My wife and I took the bullet train from Tianjin (where we have family) and arrived at Xi'anbei Zhan (North Raliway Station) at about 10:30pm, where Roger, our excellent guide, and our driver for the two tour days met us and took us to our hotel, the Grand Noble, booked for us by China Highlights as part of the tour.
The next day (Tuesday) the rain tipped down. Roger took met us at the hotel and took us to see the utterly amazing Terracotta Warriors. Thankfully this was after the mid-autumn festival holiday week, so there were (by China's standards) relatively few visitors. Roger gave us a very good account of the history of Xi'an (previously Chang'An) and of the warriors themselves. We had plenty of time there to marvel at these ancient portraits of real soldiers done in terracotta. We found the whole experience deeply moving.
After lunch and a beautifully refined and delicate tea ceremony in a nearby restaurant, we went to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi'an itself. Roger told us the story of Buddhism and explained the history of the pagoda itself. I have some knowledge of Buddhism, so it was interesting to hear how the story of the Buddha and Buddhism unfold from the Chinese, rather than the Indian, perspective.
Because my wife and I were the only people in the group, this was in effect a private tour and we could have some really quite deep conversations with Roger.
Roger then took us to see a Chinese calligrapher who volunteers at the pagoda. The calligrapher demonstrated the development of one or two beautiful brush-written Chinese characters and then asked our names, which he "translated" into Chinese characters. Would we like to buy a scroll with our names in Chinese characters on? We said yes, and our friend said his calligraphy was not good enough; he would ask his calligraphy teacher to brush the characters onto rice paper backed with silk. We also bought a painting of cranes flying on a yellow background. We learned that every colour has a meaning.
I have to say that I felt a tad uncomfortable about this episode. China Highlights make it clear in their material that their customers will not be taken to shops, etc. However, without asking whether we wanted to do this or not, Roger ushered us into the calligrapher's studio. It was not clear whether or not we were "expected" to buy some of the (admittedly beautiful) art work. We did - and the prices were modest - and were thanked for our donation to the good work of the pagoda with disadvantaged children. It was an ambiguous situation, but my wife and I felt the outcome was good in the end.
In the evening we went to a dumpling banquet and Tang Dynasty show. This was obviously a standard tourist attraction. Most of the audience were Western foreigners, some of whom we'd seen earlier in the day at the Terracotta Warriors. This was extra to the cost of the tour we'd booked, and was good fun - music on traditional Chinese instruments, singing and dancing. Not sure this was all from the Tang Dynasty, but it beat sitting in our hotel room avoiding the rain.
Wednesday was our second morning - and the rain absolutely pelted down all day. We spent a chunk of the morning in the excellent and fascinating Shaanxi History Museum. Thereafter we went to the Muslim Quarter, with its bright colours, flashing lights, butchers, street vendors, restaurants. The street streamed with rain and was rather greasy, probably because of all the meat that is prepared there. We dodged the electric scooters (I thought of these commonly used vehicles as "silent death") and had a delicious lunch in one of the Muslim Quarter restaurants. My wife and I are not helpful to tour guides when it comes to food. My wife's a vegetarian and I am allergic to shellfish, such as shrimps and prawns, which abound in Chinese cuisine. But despite this, we found a combination of food that would satisfy us all. On this occasion, Roger joined us for lunch (included in the price of our tour) and, with a view to avoiding the rain, we sat and talked and talked together.
But the rain did not let up. If anything, it was more torrential in the afternoon. And it was cold - about 10ºC. We walked through the Muslim Quarter streets, trying to avoid - not always successfully - the deepest puddles, and came to the Great Mosque. What a beautiful place is the Great Mosque. A Chinese version of a mosque, with courtyards and gardens, a low minaret in the middle of one of the courtyards, traditional Chinese architecture. I so wish we'd been able to see it on a sunny day, but the rain lent atmosphere to the visit, I guess.
By this time, I was feeling distinctly queasy and unwell. My wife and I were, despite being well dressed, both shivering. We agreed with Roger that a visit to the city wall was out of the question, so we repaired to our hotel at around 3.30pm and spent the rest of the day there.
Fortunately, the next day, Thursday, started out clear and sunny, so Roger took us to the city wall at 8.00am, before our transfer to the railway station to catch our train back to Tianjin. We didn't take up the cycling option - it's at least 30 years since either of us has ridden a bicycle and we are closely approaching 70. But we walked and talked, and Roger took lots of pictures of us. He also shared some of the story of his family, including his grandfather, to whom he is devoted.
The walls are most impressive - a must see - but get there early; the Chinese are great tourists and there were bus loads of people going onto the wall even at 8 o'clock in the morning.
Finally, Roger and our driver took us to Xi'anbei (Xi'an North) Railway Station – which is around 45 minutes from the city centre. Roger saw us into the station and made sure we were at the right gate for our train. We parted on really good terms.
Roger was an excellent guide, although his English was a little hard to follow at times. He was a warm hearted 26 year old with a degree in English Tourism (presumably tourism for English speakers in China). He was dedicated to ensuring that we had everything we needed. And I can highly recommend China Highlights as a tour company. Highly efficient and nothing was too much trouble.
The only problem was that Xi'an deserves more than two days and a bit. We may return.