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English Version 24
Sunday 25.04.08
Xi’an 18.00 o’clock
I’m not up that early. Sleep until 6.30! I have the rest of my black
laundry done. Am in the side street and find a stand where they sell
some sort of burgers. With meat and eggs. Do I want this spice? She lets
me smell. XXX. It’s a bit strange to eat that kind of stuff in the
morning, but two of those can keep me going until lunch? I buy one of
the large pancakes for lunch. Then a quick shower and have the black
clothes washed out and the white handed over to the staff. 10 RMB and
it’ll be finished this afternoon. I pack the backpack. Two bottles of
water.
Looking for a taxi to the railway station from where the bus leaves. One
stops. To the railway station. No way, impossible. What now? Can’t I
just hire a cab? No, apparently not. Nobody has told me that. Only that
it’s around 12-15 RMB. I walk a bit and is talked to by a scooter
driver, who is parked beside some taxis. Where are you going? To the
railway station. That’s OK, 15 kuai. FIFTEEN! You got to be kidding,
then I take a taxi (if I can), I’ll give you 10. After some
consideration he accepts. Maybe it’s too much, but it’ll be an
interesting trip – I hope.
And then I sit at the back of this small electrical scooter, which can
do 20-25 km/h. Not more than 20 carrying this weight. And then he twist
trough the traffic. ¾ round the round-a-bout I could have done too, but
when he presses transverse the traffic through the cars and goes against
the direction in a one way street, I have to admit he’s good! We’re not
going fast, but much faster than a taxi would have done. He makes the
most of it by having a smoke in the meantime.
Compared to his thanks I’ve payed double prize, but who cares?
I walk through the city gate and cross to the station. The expression:
there was a million people, which we uses every now and then is quite
suitable here. In Xi’an lives 6,3 million and a big part of them seems
to be on their way out or back today – it’s a minor chaos. A train has
just arrived. I can’t see any busses. Where should the bus stop be? No,
I havn’t marked it on my map – just forgotten. I walk a bit in the most
likely direction and suddenly I get a faint glimpse of a row of busses
above all the people. The first one is 306, which I need, and it’s just
ready for boarding. I’m one of the first to enter.
It goes by the highway, so it takes less than an hour.
The visit at the Terracotta Warriors is a mixed pleasure. I hadn’t
really prepared, so I had no expectations. So when I put my foot in Pit
no.1, which is something like a big sports arena, where all the floor
which is 200 x 60 m is filled with the excavations, it takes my breath.
It’s amazing. But when this first overwhelming impression is gone
there’s not much more in it. Pit no.2 and Pit no.3 are smaller and
smaller and the exhibition of exhibits disappointing. When 1000 people
moves around for some time (it’s the same faces I see again and again)
then it gets more and more crowded the smaller the buildings get – and
they do.
And I was even here early!
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| The terracotta worriors | The drumtower of Xi'an |
After sitting in the shadow (it’s summer according to a Danish scale)
and having eaten, I pass on. The exit brings you trough a labyrinth of
tourist shops and loose salesmen. Hello. Only 1$ Sir. You want buy?
Postcard? Hello?
Once I have to get rough. Wo bu yao! – I don’t want to. And when this
doesn’t work, I stop: BU YAO! Some Chinese laugh, and she moves away.
The bus is there and leaves after 5 min. Perfect.
I go back to the cycle shop and have my rear break fixed, I can’t do it
myself. Was afraid it needed a new spring in one side. How much is that?
It was nothing, it’s for free. Like you could experience it in Denmark
50 years ago. Hurra.