't usually make the two day trek to get here.

Conversation revolved around the usual China items, including jobs, money (including salary) and how brilliant China is. In one rather loaded question, we were asked what we thought of China's role in the world and how it was changing. Thinking fast, I came up with the example of the recent Chinese space mission which is something the Chinese have evident pleasure in recalling. Using this as an example of how China are moving forward as one of the real global powers, I elaborated and tried to show that we were not ignorant hippies. This certainly went down well, as did Jesse's knowledge of their history and culture.

The following day we arose early to begin our trek over the mountain pass. With an estimated six hours for the trek, the pace was slow, but relentless. I was especially amused by the guide's choice of attire: formal shoes and a leather jacket. He was equally amused by mine, which he claimed would be far to thin and I would be too cold. I don't think he's seen a modern jacket before. After a bit of walking though, we were both too hot!








Taking in the (limited) scenery on the way, which was mostly obscured by fog, we slowly wound up the route of the mountain, listening to stories about the history of the pass. Just before the top of the pass we stopped – it seems the Chinese prefer to stop at the bottom of a steep bit, not at the top. Here we ate some more Chinese snacks, before continuing to the top and resting briefly in the sun.



On our steady descent, we noted there were many mines in the local area. It turns out that the area not only mines, but actually refines about 30% of the world's Zinc. This has made the local area very rich in Chinese terms.

On completing our descent, we were again contacted by the government officials, who took us to a local ladies' house for tea and some snacks. Cigarettes were also liberally offered. The concept of being a “non-smoker” was certainly viewed unfavourably – if you are to 'fit in' to your Chinese hosts, taking up smoking may be a good idea.

From here we were taken on a whirlwind tour of the local area, with various “items of dubious interest” being pointed out so we didn't miss them. They were very proud of their town, but may have been accused of trying a little too hard to create items of interest. Of particular amusement was a sign in Chinese written on the mountain pass. It wasn't written on the old road, but next to the new road which was less than 10 years old. So, you're pointing out a sign written in the old style of Chinese, which was written in the last ten years? Nice.



The driver then drove us into the fanciest hotel in town, which happened to be owned by the government. Unfortunately, it cost about 40 pounds a night – with both Jesse and I looking at each other in bemusement, we didn't say anything, but our hosts were very proud when they said we need only pay 17 pounds – still enough to keep us going for over 20 nights in our previous accommodation! With our four hosts surrounding us, we weren't going to say a word and simply paid with a smile.

Following a very quick shower, it was time to eat the formal dinner, for which we had our own private room.

I'd been warned by many people, and two separate guide-books, that China has quite a few customs which are usually dispensed with in everyday life, but are often used in the setting of a formal dinner. Thinking that I would never encounter such a session, I must admit to paying little attention.

First we were greeted by our host, with each of us sitting on either side of the most important person in the room, and an interpreter sitting opposite. Here we received our sweet wine, which was poured in volumes suggesting that it was a spirit (one bottle wasn't even finished by over 7 people). After which time a toast was made to each person in turn by the head-man. However, instead of simply clinking glasses, a more involved affair was called for, whereby the glass was offered to the intended victim, only to be lowered at the last minute. Apparently, the place where the glass was eventually “clinked” signifies the relative standing of the two parties. For example, if you clinked glasses with your boss, he would allow you to make contact with your glass being lower. Given the nature of our host, we decided that we go as low as possible for every person. This repeated every time you wished to take a drink, as you cannot drink without toasting someone elses' glass.



As the meal developed, more and more dishes adorned the central turn-wheel (Lazy Susan for us Brits), each one getting steadily spicier. With only two mouthfuls of food ingested, our hosts insisted that we use a knife and fork – probably more to show off that they had such items, than due to our skills – Jesse had been using one for over three years and was probably better than they were!

With the meal drawing to a close and the table still overflowing with uneaten food, we left the comfort of our private room and were quickly whisked on a personal tour of the town – on the car-driven imitation train no less. With our personal English-speaking guide, we learned of the significance of new structures and then stopped in the prime viewing point for the town's highlight; the tallest fountain in Asia.

Surrounded by little twinkling lights on the hills which were added to imitate the stars that the city smog and lights obscured, we stood on the bridge and awaited the display.



The fountain is reported at making over 180m at full height, and it certainly was higher than I was expecting. I'll have to admit that it was pretty impressive. However, there was a strange feeling when I thought back to our guide who was living in his small house, unwilling to accept even 90p for a night's stay. It seemed like the money could have been put to so much better use, rather than imitating Las Vegas.


[Comments may be exaggerated given the presence of many townspeople]

My concentration soon shifted onto my next sight – we were presented with a very similar event to the night before, with dancing ladies all in a large ring and a good few hundred lookers-on. After smiling and laughing quite a lot, I think they got the idea that we wanted to have a go (Jesse didn't, but I'll have to admit that I certainly did!) Being whisked to the front, we then got one professional dancer each, and tried to strut our stuff. Luckily the dances follow a simple formula: It starts slow and gets faster, all the time doing the same set of motions. This was fine for the second dance, as the motions were easy, however the first and third dance were both rather difficult, and involved kicking, twisting and quick rotations whilst walking in the circle. All of this with a few hundred on-lookers.



After earning quite a lot of respect for giving it a go, and doing our respective nations proud, it was time to retire for the evening – smuggling in a few bottles of beer to end a surprisingly hectic night. First though, our hosts had other ideas.



After just finishing the dancing, we were very expertly ambushed by a local journalist. With both him and a different interpreter from the crowd following us back to our hotel room, we were quizzed on what we though of China and also what we thought of the town.

Throwing in some speak about the electrolysis methods they were using to purify zinc being surprisingly advanced, we answered question after question on items we had no idea about. “So then, what do you think of the future prospects of the town [that you've only just seen for less than three hours] is?”, “Is there any way you can assist us in getting investment into the town?” I think that Jesse had been hyping up my role in my previous job a little bit more than he let on, as I looked at him in a “what the...” way.



Either way, I'm looking forward to the article, which apparently will include some of our quotes and pictures! I'll be sure to post it when it arrives.

The following morning it was time to depart. On our way out, we took in a nice little temple which was sufficiently off the beaten track and met the author of some local historian books who was kind enough to sign a few copies and provide various print-outs of photos taken with him. A few gems to make the otherwise dull 14 hour rushed bus journey worthwhile.






Next time, it's off to Chengdu to see some fluffy Pandas, frazzle our taste-buds on special peppercorns and then Tiger Leaping Gorge – the deepest gorge in the world apparently!

See you then...