Back to Back Overnight Trains, Xian in 7 hours

These past few weeks have been a series of difficult decisions as I have to constantly decide how I want to fill the last of my time in China. I had a professor in college who was a fan of prioritizing. When I took his travel course to Ireland he attempted to teach me the importance of prioritizing.  However waking up early and literally running through Dublin prevented me from actually learning it's importance.

This past week however I was forced to prioritize, I was running out of time and had to chose between going to Xian (my original plan) or going to Beijing (on an impromptu trip with my friends). I just did not have enough time to do both. As I toiled with the decision I chose to email the person who first suggested I live abroad, my professor who tried to teach me about prioritizing. With his advice and many hours of contemplation in mind, I walked to the train ticket office and bought a round trip ticket to Xian.

Train to Xian!

As I set off on my solo trip to Xian I was excited for my last adventure before going home. However with my schedule this semester I would be taking two back to back overnight trains. As I set off to catch my Monday night train I was worried most about my seat, when purchasing hard sleeper seats on Chinese trains I prefer the bottom berth because I can sit up. Unfortunately the bottoms were sold out and I found myself in a middle berth. The train ride however ended up being awesome! As I made my way on to the train I met a couple of Czech guys who were also going to Xian. We killed sometime in the dinning car, drinking American beer.

Definitely didn't expect to find PBR dedicated to the US military in China

My train rolled into Xian two hours late, I should have expected that, as although Baoding is only it's second stop the train was 15 minutes late picking me up! I took a quick look at the wall before heading off to get the bus to the Terracotta Warriors.

Xian's City Wall

The bus to the warriors only took about an hour, then you have to navigate the was to the ticket office and entrance. Which are two DIFFERENT things. Don't walk all the way to the entrance as the ticket office is about half a kilometer from there.

Signs I should have been following.

Signs I was actually following

A Mural of the Great Wall

Walking to the entrance both times (once before I bought a ticket, and once after) was a very pleasant walk if you could tune out the shouts of shop owners to come look at their merchandise. However the beautiful blue sky (a rare sight in Northeast China) made it quite easy for me to tune them out.

The Entrance!

Checkout That Blue Sky!

UNESCO World Heritage Site

My first stop was an information center where I learned about the site and how the warriors have been put back together. The Terracotta Warrior site is set up very differently from other important sites in China, it felt very Western. The information center was very clean and modern, English signs everywhere. It was such an easy place to travel to in China.

Following the advice of many guide books as well as friends who have traveled to the Terracotta Warriors, I decided to do the pits backwards. My first stop was the third pit, this pit showcases the military elite.

These guys didn't fare too well

The repairs of this pit are still ongoing. 

Pit two begins to show just how massive the site is, however few warriors have been restored to their former glory. The real draw of this pit comes from the few restored warriors that are encased in glass where you can see the detail of the warriors.

Look how big this pit is!

See how his hand looks like it would be holding something?
The arrow he was holding has rotted away.

Standing Warrior

Terracotta Horses!

Pit one was my last stop and I'm really glad I saved it for last, walking into the pit, the size of it really took my breath away.

View From The Front

View of Soldiers Being Put Back Together

With such a limited amount of time in Xian I found myself unable to do anything else. By the time I got back to the city it was only an hour til my train. Despite having to take back to back overnight trains, I truly enjoyed my trip to Xian. Seeing the Terracotta Warriors was something on my "Must Do/See" list, it was actually the last thing on my list. Walking back to the train station after seeing the Warriors I felt such a sense of accomplishment, having checked off the last item from my list.

My Train Back to Baoding