First night in Xi'an

Trip Start Jul 22, 2010

Trip End Aug 20, 2010

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Where I stayed

Bell Tower Hotel Xi'an (aka. Xian Bell Tower Hotel)

(Xi'an hotels)

Flag of China Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
Saturday, July 31, 2010

Xian is beautiful. We left Beijing uesterday morning around 7:30am. We decided that we now don't need a shuttle or taxi, we have become pros with the excellent subway of Beijing. The subway is so modern with many things the TTC should to: LED lit maps that tell you where your train is on the map. Informational videos (few ads). On some lines there is a large, full glass and stainless steel barrier with sliding doors that open once the subway stops. Stops anyone from accidentially falling onto the tracks. The statins are incredibly clean. One station we went to had marble railings throuhout the station. There is a bilingual pleasant announcement about the next staton. And it goes to the airport!!!
Out flight left at 10:30 am so we got up early to get there with lots of time. The day before we went to the Olympic stadium and aquatics cube. That was amazing but the subway ride back was very packed - we were coming home at rush hour. Even so, packed in like sardines people are very respectful. Well, except the the queing - I don't know what is is but peple bud in lone here all the time. It is funny because otherwise peple here are incredibly polite.
So we get to the airport and poor Elise has not had a cup of decent coffee for a week. We get off at Terminal 2 at the subway stop and need to wall over to T1. A bit long but The kids like the moving sidewalks. Alas there is a sign for Starbucks. We go in and have a nice cafe latte, muffins (not too bad, individually wrapped). The Starbucks opens up to a likke indoor garden. It was a little dusty on the plants that holds their leaves a long time as of course the ventilation air has the city's aerosols and grim in it.
We head to our flight and take off on Huihan (or whatever the name) airlines. Great flight and we travel the 1200 km in 1.25 hrs. Xian airport was great and we walked out straight to the city shuttle and arrived about 400 m from our hotel. An excellent tourist office helped us with directions and we checked into the Bell Tower Hotel. We bought the rooms online through Agoda. Was good - $62 per room and we had to get 2 due to our apparently huge family of 3 (we haven't seen any families with more than 1 child). The Bell Tower hotel is very fancy by Canada and China standards. Well, for 3 nights we can stay nice. The hostel was nice, Jacob was ready when we left - we all really liked that place - nice people and the location was great.
Last night I checked with the hotels travel agent office for tours of terra cotta warriors. We are deciding not to go with a tour as we will be stuck going to cheesy tourist traps of "museums" and Terra cotta "factories" which hav a 2 minute very light educational part then you are brought to a store for an hour. Sure you don't have to buy anything but is a total waste of time. Bus 306 leaves to and from the TC site every 15 min. Apparently there is a 20 min walk and we have to pass through a gauntlet of tourist stalls.
And Sunday we will go to Huashan mountain, butbthattime we will take a tour bus as it includes the entrance, cablecar, and transit. It is far so we leave at 6:30 am. Look on Flickr for photos of huashan mountain. We won't take the plank path.
I have to go wake everyone up. Hope Jacob feels Hungary. Poor guy didn't like the hussle and hussle of the Muslim Quarter last night nor all the smells and sounds. I'll go get some youghurt for him this morning.
Not ba typing on Emma's iPod touch. I used the hotels busness centre only to discover it was 1 Yuan per min and I was on for 55 min. That was a scam. There is tonnes of hotspots around here. Including the lobby of the hotel where I've been this morning with you.