The trip from Lanzhou to Xi’an is the equivalent of travelling from Wellington to Auckland and as such, it is a convenient overnight train ride away. Rail is by far the most popular form of travel in China and the Chinese have it down to a fine art. Endless hot water, friendly stewards, relatively comfortable beds arranged 3 high! All very pleasant unless you have the misfortune of being surrounded on all side by some pretty intense snoring (sadly, my journey home- didn't sleep for a minute).
Xi’an is quite a sprawling city in comparison with Lanzhou. It is based around the four walls of the old fortress that make up the inner city so all of the roads are logically set out (North, East, South, West) but so long and wide! It seems very similar to Beijing. There are thousands of cars and the roads are enormous which makes it very frustrating to navigate on foot. It is very pretty, there are trees and greenery everywhere and lots of ancient style buildings and walls, which is probably why the guidebooks say that you haven’t seen the real China until you’ve been to Xi’an. It's a highly cultural experience to say the least.
The day that we arrived we did the inevitable and went to the Terracotta Warriors. This is the most popular tourist attraction in China so it would have been a crime not to visit. On the whole I’m not very into seeing the sites in China, seen one temple seen them all in my opinion but it was quite an incredible experience. I cannot believe they are over 2000 years old!
Overall it was a refreshing change from the dust, grime and general shabbiness of Lanzhou, but I have to say, I still prefer the latter. Being able to walk everywhere and easily cross the roads is a definite pre requisite for me.
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