Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Xi'an






Day 4...


Travel Expenses
*** Total: 195RMB ***
Entry to Drum Tower and Bell Tower: 30RMB
Entry to Great Mosque: 25RMB
Entry to Shaanxi History Museum: 35RMB
Entry to Giant Wild Goose Pagoda: 25RMB
Accomodation @ Ludao International Youth Hostel: 45RMB
Local Transport, Food and Others: 35RMB



Attractions Information
Xi'an Bell Tower (by Travel China Guide)
Xi'an Drum Tower (by Travel China Guide)
Xi'an Great Mosque (by Travel China Guide)
Xi'an Muslim Quarter (by Travel China Guide)
Shaanxi History Museum (by Travel China Guide)
Giant Wild Goose Pagoda (by Travel China Guide)



Finally arriving at Xi'an after 18 hours of train ride from Chengdu


Xi'an Bell Tower


Views of Xi'an streets from Bell Tower


Dance and music performance inside Bell Tower




Stage with beautiful set of musical bells


Xi'an Drum Tower


Giant drum!


These drums were each to be used during different weathers/seasons


This for example was to be used when there was heavy snow


There was also drum performance inside Drum Tower






You can also find many displays of Chinese culture


View of Bell Tower from Drum Tower


Interesting looking market place just below Drum tower


Welcome to Xi'an Muslim Quarter


Entrance of Great Mosque of Xi'an


Small pavillion inside mosque


Arabic calligraphy inside mosque




Silent


Old faithfuls relaxing away


Prayer hall


Looking thru into the prayer hall


Unique decoration


One of the food stalls in Xi'an Muslim Quarter


Barbecue flour or something


A popular Muslim food, beef meat and soup with small bread pieces to soap up the delicous taste


South gate of Xi'an City Walls


Views of Xi'an City Walls


Shaanxi History Museum with fantastic collections of Chinese histories and ancient artefacts


Strangely looking masks


Ancient musical bells


Few statues from the famous Terracotta Warriors


Cast for ancient coins


Statues of alien looking people


Beautiful piece of artefact


Giant Wild Goose Pagoda as seen from water fountains


It was home to famous Buddhist monk Xuanzang, and where he did translation of sutras he had gotten from India


Close-up of Giant Wild Goose Pagoda


Temples within complex


Elephant statue, influence from India?


Beautiful ceiling inside one of the temples


Giant Wild Goose Pagoda has actually tilted slightly due to ground softening


Statues depicting a typical scene of Sichuan Opera


Many interesting faces of Sichuan Opera


Giant Wild Goose Pagoda at night


Here comes the fountains!


Beautiful!
~ View Picture on Flickr ~






Night view of Xi'an City Walls



Day 5...


Travel Expenses
*** Total: 245RMB ***
Bus 306 to Terracotta Warriors and back: 7RMB + 7RMB
Entry to Terracotta Warriors: 90RMB
Entry to Xi'an City Walls: 40RMB
Rental of Bike @ Xi'an City Walls: 20RMB for 1.5hrs
Local Transport, Food and Others: 35RMB

Overnight Train from Xi'an to Lanzhou: 46RMB
>>> Click for more trains details <<<

                ~ Train Code: 1043
                ~ Type: Hardseat (Non-Aircon)
                ~ Departure: 2125
                ~ Arrival: 0530
                ~ Travel Time: 08Hrs 05Mins (676km)


*Overland Distance Covered So Far: 1,842km



A trip to Xi'an is definitely not complete without a visit to the marvelous Terracotta Warriors constructed by First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang


Entrance of pit 1, largest excavation pit out of current existing 3 pits


Nearly 1,000 of an estimated 6,000 figures of armored and unarmored infantrymen, bowmen, crossbowmen, archers, and charioteers have been unearthed in pit 1


Close up of some of the warriors


Scale of it is really amazing, considering this is only 1 pit!






It is really amazing that each warriors are uniquely different from one another


More waiting to be evacuated and pieced together




Warriors and horses (once part of a chariot) in one of the other pits


Closeup of one of the warriors inside the museum


Many different faces of the warriors, each of them unique


A large scale-model of bronze carriage was also unearthed


A bronze sword which still glitters in metallic luster without being rusty, though buried underground for over 2,000 years


There are also many other displays including these canteens


Go early in the morning to avoid these crowds!


Silk Road monument, "offically" marking start of Silk Road


Some buses in Xi'an still operating using overhead electrical lines


One of the entrances of Xi'an City Walls


Views on top of the walls




Overlooking some ancient-styled building


Interesting looking rubbish bin


Overlooking busy Xi'an train station


You can rent a bicycle to cycle around the walls


But of cos, there are riskshaws for the lazys haha


Xi'an City Walls and its moat


Endless skyscrapers in a typical Chinese city now


Drum Tower at night


And of cos also Bell Tower







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