Another 4 hour bullet train journey, in 1st class this time, whisked us inland 700 miles from Beijing to Xi’an, one of China’s 4 ancient capital cities. Was 1st class worth the extra £30 each? Probably, and £90 each for a 700 mile 1st class rail journey is still excellent value compared to the UK, and the trains are far nicer and much cleaner too!

Xi’an Bei (North) station is quite a way from the city centre, but the 12 mile or so journey, which took about 45 minutes in rush hour, still only cost £6 in a cab. We are going to get such a shock when we have to pay more ‘normal’ prices for transport again!

After the luxury of The Regent Beijing we came back down to earth with a bang, but the Holiday Inn Express Xi’an Bell Tower was fine. Princess Deborah tried for an upgrade, knowing that they had a 1-bedroom suite available, but the guy on reception was having none of it and a family room was the best she could negotiate. That just meant more beds squeezed into the same size of room, but Steve was happy as he got a bed to himself and no-one stealing the duvet. We did get the Platinum member fruit bowl again though, this time delivered by robot, and with even more Devil Food (tomatoes). It turned out that the hotel was brilliantly located though, right in the centre of the city, next to the main tourist area and with shopping & restaurants literally on the doorstep. And it was only about £40/night, so all good.

Like 99.99% of visitors to Xi’an, we were here to see the Terracotta Army. As it was over an hour’s drive out of the city, we again decided that it was simpler to get someone to take us, so another ‘my party this way’ tour was booked through Get Your Guide and we set off with 12 others in a minibus with our very enthusiastic, and fluent in English, guide Michael (probably not his real name!). He was giddy with excitement at having been the guide for his idol the previous week – Blur’s Damon Albarn – and proudly showed the photos before commenting that Damon ‘may have smoked too much when he was younger’!

It’s hard to describe the Terracotta Warriors – another of those ‘I can’t believe that I’m actually here’ experiences. The 8,000+ life-size figures, all different, were all modelled on real soldiers and placed in battle formation to guard the tomb of China’s first emperor Qin Shi Hang in around 200BC, and were not discovered until 1974. The bits we hadn’t realised were that (1) most of the figures were broken and a painstaking archeological effort was required to restore them, (2) they were originally brightly coloured but the paint oxidised immediately on being exposed to the air, (3) excavation is ongoing and two thirds of the army have been left buried until technology can preserve the colours and future generations can witness the warriors as was intended. Anyway, there really aren’t any words that can do justice, so here’s the pictures…..

Our tour included lunch at a local’s house, which Steve had been a little apprehensive about thinking it may be a tad awkward. How wrong he was – our party had the privilege of a farming family cooking a feast for us, using the organic veggies they’d grown themselves and with some meat added. This was the food that Chinese rural folk really eat and it was fabulous – no sticky sweet sauces, oil or MSG, just tasty, natural ingredients. We didn’t take photos for some reason, perhaps we thought it disrespectful, but the family hosting us were desperate for selfies with us!

While we are on the subject of food – Xi’an served us well. Desperate for a curry, Debbie hunted down an Indian restaurant. We sampled some excellent street food, including the famous ‘Chinese burger’ in the Jewish Quarter. And we ate more dumplings than is decent in a famous restaurant near the Bell Tower – we hadn’t quite expected 24 dumplings per portion (for about £3) when we ordered 3 different types! Steve reckons that he managed at least his half (36 dumplings), perhaps more, whereas Debbie still feels a little sick at the thought of eating dumplings ever again. They were delicious though!

As a former capital of China, Xi’an has a decent amount of sights besides the Terracotta Army, the most obvious being the City Wall, one of the oldest, longest and best preserved in China. So we decided to cycle around it, after convincing the bike rental lady that Debbie’s date of birth in her passport meant that she was born in 1967, not that she was 67 years old! Over 65s are not allowed to hire a bike for some reason, but Debbie was rather insulted that it was her rather than Steve who was having their age questioned. Anyway, the 9 mile perfectly flat route on top of the 12m high wall was lovely, with plenty of room (18m wide) for wobbly out of practice middle-aged cyclists. The contrast between the ancient inside the wall and the skyscraper apartment blocks housing over 13 million people outside was startling. In 35 degree heat, 90% humidity and blazing sunshine, we realised at the halfway point that continuing was madness and heatstroke was likely, so we handed the bikes back to the nearest rental station, bought Xi’An City Wall ice lollies and got ripped off by a tuk-tuk driver for a ride back to our hotel. We could’ve walked away and got a cab or a bus, but hey, that £2.50 will probably mean he didn’t need to work for the rest of the day and will dine out for the rest of the week on the story of the gullible Westerners.

Xi’an was yet another place that we wished we’d stayed for another day or 2 – there’s a pattern forming! We didn’t get chance to see the Great Goose Pagoda, the Little Goose Pagoda, or the fountain displays, but we did get a real feel for the city rather than just the sights. Evenings around the city centre were quite special – busy but in a nice way, with scores of Chinese girls dressing in traditional outfits…..

A common ‘Highlights of China’ tour itinerary is Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai, and having now been to all three places we’d agree that these are all must-do cities.

If we’d known that our China visa would give us a 90 day stay instead of the 30 days we’d expected, we’d have had the luxury of spending more time in places like Xi’an, but as it was train and plane tickets were booked so we needed to move onwards – next stop Chengdu…..