Our trip to China where we visited Xi'an in Shaanxi Province.
We arrived quite late at night in Xián, which is an approximately three hour flight from Hong Kong. We had a bit of a "snag" in travel arrangements, as we spent some Yuan (Chinese RMB) in Hong Kong where we landed earlier the afternoon. We did not have enough Yuan to by the bus ticket at Xián airport. We only had some Hong Kong dollars and Yuan, but Hong Kong dollars cannot be used in China... especially to by food or bus tickets. So be warned have enough cash just to get you into the city. Remember that taking a taxi is quite expensive and nerve racking in those populated streets.
We had to take the bus towards a different hotel, and then take a taxi to our accommodation. The travel time from the airport towards the South side of the city is approximately 45 minutes. When the bus eventually came, it was so crowded and we also got a shock as this is not quite a luxury vehicle, similar to what you might get in India. The luggage compartment was already full and luggage had to be put in the isle on the bus. It doesn't even fit, and therefore my wife tripped and fell over two suitcases... which already made her upset and the only place in the bus was right at the back.
Wonderful experience at Citadines in the South part of Xi'an.
It was our apartment with a small kitchen, huge shower and king sized bed as well as a buffet breakfast included.
Keep clear of certain parts on the sidewalk, as they are for bicycles and scooters.
The scooters are really quiet and all you hear is a beep sound, if you're walking in the wrong lanes.
Amazing to see everything left out in the open, as there is hardly any crime.
Bicycles are a very cheap source of transport, at 1 Yuan per hour. They even have alarms on the bicycles and scooters.
Tall buildings, over 25 floors per block. There are so many people, but yet no people begging. They make work for people, as the streets are cleaned on a continuous basis.
We were relaxing in our apartment, while my wife was on the cell phone with her mom. When suddenly an alarm and a Chinese voice started speaking over the intercom saying it's an emergency fire evacuation. What we weren't aware of that it was just a drill, when we opened our door we smelled and saw smoke. We were on the 25th floor, all the lifts were switched off and consequently we had to walk down to the help desk.
We got such a fright, that initially I forgot the passports and documents in the room. Please remember these are the only things that can help you in a foreign country. My wife at least alerted me of the fact, and I quickly fetched them from the room. When we got downstairs, we were all informed that this was just a fire drill, they used smoke to simulate an actual fire. We were relieved, but had to make our way back up the stairs, as the elevators were still switched off.
Nice stroll down the street, exploring the suburb near our accommodation. It was really hot during the day, this picture was taken around 20:30.
Just remember, coming to China is a bit of a culture shock for those that are fussy with food. Our McDonalds or KFC is quite different to theirs. Some strange food or things can be seen, especially by the street vendors or market places.
A night out, while walking through the streets, bright lights all around.
Shops are open till after 22:00 at night. It's really busy till early hours of the morning. A lot of people work shifts. The refuse is removed at night and even the streets are swept clean during the day and night.
Look and be amazed by the differences in food choices. Our KFC was a bit different, as we had the black chicken, at least it still tasted like chicken to me. My wife was not amused as it tasted wild to her, so she threw her burger in the bin. We ended up getting bread and a packet of chips to eat later on, but even this tasted strange, as the bread tasted like sponge cake. The very next day we decided to go to the supermarket and get some groceries for our apartment. Well we were surprised by the variety of eggs, live produce including fish, prawns, turtles, and muscles. We obviously opted for bread, noodles, cheese and things we were more comfortable eating.
We took the subway towards Xián City wall, Southern gate in the Lianhu District. This is probably the oldest part of Xián and was the ancient capital of China. The subway is quite easy to navigate... but that's for another time and upcoming post.
Within the City walls, it transports you back to a time, when everything was old and different. This fortified wall was built during the Ming dynasty ± 14th to 16th century.
You can even take a nice bicycle ride along the 14 km long ancient wall around the city center.
The guards of the ancient city, do patrols as a part of the historic story telling within this part of the city. They even have shows at night within the city wall to show some interesting historical events.
The bell tower is at the city center of the old ancient part within the city walls of Xián. It looks very nice and they also ring the bell at certain times of the day.
A beautiful cake at one of the shopping malls within the city. We will be showing this shopping mall in an upcoming post.
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