First up, we took a taxi to the Xi'an Train Station, where we caught a minibus to the Terra Cotta Warriors about an hour away. The trip was less than pleasant - the scenery was boring and grey, and the road was super bumpy. But, it was only 7 Yuan (1 USD), and compared to the prearranged tours which cost upward of 500 Yuan per person, the ruggedness was worth it.
Once there, we bought our tickets and headed in. The site itself is really large and consists of a museum, gift shop (of course), lots of grounds/gardens, and the three excavated sites. The 2nd site was still be excavated, so we couldn't see it, and the 3rd site was pretty small. But, the 1st site was huge and pretty impressive. There were hundreds (probably thousands) of carefully detailed warriors all lined up and ready for battle.
After we finished up there, we caught a minibus and headed back to the city. From there, we took a taxi to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is Xi'an's biggest highlight. It was pretty cool, and there were some nice views and architectual elements. You could also climb up to the top of the pagoda for an extra 20Y, but neither of us really had any desire to walk up and down all those stairs, so we decided to have dinner instead. Interestingly, despite it's name, we didn't see a single goose there, real or statue - not sure what's up with that. haha
We ate at a pretty touristy restaurant on the pagoda grounds, but we were so cold and hungry that we didn't really care. My food was pretty good. I had a curry chicken set with rice, steamed greens, vegetables, steamed egg custard, and a really horrible smelling/looking soup that I didn't even try. I also had some picked cucumber dish, a few types of dim sum, and 2 plates of egg tarts. I was a very happy man. :) They also had some really delicous jasmine tea, which I couldn't get enough of. Not only was it delicious, but it was also not too hot. I love tea, but I hate when they serve it at such a high temperature at some restaurants that you can barely even hold the glass. This one was just right!
All in all, I am pretty unimpressed with Xi'an. Honestly, I wasn't super excited to come to Xi'an in the first place, and perhaps if I had come here first, I would have liked it more. But there just doesn't seem to be anything special or extra charming about it. It's just a small city. It reminds me sort of of Reno - it's a big tourist destination, and in it's hay day, it used to be super cool, but Vegas is so much better. haha
At any rate, since we didn't go to Luoyang today and there isn't much else to do here in Xi'an that is of interest to us, I think we are just going to relax during the day tomorrow before our flight back to Beijing. It's a little dissapointing, since I would have liked to have ended our trip on a strong note, but relaxation isn't a bad thing. We are also trying to book a room in the Ritz Carlton in Beijing for our last night in China tomorrow since we liked it so much the first time - I hope it works out!!
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