Xi’an, China – Terracotta Warriors Trip

October 20-25, 2016

Travel Itinerary:

Outbound:
Flight 1: UA277 Thursday Oct. 20-Denver, CO (DEN) to San Francisco, CA (SFO)
Boeing 777-200 08:05MT-09:46PT
Flight 2: UA853 Thursday Oct. 20- SFO to Xi’an, China (XIY)
Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner 13:15PT-Friday 17:30CT
Travel Time:  19hr 25mn

Lodging:  Sheraton Xi’an North City Hotel | 10/21-25
Ground Transportation:
Airport Express G42 to Xi’an Railway Station
Xi’an Subway Lines 1 &2
Tourist Bus #5 aka 306
Xi’an Taxi

Inbound:
Flight 1:  UA852 Tuesday Oct. 25 XIY – SFO
Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner 09:30 CT-06:30PT
Flight 2:  UA431 Tuesday Oct. 25 SFO – DEN
Boeing 737-800 09:45PT-13:19MT
Travel Time:  17hr 49mn

Total RT Flight Distance: +/- 15,000 miles

Introduction:

October 20
Xi’an, China Trip
The other end of the Silk Road. Exchange rate: 6.74 rmb = 1 USD.

On the plane to SFO – UA 277 Boeing 777 seat 2J with scheduled departure of 8:05 am. Beautiful morning in Denver. Dark at 6:00 when I got to DIA and the morning slowly unfolded as I watched the arrival of several aircraft and the ground crew commotion from the west lounge. Already boarding group 2 as I made my way to gate 36. Lots of legroom, a seat that reclines with a footrest and a blanket and pillow. Step up from the usual domestic business seat on other United aircraft. Flight time advertised by the captain is 2 hr 8 min. Cheese Omelet is the breakfast. I remember in the ’90s when the 777 was the latest and greatest and I would fly with the kids to Europe thankful to get two economy seats, usually row 30+ window/aisle. In the 90’s it was a $500 ticket. Wheels up: 08:18mst. On the ground at SF0 9:24 pst. Gate occupied. 45 min later, still sitting and the air in the cabin is getting stale and funky. Supposedly the aircraft at the gate is pushing back. 54 min and still sitting. 10:24 at the gate and getting ready to unload. Not a shining moment for United. Walk to the International Terminal G gates and find the lounge. Batteries are dead in the wireless keyboard so need to find some AAs. Not the best lounge, but a good place to sit for a few minutes and re-group. Xi’an is on the board for gate 91 at 1:15pm PT. Reset my watch and starting to charge batteries. Gate change, now 98.

Now looking at a 2PM departure. Aircraft switch out and the replacement aircraft has maintenance issues. On the plane, seat 1D. My next door neighbor has moved to another seat at least temporarily and is busy chatting away with a woman a row back. Flight time has been advertised as 12hrs and a few minutes. Going to arrive about an hour past the original schedule. Bought some AA batteries and the keyboard has come to life. Bluetooth to the iPad using Pages. I will see how this experiment works out as an alternative to bringing my laptop. Smaller camera bag dictates the size of devices. Chinese documentation has been completed so excited to get to Xi’an. At this point I am still going to try public transportation using either the Airport Bus to North Railway station or to the Old Railway Station and than using the Metro to get to the hotel stop. Just got an update that we are now scheduled to depart at 2:25pm arriving at 6:35pm tomorrow. I think I will go ask the flight attendant for a drink. The cockpit announced “5 min more” about 10 minutes ago. Maintenance guys keep wandering by with paperwork. Still amazed that they can’t get electronic sign offs. Another announcement and the door has closed. Wheels up: 247 PM pst Thursday 10/20. Flight scheduled for 12hr 37min. Pilot announces we have reached a cruising altitude of 36,00ft and we are running 1 hr late. On the way!

The person sitting next to me has relocated and has found a seat mate and they are chatting away like long last friends. Watch many hours of season one Game of Thrones while the food and drink service happens then drift off for a few hours sleep. Start getting my act together a couple hours out from Xi’an. Looks like we have flown over Siberia and into China so most of the flight has been overland.

Landed at 6:36pm China Time Friday 10/21. Walk into a very large but empty airport, easy  immigration/passport control and bag shows up quickly and move out into the terminal in search of an ATM. First one found is a Bank of Xi’an machine, however no English option so head back to where I came out from baggage and find a Bank of China machine and the Bellco card works once again! Follow the signs for Airport Buses and walk out of terminal to an adjacent structure that has the transport options, buses and taxis. I wait a few minutes in a line for the airport buses and ask for the North Railroad Station bus. I head over to door G44 and sit to wait. Checking the ticket it appears I was sold a ride to the Old Railroad Station so move over to door G42. Load up, full big bus and head out into the night. The driver takes the Mexican Taxi approach of wandering between lanes, tail gating and jamming on brakes in reaction to the abrupt traffic situation changes. We drive parallel to the old city wall as we get close to the drop off at the Longhai Hotel. I find the Wulukou Metro stop just down the street from the drop off point and head to a ticket machine. 3 stops = 2 rmb. Get on the right train and go one stop to the North Station where I transfer to Line 2, two stops north later take exit B from the Long Shou Yuan station and I emerge right next to the Sheraton North City Hotel. Check in takes a little bit but eventually I communicate my SPG account number which wasn’t on file(?) and once that happened I had an upgrade to a huge suite and Club access. So ready for a shower and some sleep. Tomorrow will unroll.

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Saturday 10/22:
Not much sleep not much on tv so up at 530am. Decided on an itinerary for the day and headed to the club. Met the hostess Vivian who took my room number and checked me against a list. Once approved she made me a coffee while I dished up some breakfast of rice and vegetables with baked beans and a hard boiled egg. Orange juice and Vivian telling me her story, she’s about my daughter Jessie’s age with a need to travel. Light rain as I headed out for the metro ride to the Xiao Zhai Station. Train is packed. Raining harder as I emerged. Had to get the compass app working to verify I was heading east. Then I hit the line from hell. Imagine the line to get in the Vatican, add the line to get in the Van Gogh museum and add in the line for Colorado Dept of motor vehicles and then double that and you are close to the line for the Shaanxi History Museum. Luckily it didn’t take too long to get under the coveted covered walkway as the rain poured down. 45 min into the wait and I am maybe half way. Guessing this is the norm in this country of billions. I will have to scale down my list/expectations for the day. Raining harder. Made it to the “free” ticket window around 10:40 after 1.5 hrs. The museum was jamming. I rented an audio guide (30 rmb plus a 100 rmb deposit) plugged in my earphones and joined the crowd. Extremely packed exhibit space plus spotty audio made it difficult to get the full effect, but it was a good experience.
Some beautiful prints for sale and it was hard not to buy one but they were just a bit too expensive….
I headed out in a constant rain, by now it was almost 1:00pm and any trace of a line had washed away. Guess the lesson learned is don’t go to a Chinese museum early as that’s when all the tour buses roll in. I headed back to the metro and moved two stops north, NanShaomen, to visit the Little Goose Pagoda. Short walk into some gorgeous grounds with the plants all in their late stages fading into winter.
The Xi’an museum is to the south, but I am done with museums for the day. I walk the grounds and enjoy the sounds of people striking a large bell with a wonderful thunderous tone. The bell sits over a water reservoir that is connected to 4 large water pots that sit at the “corners” of a peripheral square around the bell. When the bell is struck hard enough the downward pressure caused the water in the pots to ripple and roll. There is a tired season ending rose garden to the east of the Pagoda. The garden is bordered to the north by bamboo and to the east by statues and masonry artifacts from days gone by… The rain starts back up so jump back on the Metro and exit at the Yongningmen stop which is just south of the City Wall. Walk up to “Beer Street” but none of the Taverns are open and I can’t find the Near Pub so wander the neighborhood which includes Shuyuanmen, the pedestrian shopping street. Despite the barriers blocking most traffic, the motor bikes still manage to bypass them and cruise the street. Mostly calligraphy supply stores and paintings (reproductions). I was hoping for a good trash and trinkets shop aka souvenir store, but that will have to wait until tomorrow, maybe something in the Muslim Quarter? I checkout the access to the wall at the south gate. Only 70rmb and I will be on the wall. I would like to do this at night and when it’s not raining. Heading north I reach the Bell Tower. It sits on its own island in the middle of a traffic roundabout. There’s a circular pedestrian route underground that parallels the traffic circle with numerous exits. Traffic is nasty, the drivers are not considerate and I imagine there would be many daily accidents without someway to get safely around the traffic. I pop out from the underground thinking I’m going north but I’m actually going west and don’t realize it until I reach the Drum Tower. Very cool building with, surprisingly(just joking), big drums on the balcony. I will check it out tomorrow along with the Muslim Quarter which sits behind it. I retrace my steps and get on the metro back to the hotel. I have a 7.2 mile walk in and the time shift and lack of sleep is hitting me. Regroup and head up to the lounge for some food and a few beers. I meet a new hostess, Bogdonna (aka Nica) from the Ukraine who stops to chat and ends up relating her activities for the last few years and the story of how she got her name and how she ended up in Xi’an. What a day! My legs are aching so I take a hot bath and watch the bathroom TV.

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Sunday October 23:
I get a few hours sleep and then doze on and off. Finally up around 5am and watch some Texas F1 qualifying and check the mail. Another grey morning with forecast for more rain. The breakfast room is quiet, just me two hostesses and the short order cook. I get out around 8:15am and head via the metro over to the Wulukou Station. I walk up to the Xi’an Railway Station to checkout where the #5/306 bus leaves for the Terracotta Warriors site. Easy to find and it looks like there are several buses in the backup role as one of the buses is loading up. Walk back to Wulukou and train over to Yongningmen, oops wrong station. I get out thinking I am north of the wall and instead I am south and walk the wrong way until I figure out I should be up to the Bell Tower and I’m not and hey this neighborhood looks like yesterday and yes in fact I have walked to the Nanshaomen station close to the Little Wild Goose Pagoda. I jump on the train and get off at the Bell Tower stop and walk over to the Drum Tower. 35rmb and I am climbing the stairs to the second level. The 10:15 “show” is advertised when I walk into the Drum Exhibit room so I grab a front row seat by the stage and 15 minutes later a troupe of musicians plays a short set of what I imagine is traditional Chinese music, anyway I can’t sing along/recognize the songs, but I have heard the sound before. When done with their short set, I explore the drum exhibit and check out the 3rd floor exhibit mostly of old (15th Century) furnishings. The balcony provides some good views one of which is the entrance to the Muslim Quarter which is situated on the north side. The smell of food and the buzz from the folks pouring into the area tells me it’s time to go see what’s going on.
Tree lined neon bright crowded with people and smells and carts and scooters and honking and eating and generally controlled chaos. The buildings are old and decorated and if they could only talk…The Muslims have a long history in Xi’an back before the silk road came to town. I liked the energy and hustle and bustle very good contrast to the modern sameness and bland modern shopping provided elsewhere in Xi’an that tends to mimic the western culture instead of celebrating the eastern history. I saw food that I didn’t try or recognize and tried a few that I didn’t recognize and liked. I picked up some ground chili and chili salsa after I sampled them to the amusement of other customers and the vendors. I could have wandered more but the time change once again kicked in so I backtracked and found a seat by the Drum Tower and stretched. Walked back towards the Bell Tower and stopped at the Starbucks for a tall coffee. Only folks who have a phone that could receive a verification code could get on the Starbucks wi-fi. That seems sort of broken for those of us that need to communicate without the benefit of Chinese phone service. You basically had to be on line to get on their line.
I wanted to try again to find the pedestrian shopping street, Shuyuanmen and the Near Wall Bar so I headed southwest towards the City Wall. It turns out I was on Shuyuanmen yesterday, but walked it again and Pub Street. I thought about getting up for a tour around the city wall, but would be more enjoyable with better weather so headed south to the Yongningmen Metro stop and took the train back to the hotel. Early dinner in the lounge and then relaxed. 7.6mi walkabout

 

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Monday October 24:
Restless night, but got some sleep. Watched the F1 Grandprix race live from Austin Texas and dozed. Unable to sleep I got my day together and headed to breakfast. Today is the Terracotta Warriors excursion. I need to inquire about getting a cab to the airport tomorrow morning on my way out. Cleaned up the camera, tested out the new ball head and monopod. Checked batteries and got packed up.
Still rainy. Metro over to Wulukou stop and walk up to the train station.  Lots of hustle and bustle with travelers, vendors and observers.
10:55am on the tourist bus 5 aka 306 heading to terracotta warriors. Full bus, hot and humid w/ steamed up windows. There’s a uniformed person making an announcement in Chinese. Long talk, not a clue what’s being said. Maybe a history lesson?
Anyway everyone is reaching for a wallet so guessing he is the ticket guy. Yep, 7rmb, no english on this ride. Rain continues….
Heading west and 20 min in starting to loose some city density. This area has many high rise buildings with more on the way, some abandoned some under construction very few occupied. Toll booth then a bridge over a swollen river. Moving quickly so guessing we are on a highway of some variety. Past the river we are in to open treed countryside with a much lower density. More abandoned apt type structures and warehouses. 30 min in exit thru a toll booth and into a residential/hotel/commercial area on a local road.  This is a local bus for some passengers who are getting off at various stops. Announcements in Chinese arriving in Lingtong. The ticket guy is up and talking. Pouring rain, we are getting close? 45 min ticked away and we are in heavy traffic. Bus driver is blowing his horn in a futile expression of frustration. Mass traffic chaos. Take a loop through town and now back on a main road. No idea where we are. Rain and humidity are blocking the outward view.If we end up back in Xian I will know I missed my stop. Now heading south back in countryside. Tour buses parked everywhere, must be getting close. Don’t know what was up with the tour bus parking lot as we did a loop through town, dropped off a few folks and then drove back into the countryside only to pull into a small shopping area which was the last stop judging by the bus passengers emptying out. We disembark next to a huge car park for the museum. I walked out from the shopping center parallel to the car park and found signs for the ticket office. I must have missed something as I walked through a huge retail/restaurant/commercial complex before reaching secure gates leading to/from the museum pits. My lack of Chinese language skills led to a discussion that went no where with the guard. He didn’t understand my query about the ticket office but he did direct me to a young woman who showed up who had English skills and who must of worked at the Museum judging by her credentials. She directed me down a road nearby and sent me on my way. Still raining at this point as I walked back and found a building only identified in Chinese and voila it was the ticket office. A short wait and 150rmb later I was heading to the entrance gates adjacent to the ticket office with my ticket in hand. Easy access to the entrance gate staffed by woman in uniform where my ticket was scanned and I walked through a park to an entrance outside of pit 1 and walked into the complex at approx 12:30pm.
Hard to initially register the size of Pit 1. The railing you first come to as you move into the building is layered with people, but even the worst vantage point has a great view. As I wait for a place at the rail I attach a ball mount to my monopod and get my camera attached. Tripods and flash are discouraged. The hall is crowded but doable with space for all. I work my way clockwise around the pit. The front section is made up of reconstructed soldiers and some horses with the sides showing current excavations and the rear mostly exhibiting soldiers under restoration. The monopod allows me to shoot at a lower asa at lower speeds, but 1600 and 1/4 sec are not my usual setup. After 90 min I am done and find a bench near the entrance to regroup. The hall is getting more and more crowded as the afternoon tour groups pour in. Still raining as I move over to pit 2 next door. This hall is comparatively empty and there is not much to see as it hasn’t been as excavated. I spend about 45 min. circling the pit and I am done. I have seen what I came to see which was pit 1 and I am ready to head back to town. Hopefully I got some good shots. The rain has stopped as I exit pit 2 and I see some patchy blue sky and some sun for the first time since my arrival in Xi’an. What a relief. I wind my way out of the site and through all of the commercial development back to the bus area. There are several #5 – 306 buses waiting and I get on the next one to depart which it does almost immediately after I get in a seat. The bus is not full and there’s a view after wiping down the window condensation. No loop thru town but rather a direct shot back into Xi’an. Many vacant buildings in various stages of neglect/destruction. The rain is holding off and I have thoughts of regrouping at the hotel and then heading out to check out the city wall, but it is still cold and I give up on that idea once I have some food and drink in the lounge. Hostess Cindy is back from a few days off and she double checks on my airport cab and alerts the front desk of my 630am departure. She also arranges to have a breakfast snack ready for me at the front desk as the lounge won’t be opening until 630am. Back in the room I get most of my packing done and head to bed for some restless rest.

Tuesday October 25:

I get going around 445am. I stopped at the lounge for a coffee, but the door was closed so headed to checkout around 630am. They had a snack bag and a taxi and we headed out for the airport T3. Not much traffic, the driver on his phone for most of the trip. The air is bad, the multiple coal fired power plants we pass along the way could be the cause. Pulled up to T3 around 7:15am. Even though the advertised price for the ride was 150rmb when I gave the money to the driver he laughed and said it was 170 and pointed to his meter which was never on. So guess he gave himself a tip. Not worth arguing about it, only a few bucks. Light security getting into the terminal, flight UA 852 not posted, but international check in was advertised as area G & H so headed that way and there was United signage so I took a seat and had my snacks, thank you Cindy. They opened up check in at 7:30am and I got in line,checked in and proceeded through security. Credential check, hand luggage scan and personal body check later I got into the First Class Lounge and enjoyed their comfortable reclining seats and a Tsingtao and checked mail/messages. Boarding for the United flight was 8:40am so moved down to gate F19 where boarding had begun. Grey day continued in Xi’an as I boarded the plane and got seated in 1D. When I checked flight status earlier there were only 105 passengers on this Boeing 787. Guess it takes awhile to establish this new SFO-XIY route. I hope they can do it as I would return if available.  Wheels up at 9:40am and an advertised flight time of 12hrs 26min. No one next to me, the screens and lighting not working on the edge AB, GH rows 1&2 so any folks there have relocated. Good service and dinner. Now looking at arrival at 6:00 am pst – flying at 37000′ with a 149mph tailwind. The cabin lights are dimmed, a bottle of water has been provided and my belly is full. I have a 3hr plus layover in SFO with arrival into Denver around 1:18pm. Looking at the Map App on the flight entertainment screen it appears that we have changed up the flight path from the over Siberia to the over Tokyo route. Guessing the conditions are good to make the cross Pacific dash.

Early arrival into SFO (6:08 am), we have a gate, but they won’t extend the ramp as TSA doesn’t open until 6:30am (?). Easy Global Entry once released from the plane, however the baggage is slow, even though the baggage handlers had a 20 minute head start while we sat on the plane, and then once luggage starts arriving on carousel 1 the priority bags are the last to arrive. This seems to happen a lot on International United flights. Once clear of customs the baggage recheck is broken so drag bag to T3 to recheck and go thru TSA pre check (kudos to SFO for doing pre check for International transfers.) Now sitting in a United lounge waiting for UA 431 9:45am departure to Denver. The beautiful rainy morning at the airport has turned grey as the rain has stopped and daybreak has arrived. Still no upgrade for the flight back from Shanghai 3 weeks out. Still 20 or so seats left so could happen. No doubt a popular route that United would prefer to sell at a premium. I have lots of Chinese cash left for the next trip.

Summary:
This is my first time in China other than Hong Kong which has it’s own currency and culture. Nice that United was brave enough to establish a route to Xi’an, hopefully they can make it work. The continuous grey sky and funky air quality detracted from the experience. Miles of abandoned housing and commercial buildings seemingly being replaced by newer construction most of which is vertical high rise apartment buildings. There was new construction out my hotel window, but no obvious workers on site. The hotel was great and it was easy to get around the town from there due to the Metro stop in very close proximity. I never did figure out the lighting in the suite or how to drain the bath tub, but I was treated like a rock star and enjoyed the Sheraton experience as a Platinum Guest. Judging by the Metro riders and the sightseers Xi’an’s population is a 20’s-30’s age group. They are rather subdued, you don’t get a sense of excitement/youthfulness as I have from an age equivalent group in Western cities. Most riders were heads down on their phones and it was quiet. There were subway “guards” on the platforms some carrying what looked like people prods with a curved end, guessing to “help” people get on the packed trains with a push. Crowded, everywhere was crowded. Xi’an has the look of western commerce and fashion, but in the background lurks a third world decay/lack of sophistication. Garbage, low maintenance and lack of civility. The driving skills are also lacking or do they just mirror the push and shove of the general populace…. ??
Xi’an, like Siem Reap in Cambodia, is sponsored by its world heritage site. The Terra-cotta Warriors Museum was worth the trip, but the signage at this internationally recognized tourist site was strangely only in Chinese especially at their ticket office and entrances. The tourist bus 5 signage was Chinese only also and the ticket seller’s spiel on the ride from Xi’an was given only in Chinese and did little to set up the expectations of the visitors on board. Not being able to see out the bus windows due to the rain and condensation didn’t help to add to my comfort level. Conversely my lack of language skills didn’t help the situation.
It was great to be at the other end of the Silk Road from Istanbul which I visited in March. The Muslim Quarter minus the electrical dimension of today was most likely the same frenzied overcrowded marketplace as today with a different clientele and product set. Instead of the motor scooters and bikes of today there were the camels and horses of the Ming dynasty, but still that bubbling energy. There’s more to see and do in Xi’an, next time. The Pub I couldn’t find turned out to be on the west side of the wall road. I do need to stay a few more days to overcome the +14hr time change.  My tourist productivity was diminished as I tried to counteract the switch between day and night. Good Trip.

Slideshow Photos from my iPhone 7