The bullet train from Baoding to Xian
North takes 5 ½ hours, so I start out at 6am and take the bus K2 to
the railway station. I'm dog tired due to a poor night's sleep the
day before. The train slowly fills up as it stops at innumerable
stations all with names ending in “Dong” (East) so I start out
with an empty seat beside me at the window however eventually a
Chinese comes and sits next to me: sadly he is clearly ill as he
keeps taking tablets and sleeps most of the way to Xian. I wish I
could do the same. He also snores a great deal, hopefully not as
badly as I do according to Sarah! The train passes over a mountain
range, it must be quite high as there is snow on the peaks all
around. Vast ranges in the distance, beetling crags of snow. I feel a
sense of adventure and wish I hadn't packed my camera away. As my
arse is starting to ache after over three hours, and to escape my
Chinese friend's snoring, I go and sit in the restaurant car for an
hour or so with a couple of beers. I contemplate having something to
eat there but I'm not hungry yet, its somewhat overpriced and
microwaved junk. I feel I may be better off waiting till I get to
Xian. I can see cave dwellings in the mountainside, some of them
still seem to be inhabited.
I arrive at Xian North railway station
and encounter the worst overcrowding I have experienced so far. Here
one just has to join the melee and take one's time going through the
inevitable bag and ticket checks. It takes me about 15 minutes to get
through to the metro (subway/underground) so I use this to get to the
hostel I have booked. The journey takes about an hour in full, and
the train is so hideously overcrowded that some people actually can't
get on! Anyway the hostel is right next to the metro station on North
Street (the main drag of Xian city city centre) I find it very easily
in spite of my irrational fears about getting lost! Its very good and
has a great bar with cheap food and beer on draught!
I need some lunch so ask at the hostel
where to go, the girl there speaks good English and cheerfully
directs me to the Muslim Quarter. This is the first I get to
experience the heart of this fascinating city. It is a labyrinth of
bazaars and stalls and is always hopelessly over crowded: the area
pulses with excitement and and exotic atmosphere.
In the evening after a brief doze I go
out to sample the nightlife and decide to walk though the Muslim
Quarter which at night absolutely electric but again (like most of
Xian City Centre) impossibly crowded. I have a hot dog at the hostel
before I go.
The Bell and Drum Towers are lit up at
night making for a great spectacle. I seem to have arrived at a very
fortuitous time, as there is a big lantern festival on the City Walls.
I visit the main drag of the bars in
Xian old town. Most are overpriced and hawkers come and try to drag
you inside: of course I ignore them. I do go into one or two, my
favourite is 3 and 4 bar where I manage to have a couple of games of
pool, beer is cheap at RMB 10 (£1) a bottle. Many Chinese bars are
not what you would expect. They are designed as areas for courting
couples engaging in mating rituals or groups playing cards, sitting
on sofas. They don't have a drinking culture the way we do in
England, then again who does? I have a few funny moments when guys
try to make me sit with a stranger or chase me up the stairs when I
do enter a bar. I do tend to be a bar fly when I can!
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