Xian Day 2

I slept bad on the train because it was a little bumpy and, every time it stopped, I bumped into the side of the bed. I had to wake up at 4:30 a.m., gave my card back to the conductor for my ticket, and arrived in Xian at 5:20 a.m.. The girl whom I was talking to on the train helped me buy a train ticket back to Chengdu for Sunday. The hostel I booked told me they would send a free shuttle at 6 a.m. to the train station to pick me up. The girl, whose name I forgot, also called the hostel for me to ask about the shuttle. As we were waiting for the shuttle, I told her I had to use the restroom, so we went into KFC, and as I was using the restroom, she bought me breakfast. I felt so grateful for her help. She waited for the shuttle with me, and when we couldn't find it, she accompanied me on the bus to the hostel. She helped me find the hostel and even helped checking me in. We both got a tour of the hostel and then we said goodbye to one another. I booked a Chinese tour through the hostel, which included visiting the Lintong museum, Huaqing hot springs (which is famous for two things: it is where Emperor Xuanzong took his favorite concubine Yang Guifei to bathe and it is the area in which the Xian incident of 1936 occurred), a recreated mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, Mount Lishan, and of course the Terra Cotta Warriors. As I waited for the bus to pick me up, I went to the restaurant for my free cup of tea and then talked to an older man from Missouri who has been to Xian many times. He asked me where I was from because he could tell I had an accent, which was weird to me since most Americans I talk to have no idea that I'm German. The bus picked me up at 8:30 a.m. and drove to pick up more people. We ended up in a large parking lot with many buses that were waiting for all of the tourists. I went and sat in the bus I was told to and paid the extra fee I had to in order to visit the mausoleum and the museum (which is not included in the original fee). The bus left around 9 a.m. and our first stop was the Lintong museum.

On the way to Lintong museum (about 40 minutes away)

I saw this chair, which I'm not sure what it's made of, and other objects like it around Xian.





We arrived at the Lintong museum where I took the picture below. Someone sitting by the exit tried to make me pay 20 RMB for the pictures I took but I kept telling him no and that I would delete the pictures before I paid him. He then told me to leave and I did without having to pay and still having the pictures on my camera. I felt that this whole thing was sneaky because they had the sign by the exit where no one would look and then they could try to get money from you after already having taken the picture.



Terra Cotta warriors and horses

Gold coins

Wine vessels

Western swinging doors

The picture below is what they used to look like

Liu Mao's tomb, who I think was a KMT general that commanded the 14 Army Group when war broke out in the Pacific during World War II.

Huaqing hot springs

The Imperial Theater in which Emperor Xuanzong and his concubine sung and danced.

Some background on the Xian incident

Chiang Kaishek's Reception Room

Some of the bullet shots from the Xian Incident

Some more bullet holes from the incident.

More bullet holes

Chinese women dressed like women from the Tang dynasty (when Emperor Xuanzong ruled) that tourists could have their picture taken with.

A temple inside Huaqing hot springs

Inside the temple

The beginning of the hot spring pools:

A fountain that everyone was washing their hands and faces in

A part of the Huaqing hot springs that no one seemed to go to

A stage under water

Qin Shi Huang's recreated mausoleum

Murals on the wall of Emperor Qin Shi Huang

and warriors



and monsters

Walking down a creepy hallway to the mausoleum

The ceiling of the mausoleum

The tomb of Qin Shi Huang

A what I assume is a fake Terra Cotta Warrior and myself

The restaurant where we had lunch. I was told lunch wasn't included in the tour fee, but I didn't end up paying for it later and I don't know who did. A girl on the tour and I shared lunch and started talking. She told me that she was also a student near Xian and came on the tour alone because her friends had to go to class.

At the restaurant