28th October: Xi’An, China
Another rough night of fever and excruciating stomach cramps. I woke repeatedly shivering but sweated through my pyjamas and right through the duvet.
We’d booked tickets in advance to go to the Terracotta Warriors today and I dragged myself out of bed for the journey there. The two metros and bus took nearly 2 hours but felt at least double that.
We both had quite low expectations from other people’s experiences here and we very nearly didn’t come at all. We were planning to visit another of the great ancient capitals, Luoyang, instead but the travel days would’ve been a lot longer. As it was, we’d have had to change trains in Xi’An and it felt wrong to be so close and not check it out for ourselves. We visited the 3 pits of the Qin Shi Huang Mausoleum complex in reverse order, building up to the biggest one last. It really blew us away with both scale of the site and the incredible detail on each piece. Despite being in horrible pain for much of the visit, I’m so glad that we made the effort. I think being here out of season on a week day (this is basically our plan almost everywhere on this trip) massively helped too. It was incredibly busy in a few pinch points, but nothing compared to how hectic it apparently can get.
The Mausoleum itself also has quite a story, the veracity of which seems to be being gradually proven. However, as I understand it there isn’t much to actually see yet. I’d loved to have learnt more about the booby traps and rivers of mercury allegedly present in person but, on this occasion, Wikipedia will have to do! We stopped for lunch on the way out and I even managed to pick at a little bread and plain tofu.
We got back to the centre of the old city an hour or so before sunset. The Drum and Bell Towers were lit beautifully in the golden light. The food streets outside of our accommodation were buzzing with activity once again. Unfortunately, there’s one food sold here (and elsewhere too) that makes me urge every time I have to walk past. I’m not certain what it is and I’m sure people enjoy it but to me it evokes a mixture of dried dog food and a dirty public toilet! I had to hold my breath and rush past. That was enough for me today and I was back in bed by 5pm. We have one more full day here, but I wish that we had longer to explore what seems a lovely place in beautiful late October weather. I just hope that I’m able to wander a little tomorrow and maybe even try a little of the mainly very good smelling food. We’ll see!
