Tellific Tellacottas Walliols and Shanghai Surplise...

Hi all, Su here again.  Picking up where I left off, we were on an over night train to Xi'an to see the infamous Terracotta Warriors.  We stayed in a  comfortable 4 berth sleeper cabin that we shared with 2 others.  We decided to give the dining car a miss and had a lovely dinner of Jelly's!!!

Once in Xi'an we explored the city which is the old ancient capital of China and was home to many emperors.  The main centre of the town is surrounded by huge, old city walls, similar to the Great Wall.  In the city there is a large Muslim Quarter which is full of hustle and bustle and is lined with a mix of halal food stalls and Chinese restaurants.  We couldn't resist our usual Dumpling dinner.

Next day we took a bus out to the Terracotta warriors.  

Over 2 million years ago Emperor Qin shi huang enslaved hundreds of thousands of people to construct this massive ever lasting army to guard his tomb which is less then 2km away.  He either expected his rule to continue after his death or was hoping his new army would protect him from the vanquished spirits awaiting him in the afterlife, no one knows. 

Whatever his reasons, the army discovered in 1974 by a local farmer digging for a well, is nothing short of spectacular.  4 pits have been excavated. 

Pit 1, the largest, holds 6,000 life size solders placed in battle formation. 

It's mind boggling knowing that no two faces are alike.

Once again China has come up trumps with it's awesome historic feits of construction and spectacular sights.  With our minds and memories full of ancient wonders we board yet another overnight train to the more modern city of Shanghai.  This train would take 21 hours to get to our destination and was slightly less comfortable then our last journey.  Firstly we shared our cabin with two smokers who didn't seem to feel the need to open the cabin door or go to the smoking area to light up.  Begrudgingly they did so once we made our feelings known.  Also being such a long journey our usual bag of Jelly's just wouldn't do so we braved the jam packed smoke filled (almost as bad as our cabin) dinning car. 

We sheepishly sat down and a waiter gave us a hand written menu (completely in Chinese Script) to consider, we remembered a warning from Pete's brother and sister in law, Martin and Catherine, who made a similar train journey in China a few years ago so we were quite apprehensive about our imminent meal!! But sure, in for a penny in for a pound, we scanned the food filled tables for something edible and settled on anything that did not look like dog!!  Once we were somewhat happy with our choice our waiter came over and 'then' proceeded to translate the menu.  He was a man of few English words, beef, pork, chicken, fish was pretty much it with no mention of cooking method or sauce etc. but we were grateful that 'dog' wasn't one of them so we went for the beef and decided to brave what the dish that the guy sharing our table was eating which looked like chicken and hot cucumber, strange choice I know but we needed a bit of veg!!  We were delighted to discover that the beef was a beef stew with spuds 'almost' as good as you'd get at home, but the pre-mentioned 'chicken' dish was most probably 'tripe', neither of us could quite put our finger on the texture or taste but considering that we have never eaten anything of this nature, it must've been tripe!!! So one outta two aint bad.

At 06.30am next morning in true communist style, the speaker in our cabin came to life and blared out some sort of exercise program, (well that was the most logical explanation we could come up with) followed by piercingly deafening Chinese traditional and pop music which continued for the next 7 and half hours before we arrived in Shanghai.

With our ordeal over we were very pleased to be in a civilised city and felt like we were closer to the western world then we had been in many months.

With it's futuristic skylines that lit up like Disneyland at night it was yet again, a spectacular sight..

In contrast to the ultra modern structures of the current financial district, 'New Pudong Area' (above), the old hub 'The Bund' directly across the river would not look out of place along the banks of the Seine

Staying with the futuristic theme the ever entrpenurial Chinese constructed an under water 'Sightseeing Tunnel' taking you across the river from The Bund to the New Pudong Area. 

Once again it's something similar to a ride in Disneyland and if full of swirling, sparkling, garish lights whizzing by as you go from A to B..

 

From ancient artifacts to futuristic skylines China has been amazing.  We have loved every over-crowded minute of it and I highly recommend it to all. 

However, as with anywhere in the world there is always a few downsides.  China is full of smells... food, rotting rubbish and urine fill the air around you but sadly not in that order, the idea of 'fresh air' is nothing more then a memory of home.  While the constant 'hocking', 'gullying' and 'snorting' noises of phlegm readying itself for the forever present 'spitting' charade that surrounds you as much as the smells can get to you after a very short while. 

But on the bright side (despite the 'tripe' episode on the train) we were big fans of the food.  Some days we would have Dumplings for breakfast, dinner and tea, and if I stayed there any longer I would be rolling myself onto the plane looking like a Dumpling myself.  We tried and loved so many types of new and unusual food that we will never have the chance to try again...  Another great thing about China and South East Asia is the constant mix up with the R's and the L's, the knock off 'Rolex' they try to sell you on the street is pronounced 'Lorex',  'Relax Resort' is 'Lerax Lesolt', an 'Umberella is an 'umbelerra'.  We waited and waited for the anticipated 'Herro' (Hello) but it never came...

So as our short journey through China comes to an end I am so happy to have been here and seen what we've seen, be it only a fraction of the country, we defiantly leave with everlasting memories.....

And now for a little more toilet humour.  I took this photo in a loo in Beijing, the nearest thing to a female urinal I've ever seen, I wont subject you to the actual loo itself (which was pretty unusual) but I thought the sign was bizarre enough....

Needless to say I obeyed it.... x