China Pt 1: Beijing and Xi'an

We arrived into Beijing airport from Hong Kong in the evening. They fed us very well on the plane, and we still had food to eat for dinner. We went out to explore the area, but our phones hadn't set up properly yet, so we couldn't buy anything at the street market. Luckily, Mitchell's phone works in China (and only China) so for once we have two phones to help us get around. 

It seems WhatsApp/Facebook etc only work on data, but they do work. The hotel wifi in Beijing was very restrictive, so we couldn't access lots of sites and couldn't download anything like podcasts or movies. 

They also gave us a room upgrade for free! I'd booked the cheapest room at the hotel, just a small one with no window as we'd be out during all daylight hours anyway, but they gave us a huge one with a sofa and the bed in a whole different room! 

This was our hotel

This was at the end of our street

Breakfast was ordered online which made things easy for us, and we got some soupy porridge, a boiled egg, hot soy milk and an egg and zucchini pancake each. We overshot somewhat and had to save the pancakes for later though. 

We had places to be on our first and only full day in Beijing. We got the metro just a couple of stops to the tour meeting place and got on the big bus. They drove us all the way up to the Great Wall of China! 

Lunch was included, so we had a big buffet for lunch and then we were off to explore the wall. We got a cable car up to the Western route and walked along the wall, passing several watchtowers and getting iconic views of the wall disappearing into the misty hills. 

The last watchtower was up some very steep steps and is called the "hero tower" because it's so challenging to reach. After New Zealand though, nothing is too much for us! 

We made it and got the cable car back down. We then got a chairlift (like in skiing) up in the opposite direction to the Eastern route. This was another part of the wall and was getting less busy as people left for the day. This whole route was pretty steep, but it was still so col to walking about on the Great Wall. There were even a few cats hanging out at the top, although I don't know how they got there!

There was a long toboggan down which we were looking forward to, but just as we were coming up to it, it started to rain and they shut it down for the day. There was a brief moment where they might also close the chairlift too because of lightning, but it passed and we came down in perfect time to grab a cup of tea and some snacks before getting on the bus back to Beijing. 

We ordered again from the hotel restaurant as we only needed something small after our big lunch and enjoyed the big room and bathtub that night. 

In the morning we were up early to get the metro and then the high speed rail to our next city, Xi'an. 

We got the metro to the centre and found our hotel. It took us a moment to find it, as from the outside it just looked like a restaurant and all the signage was in Chinese, but luckily people are very friendly here and they showed us the way. 

As it was still the afternoon, we went out to explore the area. We went to see the ancient wall which had a few streets filled with markets, and passed by a couple of museums and temples and a busy pedestrian shopping street. We also went to go and see the Bell Tower which is the centre of old town and is said to subdue a dragon underneath. 

This area was very busy and filled with girls dressed up in traditional clothing, just for fun. We were also stopped by a couple of boys (maybe 12 years old) so they could practice their English. 

We also went to see if we could find the bus stop for our outing the next day. We nearly gave up, but then we found a poster on the side of a building which led into the area. 

Early in the morning, we went back to the bus stop and got on the bus to see the Terracotta Warriors and Horses. It dropped us right in front and even came with a guide who showed us where to get the return ticket and where the entrance was. 

Our first stop was pit 1, which is the iconic Terracotta Army site with 6000 figures. It was pretty busy, but we were able to get some pictures and make our way around. 

We also went to pits 2 and 3 which were smaller, but slightly less busy and you could see the army a little closer. There was also some on display behind glass where you could get really close. 

After all the pits, we went to the museum which had more information about the Emperor and his reign. We then caught the shuttle bus to the other site which was more like a park as it's largely unexcavated. They did have an additional pit and a museum which housed some of the treasures found on the site. There were bridles, towels, weapons and more, all made from steel to preserve them in the ground. 

Back at the main site, we managed to muddle through and order some lunch (although we're pretty sure we accidentally ordered from the breakfast menu) and got on the bus back to the centre of Xi'an. 

We had a little rest after our hot day out exploring an archaeology site and then went to a vegetarian buffet. This was great as we got to try a little bit of everything, and it was all tasty. 

That was the end of Xi'an, but not China as we were off the next city the next day. 

Read on for part 2!