Trip to Xi'An China, flying China Eastern, Sheraton North

[Detion]

didi closed down? didi chuxing app. who bought over Uber China. I went last year to ningbo last oct still have leh.. No report of it closing down also.

[Boringchap]

Now let me review the return journey, Xi'An to Shanghai to Singapore.  Given our experience coming up, we were now mentally prepared for anything!  As we deliberately took a slow and easy pace during this holiday, we were very well rested.

 

Our fight plan was as follows:

MU 5010 - dep Xian 0850, arr Shanghai 1125
MU 565 - dep Shanghai 1435, arr Shanghai 2010

 

We stayed at the Regal Airport hotel, Xianyang Airport the night before.  We didn't want to have to rush to the airport that morning (even though frankly our flight wasn't that early), and just wanted to take it slow and easy.

 

The Regal Airport Hotel was pretty nice, for an Airport Hotel.  It was directly connected to the Terminal that we were departing from via an aero-bridge.  Here is a video of the room we stayed in, which included access to the Exec lounge.  When we arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon, we found it to be very quiet!  I did wonder whether we were the only customers.  It was really, really quiet.  In the Exec lounge, probably no more than 2 to 3 other couples.  Later in the evening, I saw a good number of Hainan Airlines cabin crew, and realised that they stayed at this hotel.  

 

Here is a video I made of the room we stayed for a night, and the Exec lounge.  

 

Given that we had so much time, we also took a walk from the hotel to the airport, just to familiarize ourselves with the route the next day.  It was very easy.  Terminal 3 of Xian Xianyang was also connected to Terminal 2 (and apparently Terminal 1, but we never got to Terminal 1).  At one end of Terminal 2, there was a food court that had a good number of stalls serving local food.

 

A video of our walk.

 

The next morning, after a good buffet breakfast at the Regal Hotel, we headed to check in.  Looking at my flight app, the departure for MU5010 was still reported to be on schedule, however, the aircraft looked to be delayed by a bit.  MU5010 flies from Moscow, to Xi'An, and onward to Shanghai. 

 

Anyway, we didn't want to risk missing the plane (or maybe my flight app wasn't accurate), so we checked out of the hotel and headed over to Xian Xianyang Airport Terminal 3 in good time.  There was a dedicated check-in area for China Eastern, which was very near the security clearance. 

 

After checking in (our luggage would be checked through to Singapore), clearing security was quite quick (there were priority lines for Premium Pax) and we quickly found our way to the China Eastern Lounge.  Just follow the signs, not difficult.  The entrance to the lounge looked like this.  I read online that China Eastern operated another lounge at the other end of the concourse.  But this lounge was very near our gates, so made a lot more sense to wait here, at the V1 lounge.

 

  

Busy Lounge
Inside the lounge, we found it quite busy indeed.  I made a video of the lounge, and you can see the crowds at the dining area.  There was a decent selection of food, and China Eastern served their signature beef noodles in this lounge too.   Indeed, the Chinese love their noodles, no doubt about that.

 

Nice Blue Seats
Here are some photos of the lounge.  Nice blue seats.  They looked traditional, but they were pretty comfortable.  You could actually snooze on them (we did for a while) by lounging forward.  The seats gave good support to the next! There were charging points on the floor, in between the seats, making it convenient to charge our devices.  Of course, I had to use my universal plug. You can watch my video at 5:54 to see the charging points.

 

Rather Sunny!
At times, it felt rather warm, because the morning sun was pouring in.  Yes, this lounge gets the morning sun.

 

Taste of Home

A sign advertising their noodles. 

 

First Class Ticket?
Was a bit tickled when I saw my boarding passes (Red) which stated First Class.  No, we didn't buy First class tickets, ours was Business class fare.  However, it seems that within China, they seem to mix Business and First.  Maybe the concept is like in the USA, where they call domestic business as First Class.  Anyway, it didn't matter, as long as we got our seats!

 

True enough, our flight was delayed by almost an hour, due to late arrival of aircraft from Moscow.  MU5010 is a service from Shanghai to Moscow, via Xi'An.  So the plane came in from Moscow.  It was also for this reason that our aircraft today was the Airbus A330-300 series designed for long-haul travel, rather than an Airbus A320 or Boeing 737.  Well, this slight delay didn't bother us too much since we had sufficient layover time at Shanghai as buffer, and waiting in the lounge was comfortable (we found a spot which didn't have the morning sun).  We could wait until the boarding announcements were made before heading to the gate.

 

 

[Boringchap]

MU 5010 Xi'an to Shanghai

Again, we had to take a bus from our gate to the airplane.  Truly, a bus airline!  We got up the mini-bus for Premium Pax, and the ride was about 5 minutes to the aircraft.  I made this video of our flight experience from Xi'An to Shanghai, on board the China Eastern Airbus A330-300 series aircraft.

 

 

This Airbus was also retrofitted with their latest cabin product, which looked very similar to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that we flew on from Singapore to Shanghai.  Some pictures of the cabin (in a 1-2-1 configuration) below.

Notice the slightly staggered layout of the window seats - alternate between true window seat and nearer the aisle seat.

 

A 1-2-1 formation.  Very spacious, private feel.  Overall, a very solid hard product.

 

The IFE screens were fairly big.  Good enough for me to watch a movie.

 

When we flew from Shanghai to Xi'An a few days back on a late flight (dep 2130hrs), the catering was extremely underwhelming - 2 tarts and 5 slices of fruit!  So, I was curious, this time what would we get for a morning flight?  A slice of bread and a drink perhaps?  LOL!

Asian or Western style breakfast?
Fortunately, China Eastern did better than that.  We had a choice of Asian or Western style breakfast.  I chose Asian, not knowing what it entailed. But at least we were decent a decent breakfast (local Xi'An style), which I quite enjoyed.  Bear in mind this is a 1hr 50min flight, so my expectations weren't sky high.  Here is breakfast I enjoyed.  Do watch my video if you want more details of the food, as I examine the food tray more closely.

 

 

The flight path from Xi'An to Shanghai wasn't straight.  Wonder why.  Maybe to avoid weather, or traffic congestion, or military airspace.  Well, as long as our pilot got us to our destination safely, I can't complain.

 

Weather was bright and sunny as we approached Shanghai Pudong.  Managed to get a very nice view of Shanghai Hongqiao Airport from the air.  There was an aircraft landing on the runway too. Cool!

 

 

 

[Boringchap]

Arrival into Shanghai Pudong
Landing was smooth. Recall, when we arrived in Shanghai en-route to Xi'An, we had assumed that our onward flight was on track. This time round, I immediately turned on my flight app which could show me the arrivals/departures at the airport. Yes, our onward flight was on schedule.  Of course, don't just trust the app, check the departure boards in the airport itself.  It looked ok.  Phew!

So we made our way past security and immigration, to the departure area for international flights at Shanghai Pudong, and took the escalator up to the China Eastern Lounge.  This was supposedly China Eastern's flagship lounge.  It was rather crowded when we got there, as it was lunch hour, but we could still find a nice table for the two of us on the first level.

 

 

Food - I had some noodles and 2 servings of this Nasi Goreng style rice with fish, and I couldn't resist trying that bun.

 

The second floor of the lounge was a lot more quiet, with many seats and very few passengers.  Head up here if you want a quite place to nap or chill. Of course, don't forget to set your alarm for your boarding time!

 

Boarding Time
It was time for us to board the aircraft (we waited till the boarding announcement), and we headed off to our gate.  Our aircraft was boarding from Gate 212, which was a bus boarding gate.  When we reached the gate, they had already started general boarding.  It didn't look like there was a line for priority passengers!

Well, we just followed the other business class passengers who went to the front of the line, showed the staff our tickets, and they let us through.  We headed to the mini-van for premium passengers and enjoyed our final ride on this same type of mini-bus.  We have had so many bus rides on this trip that I've lost count!

The aircraft that would be flying us to Singapore was a rather new Boeing 787 Dreamliner.  Every passenger, premium or not, had to use the same staircase up to the airplane.  I took this photo to show my parents.  The steps were steep.  Given their age, I had advised them not to take China Eastern.  Not sure if my mother can make her way up and down such steps.

 

Another look at the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.  Pretty neat!  We weren't in any rush to board, so we let the other passengers board first.  The weather was great, and I took many photos of the plane.  See the front gear - serial number of this plane was B-209N.  She was delivered to Shanghai Pudong on 31st March 2019.  Very new!

 

Flight Review - Shanghai to Singapore on the China Eastern Dreamliner in Business Class
Here is the flight review video on this Shanghai to Singapore leg.

 

The cabin was beautiful.  Very classy.  For this flight, I was seated in 8L, which was a window seat. (as in right next to the window)

 

The welcome drink was champagne, orange juice, or water. I chose the champagne. This time round, the menus were placed at our seats. I took a glance through, and from the applicable menu for our flight. China Eastern has the habit of printing a single menu that can last them for many, many months. If you watch 3:30 of my video you will see that the menu is colour coded - Red for Odd month 1st to 15th, Orange for Odd month 16th to 31st, Blue for Even month 1st to 15th and Green for even month 16th to 31st.

 

I guess this system saves them printing costs. For my dinner, I chose the 3 cup chicken with rice. The cabin crew asked whether I would like dinner to be served immediately upon takeoff, or later. As our takeoff time was about 2:30pm (i.e. too early for dinner), I asked to be served later. The crew said the service would be at 5:30pm, as landing was slightly past 7pm. I said ok. After the flight took off, cabin lights were dimmed, and most passengers were watching movies or took an afternoon map. The crew came around with drinks service, and I got some white wine to go with the mixed nuts that they gave out. It was good. The seat could be converted into a flat bed easily (push button) and I took a short nap. For some reason, I woke up automatically, just before dinner time. Perhaps I was getting hungry! Dinner was served. It wasn't like gourmet food, but the taste suited me just fine.

My tray table was ready for dinner service.  They gave me the red wine first.

 

My 3-cup chicken with rice meal.  The taste wasn't bad at all!

 

Well, that pretty much wraps up my Trip Report, Xi'An to Shanghai to Singapore on China Eastern Business class.  This was our first time on China Eastern, and putting aside the slight trauma we had with delays and cancelled flights on Singapore to Xi'An leg, it was a great experience for the price we had paid! 

Would we fly with China Eastern again?  Yes!  My wife is already planning our next trip (looking at flying China Eastern Business class again, if the fares are good!) But we would also know that their flights may be delayed/cancelled etc, so we would be mentally prepared for it all.   

 

For the rest of this thread, I'll put up some of my videos/photos from the other parts of my Xi'An trip, when I get around to sorting them out.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 2, 2019 by Boringchap

[Celicar]

Thanks for the write-ups. Is your flight app some sort of international one? I don't fly often at all, but just curious, in case I want to download.

[Boringchap]

Thanks for the write-ups. Is your flight app some sort of international one? I don't fly often at all, but just curious, in case I want to download.

Not advertising for them - I use Flightradar24 on the iPhone. Downloaded from the App Store. I use the free version, good enough.

[Boringchap]

In Xi'An, we stayed a total of 5 nights at the Sheraton Xi'An North Hotel, followed by 1 night at the Regal Airport hotel as mentioned earlier.  Take note there are 2 Sheratons in Xian, one is called Sheraton Xi'an North City Hotel, and the other is simply named Sheraton Xi'an.

 

When researching for the trip, we were looking for a very nice hotel stay.  So we considered other Marriott Bonvoy hotels including the Westin Xi'An (which looked awesome in the pictures!) as well as the newer Renaissance and W Xi'An.

 

After reading through some online reviews (including on the Marriott website and Tripadvisor), we decided to go for the Marriott Xi'An North primarily because of its location.  We needed close access to the Metro to get around, especially to the Xi'an North Railway station for the High Speed Rail, and the Sheraton Xi'An North was located right next to a metro station.

 

I even wrote to Westin Xi'An to ask them how far their hotel was to the metro, and they told me 700M. 

 

To make the trip even more special, we decided to go with a Club Room, which included access to the Club Lounge.  Through the Marriott app, the rate we got was under $4,400 CNY for 5 nights, i.e. approximately $872 SGD for 5 nights, or about $174.40 per night.  This club room rate was also significantly cheaper than the club room rates for Westin Xi'An and the newer Renaissance.  Well, thinking that Sheraton can't be that bad, we went for it. 

 

It was a good decision.  The hotel was very well located, right next to the metro station (Long Shou Yuan) which was on the same line to the North Xi'An High Speed Rail station.  3 stops south on this line was the Bell Tower station.   We have stayed in nice hotel rooms before, and this one was pretty good, though not the newest.

 

Our bed for 5 nights. 

 

Club Floor.  Our room was on the 21st floor.

 

Here is a video I made of the room.  Also showed you the Room Service menu, which frankly wasn't too expensive. 

 

What was exceptional, was the Club Lounge.  We ended up having our breakfast there every day, even though we were entitled to have our breakfast downstairs at the larger cafe too.  We also took our dinners there.  We liked the intimate and more private setting. 

 

A view of the lounge, which was classy.

 

Another view.

 

Two videos.  First, breakfast in the Club Lounge.

 

Second, dinner & Happy Hour at the Club Lounge - 5pm to 8pm every day.  My wife and I weren't very adventurous when it came to food.  So we were more than happy to have our meals in the lounge.  We didn't really try the local food much.  The fact that the hotel was so centrally located also made it easy for us to come back to the hotel at around 5pm to eat dinner and re-charge, before going out again.

 

In particular, the desserts were fantastic! 2 pictures.

 

Yummy!

 

Indeed, on one of the evenings, after dinner in the lounge, we went out again to the Bell Tower, and ultimately found ourselves at the famous Muslim Quarter (Food Street).  The sights and sounds were incredible!  Full of life.  But, I didn't try any food. 

 

 

 

[Boringchap]

Let me continue with some more videos and pictures of some of the sites we visited. Today, we would be visiting the Longmen Grottos.  Longmen what?  The Chinese name is 龙门石窟 Lóngmén Shíkū  , or literally Dragon Gate Caves, or Grottos. (So nothing to do with Longman Jeans)

 

In 2000 the site was inscribed upon the UNESCO World Heritage List as “an outstanding manifestation of human artistic creativity,” for its perfection of an art form, and for its encapsulation of the cultural sophistication of Tang China

 

Now, getting to this UNESCO World Heritage site would be interesting.  It was located near the city of Luoyang. The distance between Xi'An and Luoyang was 380km (236 miles).  This was farther than Singapore to Kuala Lumpur! (about 350km)

 

How to get there?  High Speed Rail of course!  The journey time would take us about 1.5 hours.  To achieve this, the train would have to achieve an average speed of 253km/h. Not bad at all!  This would be our first time on board a China High Speed Rail train.  Excited!

 

I made 2 videos to remember this experience.  Here they are, followed by some pictures.

 

In this first video, we make our way from Sheraton Xi'An North, via Xi'An Metro, to the Xi'An High Speed Rail station. After getting our tickets, we got into this huge station (the largest in Northwest China). As we had a bit of time, and also because our train ride was 1.5 hours long, we decided to get some food to eat on the train.  I got a KFC burger - easy to eat!  The train ride was very smooth and punctual.  In the video, I also show you the toilet in the train.  It was clean.

 

In this second video, I immediately show you the highlight (the most famous cave) of Longmen Grottoes - this huge rock carving of a giant Buddha and many other figures.  You can find a full description of what this place is about on this Wikipedia entry.  We don't believe in Buddha, but we were here to admire the rock carvings!  Overall, it was quite a sight  Pity, however, this place has been badly destroyed and mutilated over the years.  We were told during the Cultural Revolution, the damage was super extensive.  So we saw many empty caves, headless statues etc.  We didn't spend too long here, but managed to see the most famous cave which is at the start of my video below.

 

Now, some pictures to follow.   

 

When buying ticket for High Speed Rail, you need ID.  For us, it would be passports.  No passport, no ticket.

 

Xi'An North High Speed Rail Station was huge, the largest station in Northwest China.

 

2nd class cabin, it is in a 2-3 configuration. Comfortable, and trains were punctual.  The seats weren't very wide, but the incline was very good! Can easily take a nap.

 

Toilets were clean.  This one was a squat toilet.  My video shows you more of the train toilet. (yes, I went to do a toilet inspection.) They had wash basin with soap. Toilet also had sufficient toilet paper.

 

We brought our own food and water to eat and drink on board.  Doing so allowed us to head to the tourist site immediately once the train arrived at Luoyang Longmen.  Didn't want to waste any time finding food.  Hit the destination refuelled and ready to go!

 

From the High Speed Rail station, we took a taxi to the Visitor Center.  At the Visitor Center, we bought our tickets to enter the site.  There was an optional electric cart.  Having read earlier reviews, we took the cart as well.  It wasn't expensive, and the ride was rather long.  Saved us plenty of walking.  You can see snippets of this ride in the second video.

 

After we reached the main site, there was naturally plenty of walking and stair climbing to do.  Didn't want to tire ourselves so early!  These are the steps with the wooden/golden handrails that would bring us to the most famous cave.  This is featured in my second video.

 

Unfortunately, the Longmen Grottos haven't been well preserved.  Plenty of damage.  Oh well.

 

This angle shows you the steps to climb up, to see the various 'holes'.  Frankly, more empty holes than statues now.

 

This shows you the interior of one the larger caves.  I'm sure when it was first carved, it would been quite splendid as a piece of art. But, the wear and tear is really quite bad.  Still, you can make out the statues.

 

Overall, it was an interesting visit, and only made possible by the very impressive and reliable China High Speed Rail system.  So the lesson for me, for this field trip, was not so much this UNESCO world heritage site, but more of just how well connected Chinese cities are now with their High Speed Rail system!

 

 

Edited June 9, 2019 by Boringchap

[Boringchap]

Mount Hua, Hua Shan, West Peak and South Peak from Xi'An

 

Today, we decided to make a day trip to visit Mount Hua, or the famous HuaShan.  Mount Hua (simplified Chinese: 华山) is a mountain located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) east of Xi'an. It is the western mountain of the Five Great Mountains of China, and has a long history of religious significance. The mountain is classified as five main peaks, of which the highest is the South Peak at 2,154.9 metres (7,070 ft).

 

Public Transport to Mt Hua

We went by ourselves, by public transport. It was an interesting journey, with many transfers. Sequence as follows:

 

1. Take the Xi'An Metro from our Hotel (Sheraton Xi'An North) to Xi'An North High Speed Rail Station

2. Buy High Speed Rail ticket, take the High Speed Train to HuaShan north Station (120km)

3. From station, took a taxi to visitor center. Along the way, taxi driver brought us to a tour agent to buy our tickets, as the price was the same, and we would be able to skip the queues at the visitor center.

4. Arrive at visitor center, entered the gates, take the blue bus to West Peak Cable Car base station.

5. Arrive at West Peak base station - it was a very long uphill walk (many stairs) to the cable car proper! We took the chair lift to go up.

6. Then we finally get onto the West Peak Cable Car, which brings us to the West Peak.

7. From here, it is on foot - we only visited West and South peaks.  We only spent about 2 hours on the mountain top.

 

West to South peak was an uphill walk.  So walking back from South to West was downhill.  We headed back to the cable car station and went down to the West Peak base station. Then you need to take the blue bus back to the visitor center.  From there, we took a taxi to the Hua Shan north High Speed Rail, got our tickets, and took the High Speed rail back to Xi'An North, and then the Xi'An metro back to our hotel!  Mission accomplished!

 

High Speed Rail to Hua Shan North

I made four videos to give you a snippet of the entire experience.   In this first video, we take the High Speed Rail from Xi'An North, to Hua Shan north.  Then, we take a taxi to buy tickets and then the blue bus to the West Peak Base station.  (#1 to #4 in the list above)

 

 

Chair Lift (and roller coaster ride back down)

In this second video, it shows you the chair lift.  It was 30RMB per person, each way.  A bit steep for such a short ride but it was well worth it because we didn't want to tire ourselves out even before we got to the mountain top!  In the video, you can see how many steps you need to climb.

 

Cable Car Ride up to the West Peak

In this third video, it shows you the cable car ride (almost the full ride) up to the West Peak station.  It was scary! But the views were breathtaking.  Check out the hole in the mountain as the cable car approached the West Peak.  Yes, they had to blow a hole in the mountain in order to build this cable car station.

 

Our Destination - Hua Shan West and South Peaks!

In this fourth and final video, I show you the West Peak and South Peaks.  Gives you a good idea of the walking (and stair climbing) that you would need to do, when you go up the mountain.  It was crowded, but some told us that the day we were there was already considered not crowded at all!  We believed them because we didn't have wait much at all for the cable car.  On some days, people wait up to 2 hours to get on the cable car.  Scary.

 

After arriving at Hua Shan north, we took a taxi, to a travel agent to buy our tickets and then to the visitor center.

 

Large scale, this place.  Walk towards the mountain!

 

We entered via the 'Tour Group' entrance, as we bought our tickets from a tour agent.  No problems at all.  After that, we took the blue bus (40 minute ride), which brought us to this place.  There is no other way to get here - you have to take the internal shuttle. 

 

You would think that you had reached the cable car station.  Not yet!  There were many more steps to climb.  We were greeted by this beautiful archway.  Look beyond, at all the steps leading upwards!

 

So, we decided to take the chair lift to save us some walking.  Very few people took this chairlift, because it wasn't cheap.  30RMB per person, one way.

 

Now, even after the chairlift, you had to walk up this steep flight of stairs, in order to finally reach the West Peak cable car station!

 

Fortunately for us, the line for the cable car was very short.  We hardly had to wait.  The cable car ride was rather long (20 minutes) and the views were simply spectacular.

 

We reached the station, which was literally carved out of the side of the mountain.  Look at the barricades, to cope with the crowds.

 

We were going up to the West Peak! You can't get lost up here.  Many people.  Well sign-posted.  Follow this path up, to the West Peak.  See my video for more footage on what you can expect.

 

People buy locks and ribbons.  Quite a sight.

 

To get up to the highest point of the West Peak, this was the most challenging part.  Ladder-like steps cut into the road.  You need to use your hands to pull yourself up the chains.  Let's go! In case you are wondering, no, you don't have to come down via this route. In fact, it is a one-way street.  This way is to go up only.  Coming down is by another route, and it wasn't half as steep.  PHEW! 

 

From West Peak, we headed to the South Peak.  It was uphill.  South Peak was the highest peak.  Again, 99% of the time it was very well cut steps like these, which you just climb up and down.  The terrain only gets a bit more challenging when you reach the actual peak itself (right on top).  When tired, just rest.  You can see somebody resting on the steps. 

 

It was like a party, climbing up to the South Peak.  Some even turned up in party clothes.  As we headed to the peak (nearer the top), it got more and more congested.  Can't imagine if the full load were here.  Today was considered a light crowd day.  

 

The South peak was even more crowded than the West Peak.  There were even Chinese tourists having a huge quarrel. This is just one example of the hustle and bustle of the mountain top.  This place is very commercialized, and with the crowds, it does make it a lot more difficult to admire the scenery, because it is so crowded and noisy.  That said, enjoy the views! 

 

The din aside, the views were gorgeous.  Here is a view of the West Peak, from the South Peak.  

 

On our way back down. Another view of the West Peak Cable Car Station.  Cool stuff.

[may_dream]

i went to Xi'an recently too... was there for 4 days and my main aim is to see the Teracotta army. 

[Boringchap]

i went to Xi'an recently too... was there for 4 days and my main aim is to see the Teracotta army.

Nice. We saw the Teracotta warriors too. Will put up those pictures here when I have sorted them out.

[t0y0ta]

Nice. We saw the Teracotta warriors too. Will put up those pictures here when I have sorted them out.

 

I am going Shanghai later in the year.

 

Want to check with you, without a chinese e-wallet (Alipay; Weibo Pay etc), did you have problems buying things on the street?

[Boringchap]

I am going Shanghai later in the year.

 

Want to check with you, without a chinese e-wallet (Alipay; Weibo Pay etc), did you have problems buying things on the street?

No problem, they accept cash.

[may_dream]

Nice. We saw the Teracotta warriors too. Will put up those pictures here when I have sorted them out.

i went beijing after Xi'an. went to see great wall and forbidden city.

I am going Shanghai later in the year.

 

Want to check with you, without a chinese e-wallet (Alipay; Weibo Pay etc), did you have problems buying things on the street?

cash still accepted but if want to book cars, then you can't. can only waive for taxi which are not a lot around the streets in Xi'an. but i think shanghai would be better since its a bigger city? 

[Boringchap]

We were in Xi'An, China!  Today, we visited the Terracotta Warriors Museum.  This was on our 'bucket list' coming to Xi'An, so we were definitely excited.   After all, this is arguably the most important reason why tourists visit Xi'An in the first place!

Feeling adventurous, we decided to take the public bus.  After researching on the Internet, we realised that it wasn't difficult.   You just need to find your way to Xi'An Main railway station (not to be confused with Xi'An North High Speed Rail station).  Unfortunately, there wasn't any metro stop near the main railway station, so we took a taxi from our hotel (Sheraton Xi'An North).  The ride didn't take too long, about 15 minutes.

After alighting at the taxi stand, it was a short walk across a public square to a bus bay, where there were many tourist buses waiting.  There were several companies, but they bring you to the same destination, i.e. Terracotta Army Museum, albeit some have slightly different stops.  The bus fare was 7RMB or 8RMB per adult each way (7 or 8 depending on the company you take).  You can pay the bus conductor in cash.

The ride took about an hour.  Once you get off at the bus terminus, it was quite easy to find your way to the visitor entrance (just follow the signs). Buy your tickets and get yourself in!

The video below shows you from the time we arrived at Xi'An Main railway station.   We got on a bus (it was blue in colour) and made our way to the Terracotta Army museum. En-route, we did stop at another tourist site, but that's for another blog post.

The Terracotta Museum itself was huge.  Apparently, the crowds can get overwhelming (just look at the size of the entrance, and the barricades).  Fortunately, it wasn't that crowded when we were there. We got our tickets easily (very short queue) and made our way in.

Pit 1 is the most famous pit.  Take all your pictures there!

 

 

Some photographs to follow.  After buying our tickets, this was the main entrance.  Quite intimidating isn't it!

 

 

A photo of my ticket.  We paid in cash.

 

From the main entrance, you still had to walk about 1KM to get to the main museum proper.  There was some electric cart buggy you could ride (for a fee of course), but I think the ride wasn't worth it.  The ground was very flat and it was an easy walk.  The vast majority walked.

Inside the main Terracotta museum grounds, there are essentially 3 pits that you must visit.  You can find all the detailed descriptions of these pits when you google, so I won't repeat them here.

As many of the reviewers have noted, Pit 1 is the most awesome and most famous.  This is what it looks like.   The scale is mind-boggling. Terracotta Army Pit 1 is an east-west rectangular pit, measuring 230 meters (252 yards) long, 62 meters (68 yards) wide and 4.5 to 6.5 meters (15 to 21 feet) deep.  It is said to contain 6,000 warriors and horses.

 

Another view of Pit 1.

 

Yet another angle.  You can see the soldiers all lined up. Obviously, when they uncovered this gigantic pit in 1976, it wasn't so neat.  Hey, after being buried for 2,000 years, it ain't going to be so neat.

 

Take all your photos in Pit 1 (which is the most well presented Pit), because Pit 2 and Pit 3 have far fewer warriors.  Not that Pit 2 or Pit 3 was any less glamorous in its heyday, but more because they have excavated and restored Pit 1 far more thoroughly. Here is Pit 2 - also very large, but they are still excavating and the works will take decades, if not centuries!

 

Finally, Pit 3 - which is supposedly a command pit.   Pit 3 is the smallest, by far.  Built in the shape of the Chinese character “凹”, the Terracotta Army Pit 3 measures 17.6 meters (19.2 yards) long from east to west, 21.4 meters (23.4 yards) wide from north to south and 4.8 meters (15.7 feet) deep. It can be divided into three parts: chariot and horse chamber, northern wing room, and southern wing room. It is thought that the northern wing room was used to pray for victory and the southern one for collecting military tactics. A total of 68 lifelike terracotta warriors were excavated from this pit, 42 from the southern wing room and 22 from the northern one. Sadly, many of them are missing their heads. The archaeologists also found a lot of well-preserved bronze weaponry, as well as gold, stone and bronze decorations, inside Pit 3. A distinctive chariot equipped with four horses was discovered inside the chamber of the pit.  (https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/terra_cotta_army/pit_3.htm)

 

 

It doesn't really take that long to do the Terracotta Warriors museum.  As shared earlier the bus ride from the Xi'An main railway station took about an hour.  If you want to speed things up a bit, you could hire a driver, or get a taxi, instead of the public bus.  Obviously that would cost you more, but if you are short of time and want more comfort, it may be the better option, and the price wouldn't break the bank especially if you can share the ride with 3-4 people. 

 

Overall, am glad that we managed to visit the Terracotta Warriors.  One of the 'must-sees' in Xi'An, China.  Awesome. 

 

Thanks for reading!