9th November 2010, Xian
In The Lobby of The Sunflower Shangri La Hotel. Xian
We awoke at 7:30am (ouch) after a quiet but broken sleep. A knock on the door signaled coffee. We readied ourselves for a new day, braced ourselves and dived off the train in Xian and straight into…. A building site!
The station it seems is under re-construction; this did not help a pair of tourists desperately searching for a cab. We were asked by many people if we wanted a cab, but brushed them off looking for the cab rank not wishing to be ripped off or literally taken for a ride.
We got to the busy road and found no cab rank and none of the passing empty cabs would stop for us, we were deflated. One guy who had given us his business card explained that the cabs could not stop here and we had to go to the other side of the station. Reluctantly, we agreed to take his offer of 10 Yuen (about GBP 1) to take us to our Hotel. He had a nice Hyundai Starex and drove well through the busy rush hour traffic. Of course he was touting to take us to the Terracotta soldiers, we told him we’d consider it for tomorrow. I gave him 50 Yuen and told him to keep the change.
The service at the Hotel (Sun Flower Shangri La) was fantastic. Gone were the long faces we saw in Beijing. The doorman was dressed as an ancient worrier, and the hotel lobby was impressive. An efficient check-in; we were upgraded to a suite (more like an apartment) and given the keys right away in spite of it being 9am.
We staggered upstairs, ordered room service breakfast, bathed and caught up on washing, sleep, log etc.
I asked the concierge about a trip to the Terracotta soldiers, RMB 850 (car) + 350 (guide) + 220 (entry). Peter the driver who brought us to the Hotel) had offered us 390 plus entry fee. The blogs on the Internet said a guide was not necessary, so I called Peter and booked his Hyundai for 9am the next day.
A short walk around the area gave us the impression of a city far less sophisticated than Shanghai or Beijing, no surprises there; but the corollary of that was that everyone looked a lot happier and in less of a hurry. We noticed younger people, children and smiling faces.
Sadly we did not spy any particular eating houses which looked as though they might suit our taste, so we headed back to the Hotel and sank a couple of draft Tsing Tao; by now we had discovered how much nicer draft Tsing Tao is compared to bottled Tsing Tao, although we have found a “dry” version of the bottled stuff which is also to be recommended.
Dinner had to be the posh Chinese Restaurant in the Hotel:
Rice wine marinated spare ribs
Baby octopus in spicy sauce (cold)
Fried Cod medallions in cheese sauce and chestnuts
Plain race
Washed down with excellent Jasmine Tea.
Not the best Chinese meal so far but not bad, Tes ate most of the Octopus and I polished off the ribs which were fantastic. The fish was really interesting it was fried with a very light batter and a light cheesy sauce with fresh chestnuts. It was faintly reminiscent of Lobster Thermidor, as for the chestnuts they were superb, but an acquired taste, rather like Marmite, you hate ‘em or you love ‘em.
Off to bed, a big day tomorrow:
Yummy
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