Xi'an - Day 2
Reporting from Jinqiao
04.04.2011 - 04.04.2011
10 °C
View
Terracotta Warriors
on aboo10's travel map.
Have been home again and caught up with regular life and haven't had time to write about the rest of what we saw in Xi'an. It is a fairly small spot, but because of the Warrior drawcard and the need to travel that far and spend at least 2 days, the city is quite geared up for tourists, and by that I mean that every single 'attraction' has an entry fee of at least 20RMB - not individually expensive, but when paying for a group of 4 frequently costs 100RMB (AUD15), fortunately at the moment the kidlets are still short enough to be free most of the time. In China, admissions are based on how tall the child is, a zoo, or an aquarium, or a particularly kid-friendly museum might have the price kick in at 100cm, but less kid-focussed spots might start charging at 120cm. For the record, Didi is 83cm tall and Jie Jie is 104cm, and were free at everything in Xi'an.
Our hotel was located centrally, directly opposite the Drum Tower, and as I previously mentioned conveniently right next to the bus stop from the airport. The hotel itself was fair to middling for the price, the room and bathroom were clean and comfortable, but I think the rollaway bed might have been stored somewhere fusty, musty and dusty as the kids and I were well bitten during the night.
Our day in Xi'an started with a visit to the Bell Tower, where we were lucky enough to see a traditional bell ringing performance when we were in the Bell Tower, then walked down to the city wall and went for a tour around it on a golf buggy at break neck speed over the cobblestones, then a roam around the Muslim Quarter for lunch, and a look at the usual Chinese collections of dongxi, followed by a visit to the Drum Tower (on a combo ticket with the Bell Tower) and then ice cream at Haagen Daaz. By the way, we didn't have the pram, so Didi was in our baby carrier on my back for most of the walking day, and Jie Jie was intermittently in the Ergo... when we got back to Shanghai Mike and I were definitely a couple of centimetres shorter!
Waipo (aka Grandma or my Mum) ringing the Bell Tower bell
The performance hall in the Bell Tower
On the balcony of the Bell Tower
On the Xi'an Old City Wall
Our golf buggy Wall tour
Delicious beef skewers cooked over high heat coals, and stinky hearts drying in the sun
Drum Tower
Posted by aboo10 20:31 Archived in China Tagged xi'an family_travel Comments (0)