Some fifteen years ago, I recall being dropped off by taxi pretty well outside the gate of Pit 1, pushing my way through a throng of trinket sellers to buy my ticket and wandering directly into the main exhibit (Pit 2 being under construction). Having casually wandered around for half an hour, I remember grabbing a corn on the cob from a street stall and hopping back into a cab back to town.
Now it's a case of walking half a kilometer through a vast car park full of coaches and cars, pushing your way through a gaggling throng of smartly dressed official guides to a Disneyland style ticketing office. Ticket in hand you then have to work your way through row upon row of neat souvenir shops, coffee shops, restaurants, book stalls and a multitude of street vendors for a good 20 minutes before reaching the bag scan machines manned by armed security and a battery of ticket turnstiles. For RMB5 per person you can bypass the whole fiasco by golf buggy that runs through a newly built park behind the shops - but only on the way in. There is no avoiding it on the way back. And needless to say the place is packed!
Eves dropping on a bunch of foreigners on the bus back to town discussing the possibility of the whole thing being an elaborate Chinese government scam, made us smile. There was a serious edge to their conversation and if I hadn't seen it back in the '90s, I could have found myself wondering.
All in all, an interesting day trip - the historical value of which is indeed huge but the overall experience a little tiresome. I personally found the 14 km walk around Xian's ancient city wall far more enjoyable, dispute the constant, "Are we there yet?" that seems to be following me around. Next stop - Beijing and a week of intensive Mandarin lessons... roll on Mongolia.
- Posted by Dave using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Xian, China
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