Despite the late night, + the fact that I was… we were… desperately tired, I set the alarm for a little before 6 so that I could take advantage of the room to the extent of a hot bath + shower. We had already decided yesterday that because of the price of accommodation here in Xian, we would be leaving tonight, taking, we hoped, a sleeper. So in order to see the various interesting sites around the area, to do it with the minimum of effort + inconvenience, we had signed up for a day tour, commencing from the Liberation at 7.20. I’ll confess that, first thing this morning, we regretted having made the booking, for nothing appeared as inviting at that time as our soft warm beds. But the deed was done, + in any case we both felt much better about the world after a bath. We checked our bags into the stn luggage office once again, + were at the hotel in good time – fortunately we didn’t have to go into the “foreign” lobby. And then on the bus.
It was pleasing to see they had been professional enough not to overfill it – it was a small modern minibus, + had just as many passengers as seats. We were the only “foreigners” aboard, not counting a Hong Kong Chinese couple. The depressing thing was that not long after we set off it began to rain, a drizzle at first, but becoming heavier throughout the day. Not the weather for sight-seeing. The first site was unimpressive in the extreme, being nothing more than a hill in the middle of a flat plain. I didn’t understand the brief explanation given by the driver, of course, but it may have been an unexcavated Emperor’s tomb. Like the occupants of all the other tour buses at the place, we dutifully marched up the hill as quickly as the muddy track would allow, took the briefest of looks at the view, hazily impressionist in the grey mist, + marched back down again, ignoring the cries of the women offering their handicrafts for sale.
The next stop, some way on, was the real highlight, however, the main reason we had taken the tour. This was the terracotta army, hundreds of life-size clay soldiers + horses which one of the early Emperors had ordered to be made, presumably to accompany him into the next world. They had been partially excavated + restored, + are now on display in their original site, tho’ protected from the elements by an aircraft hangar. There are rank upon rank of them, + a magnificent sight they are too – perhaps no 3 in my private list of the 7 Wonders. There were also a couple of museum rooms, but it’s the soldiers themselves, each one individual + beautifully made, which command one’s attention. The only thing that slightly marred our visit was a ragingly loud + violent domestic quarrel. How can people have the indecency to inflict their private quarrels upon outsiders?
The Hot Springs was the next stop, where we took a long lunch break. Tom + Jan particularly recommended the place, especially the master private bath suite. In the pouring rain, this seemed more than ever attractive, but it took quite a while to find it – it’s not advertised, or even sign-posted, in any way. And then it was rather more expensive than we had expected, at Y10. But we thought, what the hell, + splashed out. It was not quite the glitteringly luxurious place I had somehow expected, but the bath was about 9’ square, + the water gloriously deep + hot. When we emerged an hour or more later, we felt wonderfully relaxed.
The final part of the tour was a visit to Ban Po, the excavated site of a Neolithic village. Normally, pre-history is the one period of history which leaves me cold, but I found myself impressed + interested. Once again, the actual excavation site had been covered with an aircraft hangar – this was just as well, for it was still pouring. And there was a walkway built around the site, with every so often a notice (in English, as well as Chinese) pointing out particular features + what they signified, along with an artist’s impression of what the site must have looked like. It brought it to life astonishingly, as well as filling me with admiration for the archaeologist’s skills. Normally, the stone age is of no interest to me – it is either a few stone implements in a museum (tho’ there was a museum here too) or meaningless holes + pits in the ground. The only criticism I have was of their tendency to introduce political conjectures. Or rather, since a study of a society is inevitably political, to put a biased slant upon those conjectures. “This is a communal food-store, proving that the whole village worked together for the good of all.” Etc.
As soon as we got back, we set about validating our ticket for the evening train out. This was no easy matter, for Xian Station is in the process of being re-built, + is consequently in a state of complete chaos. And in the rain it was much so much worse, keeping scraps of paper dry, protecting one’s eyes from the spokes of umbrellas, searching hopelessly for information. In fact, by chance we found the right window, but tho’ there was a queue, lots of people were ignoring it shamelessly, + thrusting their heads thro’ the cashier’s window from all directions. I became so mad at this that in the end I marched forward + told those blokes what I thought of them. In English, of course, but they understood well enough, + to my amazement, slunk off to the end of the line.
We didn’t get tickets for the train we had requested, but another one. The problem was, tho’ we had the train no all right, Val hadn’t been able to understand the train time – she thought it was 5 something, but she wasn’t sure. And tho’ we searched desperately for an information board, there was just nothing about. It was now gone 3 o’clock, so it was quite important we found out. I had the idea of going to the Bell Tower Hotel + asking there – we were also hungry, + that was close to the restaurants. Our train mystified the people in the Bell Tower – not that they were especially bothered one way or the other – but after leafing thro’ various books, pamphlets + journals, the girl told me no 445 left at 23.21. This sounded very strange indeed, but we shrugged it off for the present + ate beer + dumplings at the same place we’d been to last night.
After that we trotted off to the Renmin Hotel for a second opinion – if the train did leave at that impossible hour, we would be able to while away the evening in the comfortable chairs in the lobby. Once again, the reaction was of puzzlement – the 445? And again a frantic search. But this time they came up with a far more definite answer, + one that accorded better with what we expected… 5.50. It was now just about 5 so we still had time, but we were a bit rushed. We just thanked heaven we hadn’t accepted the first opinion. And there definitely wasn’t loads of time.
By the time we arrived at the stn + found out where we were supposed to be, we discovered people already lining up to get on. Fortunately, the train was beginning its journey here, so we just made our way to those – none of the usual violence associated with getting on Chinese trains + buses. However, that was but a preliminary step, for at the first opportunity we asked about changing to a hard sleeper. At first, the middle-aged conductor seemed to say it was not possible, but a minute or 2 later he was beckoning for one of us to follow him, + was off. Val rushed off in hot pursuit. Five minutes later he was back for me, + off we went to the other end of the train along the platform, me carrying one bag, him the other, something which attracted him quite a few jibes + catcalls along the way from his colleagues.
We found ourselves in the strange situation of having almost the entire sleeping carriage to ourselves. It soon became clear that the train didn’t normally have foreigners, + didn’t in the general run of things allow people to hire sleepers at all – we had been housed in the staff compartment. We were on the slow train to the west, + had only been assigned to it because we only had to validate, + not buy, our ticket – it might, conceivably, have been a mistake that “foreign guests” had been put on such a train, + would explain why the people who normally dealt with tourists at the hotels hadn’t heard of it. But we certainly had no complaints at all – a couple of attendants were fussing around us like mother hens, providing clean sheets, a tablecloth, hot water etc, + generally making sure we were comfortable. In fact, with such attention, the only thing we were lacking was a bit of privacy, but we really didn’t mind. And it was very pleasant when 3 of the younger, + very pretty, conductresses came to sit with us + socialise. We took their photographs, + had them write out their address on an envelope so we could send them a copy. Finally, we were left alone + crawled to bed, exhausted.
The terracotta warriors were just as magnificent and impressive as we thought they might be, though I believe that in the intervening time, there have been a lot of develolpments in terms of its presentation. But actually we enjoyed nearly all of the tour, the bath-house and the ancient village adding to the attraction of the day. And since we also had the good fortune to stumble onto a perfect train, in terms of having not just space but care and attention too lavished upon us, it made for a very good day, more than compensating for the very poor one the day before.
