Home of the Terracotta Warriors and a cool little city in it’s own right. Inner Xi’an has 14km of city walls surrounding it and appears to have a bit more money than most of the cities we’ve passed through. We found Shuyuan International Youth Hostel which was amazing, allowed us to met loads of cool people, had a huge bar, a free daily beer, and nice rooms.
What We Learned
1. Just walk up to people and say “Hello.” when traveling. Everybody wants to talk.
2. When visiting the Terracotta Soldiers, watch the movie first, then go to Pit 2, 3, and 1, in that order. Smallest to largest.
3. They haven’t discovered one Soldier that was intact. Everything was smashed and
burned in a rebellion brought on by the 750,000 slaves forced to build the emperors
tomb. Apparently it was a one sided battle; Slaves = All -
4. There is a lot of hype surrounding the warriors. They are impressive, but some of our group were disappointed because expectations are so high. It’s also very touristy and crowded. There may be 6000 warriors, but since each one was found as a smashed up puzzle piece, they haven’t all been assembled yet. It helps to keep that in perspective.
5. Get a clear idea of how much each kebob costs in the Muslim Quarter.