Beijing to Xi'an

Monday, 25th April
Last day in Beijing. I was too late to book a sleeper on the train so I had a 'hard seat' - 13 hours of journey! It was a T train, a better class, so I had hopes for the hard seats being like the ones on the train from Shanghai. I had planned to stay in a hostel in Xi'an but changed my mind when I realised I was going to have to sit up all the night before!
My impressions of Beijing were generally favourable, I enjoyed the town and found many people to be courteous, friendly and helpful. I was a little surprised to find that some things had managed to survive Mao's cultural revolution of indescriminate destruction. There are rooms in the Forbidden City with, what appears to be, original furniture and the Lama Temple has old artefacts but they are totally neglected. In the Forbidden City the rooms are not open to the public, just visible through windows, but everything is covered in dust. In the Lama Temple the musical instruments are just covered in dust as well, it's an awful shame. There is a lot of talent in Beijing; painters, musicians, there are streets dedicated to the selling of musical instruments, so the skills are encouraged.
The downside of Beijing was the aggressive, in your face, sales techniques and the awful upping of prices. I understand that haggling is expected at street stalls but not in estarants. I was not sorry to leave Beijing though I did enjoy the visit.
So, my last day in Beijing was going to be lazy, but I got bored. Once I had checked out of the hotel I still had several hours to kill. I had lunch in the little restaurant near the hotel, where I could be sure of a good meal for 20 yuan. Then I went to the indoor market of Hongqiao. i promised myself I wouldn't buy anything but, of course, I succumbed. There were loads of technological gadgets, which I'm sure were really good value, but as I don't know anything about technology in English I didn't feel inclined to buy in Chinese. I fell for a silk top, a jade pig (I was born in the year of the pig!) and a painted scent bottle. The latter was a little silly as I hadn't bought one in places where I had seen the artist at work, also this one had pandas and I was going to wait till Chengdu to buy any panda items but they were selling these at 15 yuan (£1.50) and the price was marked.
When I got to the station I went to buy my ticket 'Kunming to Lijiang' for the next Monday. There was a group of French youngsters behind me who wanted tickets to Xi'an for that evening, they ended up with standing tickets! God help them!
Beijing West Station was like nothing I've ever experienced, outside was heaving with people, lots sitting on the pavements with their baggage (baggage came in all shapes and sizes - bags, cases, buckets etc. - when I say 'bags' think plastic bags and potato sacks!).
There were 3 trains assigned to our waiting room - one being at 23.30, I'm not sure some of these people weren't for that train. There were people selling small stools, I thought these were for the waiting room but later I realised that they were probably for the train as well!
I decided it was probably sensible to use the toilets at the station, when I saw a lady cleaning her teeth I copied her and did that too. My train was the first and when the check-in opened there was an almighty rush. If any one knows how to push it's the Chinese, queue and order just aren't in the vocabulary, it was a heaving, pushing mass, when I got to my seat people were already sitiing there, fortunately I discovered on the way from Shanghai that people without seats are very quick to appropriate any vacant one. My main concern had been about finding space on the rack for my back-pack, and I was right to have worried, because people were travelling with everything but the kitchen sink, some may have had the kitchen sink as well. I just managed to squeeze my backpack into a gap, I had to hold onto my 2 smaller bags.
I found I was sitting with grandma, mum and toddler, just what I had dreaded. I had hoped that maybe people wouldn't travel overnight, on hard seats, with children, but I had forgoten that this was the train for Chengdu, most of these people would be on the train for more than 24 hours. It is difficult for someone from the UK to conceive of the distances in China.
I had noticed before that small children don't seem to wear nappies, instead they have trousers with a large front to back gap and their bums in the air. I had noticed that the floor was wet when I got on, I tried not to imagine what it was, but when the child happily jumped down and pee'd on the floor there was no room for wondering. Grandma thought this was very clever and other people did not seem to mind, unfortunately the pee was around my feet so I did, also I wanted to put a bag down! The child was sitting on Grandma's knee with his penis aimed at me, I had visions of getting a warm shower during the night, however the second time that the child pee'd on the floor there was an uproar, he narrowly missed my feet, but the wee spread and with all the people and luggage on the floor there was a protest. They were very firmly told to clean up the mess and that he must use a container next time.
The journey was certainly an experience. There was a generous supply of food, despite the crowded aisles food trolleys kept coming. There was a fruit trolley, a drinks trolley and a salad/cold food trolley, they were up and down several times. Most people had 'pot noodles', these are prolific in China and much bigger than the British variety, with lots of different flavours. There is constant hot water on trains, and in stations, and the majority of people travel with a bag full of food and their own tea supply. I had bought a salad sandwich and plenty of 'nibbles' both savoury and sweet. I had also invested in a plastic tea container with lid, the kind used for travel, so I had tea too.
The seats are straight backed and hard, but there were televisions, so for those who understood they were a way of passing the time. The train stopped roughly every hour until 2 o'clock and each time more people and baggage were crammed in. To me it appeared it was becoming risible, the guy next to me seemed to agree, I suspect that he, like me, was travelling hard seat because he was too late to book anything else. Many were doing it for economic reasons, these people were about to stand, or sit on the floor, for about 30 hours, an incredible period. I felt very sorry for the poor French students on the next train. Getting to the loo or the hot water was an obstacle race, not to be approached lightly, especially as some people were asleep by 9 p.m. I didn't attempt to move until morning when I discovered that the toilets are locked before approching stations, and not always unlocked very quickly afterwards. Some stops are long so this could be an endurance test for some. I was one of the few who alighted in Xi'an, when I showed that I was getting off there was a rush for both my seat and the gap my back-pack had made on the luggage rack. I don't know how long they would manage to keep my seat but one person managed to free himself of some of his luggage.

Tuesday
I survived the journey and rather enjoyed it in a freaky kind of way. In Beijing I was thinking that I wouldn't recommend my journey to my worst enemy but during that journey I realised that I experienced China in a way that most tourists don't. For anyone interested in sociology or anthropology it is a more worthwhile experience than being ferried by coach from airport, to luxury hotel, to tourist site and back again.
As I arrived in Xi'an early I decided to do the Terracotta Warriors first, then; hotel, shower, food and rest.
I was accosted as soon as I left the station. It made me cross every time but this time I was very close to getting angry, after my experiences in Beijing I really didn't trust anyone, which was sad as some people really were just trying to be nice. This guy claimed he was from the Tourist Office and tried pushing me towards the taxis, I totally refused. the Tourist Office in China is unlike any I have experienced before. it's aim is not the giving of information but pushing towards tours and the spending of money, this guy did have his uses though as he showed me the left luggage office and told me where I could get the bus. I was pushed out of the way at the bus stop so I got angry, then when we got to the Terracotta warriors there were hundreds of guides, all insisting that it is imperative to have a guide. One guide got very stroppy with me, until I threw a wobbly and told her that I had spent the night on a hard seat from Beijing and now I just wanted to be left in peace, I think she thought I was about to cry, which I probably was, so she left me. They have certainly attempted to make it necessary to hire a guide as there is nothing written in English/Roman letters except the words -ticket office. There was no explanation of prices, the entrance price seemed to be 110 yuan, which is very expensive by chinese standards, after which you have to go to another office to buy a ticket (5 yuan) for a special bus up to the site. There was no explanation of this. I arrived at the entrance gate, with my ticket, at the same time as 2 ladies from Panama. They were obviously feeling like me as they kept refusing guides, we were turned away from the entrance with no explanation, we were left wondering around looking for some alternative entrance, until someone pointed out that we needed a bus ticket! Once I had a ticket I was allowed through the same entrance, the buses were large golf buggies.
Once I got in I went for a cup of coffe and to relax before visiting the museum buildings. The buildings had no explanations, no arrows or pointers, the whole place was designed to take money off punters, or else with no concept that foreigners would be interested in visiting and the latter is impossible as there were so many English speaking guides. In fact, lthough I went into all the buildings I managed to miss the main show, the large burial chamber, so maybe I should have had a guide. On the otherhand I saw enough and I have seen videos of the large burial chamber!

I managed to find the obligatory show promoting the government, no possibility of missing that! When I left I discovered that you don't get a bus back, there is an impressively large, smart line of security guards to ensure that you walk back via about a kilometre of souvenir shops, all with someone agressively pushing you to buy and telling you what you're looking at, in case you're too stupid to know. Postcards in China always come in packs of 10, I didn't want 10, then i noticed that the Post Office was advertising 'individualised postcards' when I asked if I could buy 1 she agreed, so I paid 5 yuan for 1 card, (the packs of 10 cost 10 yuan) and then she wouldn't personalise it as I had only bought one! By this time I was past caring, I manged to get back to Xi'an without losing my temper with anyone and retrieved my back-pack. As I was crossing the square a young man called to me; 'Good morning. Welcome to China!' he didn't want to sell me anything he just wanted to be nice, I was very glad I managed to be gracious and turn to respond, I was able to smile and say thank you.
When I got to the hotel they couldn't find a booking for me, fortunately they had a room so it was not too seriuos. It was a lovely clean and comfortable hotel and cheaper than Beijing. I found an English language programme on the television, in Beijing I was watching loads of snooker as I could understand it, and loads of Beijing Opera, which I couldn't understand but enjoyed.
By the time I checked into the hotel and showered it was after 2 and the Chinese eat very early but I found a department store down the road, they were just clearing the restaurant but they let me eat, I had a lovely lunch for 14 yuan (£1.40). Then it was back to the hotel to rest and watch T.V.

Wednesday
I woke up early so decided to use the internet but couldn't get a picture, so I gave up and went to look for the Drum and Bell Towers. I had a map so thi should have been easy but I took the first turn, instead of the first major turn. I ended walking past th fish market, mostly Xi'an seemd more peaceful than Beijing and Shanghai but here it did get a bit frenetic. I had quite a wander, found the theatre, then I had almost decided to give up when I found Dong Dajie (East Street).

This was a much bigger road than I had been expecting but it was the one I had been searching for. I found the Bell Tower, a Starbucks, a nice garden and a Tourist Information Office.
I asked, in the Tourist Information office, if they had any information on the Terracotta warriors, the answer was 'No'! There was a concert of ancient music in the Bell tower, I videod a bit (below).

Xi'an was about to host some flower show so there were flowers everywhere. I bought a prawn sandwich in Starbucks, to eat on the train later, afterwards I realised that prawn was maybe not a good idea, given the heat. The temperature was a little cooler than the previous day when it had been 28 degrees. I went back to the hotel and tried to use the internet, this time there was a picture but I couldn't access my emails, this was a nuisance as I was wanting to bring forward my bookings for Guangzhou and Hong Kong. I checked out and headed towards the station and had lunch in McDonalds! If anyone had ever told me that I would voluntarily eat in McD I would have said they were mad. Then I went for a walk and tried to get up onto the City walls but I couldn't find an entrance.

The station area was really busy again, Chinese stations seem to heave with people, not surprising I suppose, Chinese trains have about18 carriages and each is full, not to mention the standing passengers. You can't get into the station without a ticket, then there is a security check as the entrance is narrow this is where the pushing starts, everyone wants their luggage on at the same time. This time I had a ticket for a 'soft sleeper' so I got to use the 'Soft seat' waiting room, spare seats and very civilised. When I got to my compartment there was a family with a small child, I feared the worse but she was very good really. I kept thinking of those poor people who had done Beijing to Chengdu in one journey and had stood for most of it!