Xi'an Tour

Although enjoying the "Ancient Capital of the Thirteen Dynasties" ^one Luoyang, as it is called, has never felt like an "ancient capital" since I went to school. This feeling is probably caused by the fact that the school is located in a new area and there are no old buildings around. It's not that I didn't go out much. I have been to many famous scenic spots in Luoyang, such as Longmen Grottoes, Lijingmen, Mingtan, Sui Tang Botanical Garden, and National Garden. However, these scenic spots didn't give me the feeling of "Oh, this is Luoyang!" Instead, it was the insects that fell on the clothes on the plane trees on the roadside in summer, and the layer after layer of haze in front of me in winter, which was even more impressive.

The ancient capital should have many ancient buildings, I think so. So this time, my classmates and I took advantage of a few days free from school ahead of schedule to visit Xi'an, which is also known as the "Ancient Capital of the Thirteen Dynasties".

DAY 1 August 29

set out

We set out from Luoyang at 3pm Beijing time. In the middle, I dragged my classmates to take the bus in the opposite direction, which delayed some time. Fortunately, there was no problem, We ( tóng xué ) I immediately called a taxi to rush to the railway station and arrived 20 minutes before the train left.

Going to Wuhan the year before last really left a psychological shadow on me. Now that I have caught up with it, I don't need to worry about the plan change caused by delay. We slowly ranked at the end of the line. This time, we didn't go home. There were no big bags or small bags of luggage, so there was no need to worry. What's more, there is still plenty of time to get on the train. We just need to find a seat and sit down and wait for the official departure.

I checked the map before departure. The straight-line distance from Luoyang Station to Xi'an Station is about 330 kilometers, and the train runs for five and a half hours. It doesn't seem very long.

I was so excited that I ignored the emptiness that the five hour drive might bring, and I didn't have any preparation for recreation. Therefore, after boredom takes up most of the driving time, I can only kill time by watching people nearby. There were probably two students going to school sitting opposite us, who didn't like to be accosted; Behind me are a group of people playing poker, probably also tourists to Xi'an; Across the aisle are homecoming people with local accent, talking and laughing. If my phone hadn't run out of power, I wouldn't care what kind of people are around. I talked about his story with my classmates, or dozed off for a while. I have never sat in a hard seat for more than half an hour before. This time, five and a half hours is really too much for me. Plan to take high-speed rail or bullet train when you return to school.

At around six o'clock, the train notice may be half an hour late. Sure enough, everyone was a little impatient, and the carriage became lively. An uncle was very active - he was in his 30s, in fact - and introduced Xi'an's local conditions and customs to the tourists nearby, warning them about the killing places. I don't remember the details. What impressed him was that he took off his trousers in public and put on a pair of sweatpants.

At last, we arrived at the station at about 8:45. It seems that we were not much late, but almost arrived on time. Maybe the train was smooth all the way, so the driver accelerated. When I got out of the car, I took out my mobile phone and took this picture with high dynamic blur and low resolution.

This is the time for returning to school, and students with suitcases can be seen everywhere. It is precisely because of the large increase in the flow of people that the security exit station is full of special police on duty. We crossed the sea of people and walked to the exit. Not far from the exit, we could see that the incoming recruits were lined up in a neat square array. Maybe they were not recruits, but the special police on call. If you look up a little, you can see the city wall with neon lights. No wonder the lyrics say that "Xi'an people's train is under the city wall of Xi'an people", because the railway station was built under the city wall. In order not to disturb the pedestrians behind me, I took out my mobile phone and quickly pressed the shutter. This time, it's not so blurry. The camera shortcut button of Sony mobile phone is really easy to use at this time.

Get out of the railway station, have dinner at the Golden Arch Gate, and take the last bus to the hotel. In terms of transportation, I can use the NFC function of Xiaomi 5 to brush the subway, students use Alipay to pay, and I pay for the bus. It is very convenient to pay by mobile phone. At least you don't have to queue up to get a card or buy a ticket, and you don't have to bring change. By the way, the whole journey is based on saving money, including subway, bus and No. 11 bus.

When you get to the hotel, put down your carry on luggage. Although the quality of the hotel selected by the students is not good, its geographical location is first-class. Go out and turn right to the subway. A little further away is the Bell Tower Hotel. Walk two steps to Huimin Street, next to the Drum Tower and Bell Tower. With convenient transportation and low rent, we planned to live in another place every day, and finally stayed here for three nights, which was later.

The first stop is Huimin Street

Since there is Huimin Street next to us, we also want to see the food in Xi'an, so we decided to go here as the first stop of our trip. The Huimin Street is very busy at night, which is the same as Lijingmen in the old city of Luoyang. The street of Lijingmen is not long. It didn't seem to take much time to walk from the street to the end of the alley that time. My roommate and I bought a chicken called Huaji and a bottle of milk tea in a glass bottle. Beggar's Chicken is very delicious, but I feel that I bought milk tea at a loss, because glass bottles are useless, they have nothing to show, and can't arrange flowers.

Since it is called "Huimin Street", there will be more Muslim things here. There are many Lijingmen, but they have the characteristics of Luoyang, that is, Luoyang Water Mat. I didn't know this until I arrived in Luoyang, but I haven't eaten it for so long. I have a chance to eat it sometime.

We crowded into the surging crowd and followed the direction of the crowd slowly. Sure enough, the snack street is almost the same, just like a mold. Not only are the products sold similar, but also the prices are outrageous. When the students saw a barbecue stand doing well, they went forward to ask the price of the squid kebabs. After hearing the quotation, they were scared to step back two steps. Our economic level, this price is too extravagant.

I suddenly lost interest in Huimin Street, and my classmates were almost the same. So we didn't buy anything, just walked slowly to the depth of the snack street. However, when I saw a cat in a deserted place, I wanted to roll it, but it soon ran into the dark alley.

Finally, we walked the whole Huimin Street, and by the time we came out, it was already twelve o'clock. By this time, the Drum Tower and Bell Tower had closed their doors. It's impossible to go up. Fortunately, the light on the Drum Tower is still on. You can take photos downstairs and sit down on a stone pier to rest.

But it's not good to shoot at the Drum Tower. Instead, I saw a stray cat outside the iron fence. The cat is white and fat, and doesn't look like a wanderer at all.

Xi'an is a place full of cats. Probably.

DAY 2 August 30

It was almost one o'clock when I returned to the hotel yesterday. I talked with my classmates for a long time before going to bed, but I didn't sleep until two o'clock. I had to admire my perseverance, but what I admired more was my classmates' iron fists.

The weather is good today, and the originally planned schedule is well arranged. If you don't hurry up, the plan will be disrupted. We had breakfast at the breakfast stand next to the bus stop. It was not like an egg cake, but it was expensive. Then I checked the route to the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda is in the Great Ci'en Temple. It is said that it is the place where Xuanzang stored his scriptures. Before, he could climb the pagoda, but now he is not allowed to enter. After all, this kind of place makes people carve a "visit here", and the heart of the maintenance personnel will stop beating on the spot.

The second stop is Da Cien Temple

We arrived at the Great Cien Temple at about 8:30. Instead of entering the temple immediately, we walked around the square next to the temple. There seems to be a scenic spot in this square. I don't know whether it's a park or something. I didn't pay much attention to its name. The square is more spacious than expected. There are only three or two people walking in the square, and the clothes should be local people. Tourists are also rare. Now is not the peak season of tourism, and few people are expected.

We walked around carelessly. After passing through a forest, there were more and more people. The aunt dancing in the square, the uncle playing with birds, and the pedestrians enjoying the cool under the tree are very lively.

At half past nine, we decided to go to the Great Mercy Temple. At this time, there were many tourists. Everyone lined up at the entrance, and we took tickets to take photos outside the temple. In fact, I am not interested in temples and the like. I am not interested in Buddhism, because my classmates want to go there, and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda is one of the landmark buildings. Of course, it is necessary to visit it. But it's difficult for me to appreciate it, so I can only try to stay away from the crowd.

At the same time, when the students saw a guide leading the team to explain, they quietly rubbed past to listen, while I stood by and looked around aimlessly. Found a pigeon, a pigeon that is not afraid of people. I want to shoot closer, but it jumped into the bushes.

After that, we strolled for another hour or two. I came out of the Great Cien Temple, found a place to have lunch, went to the Little Wild Goose Pagoda under the sun, and strolled around the Xi'an Museum on the way. At about four o'clock, we decided to take advantage of the good opportunity when the sun was covered by clouds and the temperature was not very hot to go to today's highlight - Xi'an City Wall.

The third stop is Xi'an City Wall

On the way to the city wall, I lost my way again. Fortunately, I met a good old lady, and found the specific location of the city wall. Then I realized that the Xi'an City Wall has entrances in many directions, and we were very lucky to arrive at the city wall farthest from the starting place. The consequence of not doing enough homework is to spend more time, energy and financial resources. After taking out our student cards and buying tickets, we walked up the stone steps beside the city wall together.

Students who have heard of it say that it takes two hours to ride around the city wall. If you start riding at 4:30, you can just ride until it is dark and watch the sunset on the city wall. But we walked a long way before we saw a place to rent bicycles.

Cycling has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that the oncoming wind will become more comfortable due to accelerated cycling, while the disadvantage is that some wonderful parts may be missed. We walked almost twice as fast, trying to get more scenery into our eyes.

So I noticed two cats lying in a tin house lazily basking in the sun.

The clouds in this weather probably absorb all the sounds on the ground, not only the sounds, but also my feelings.

Fourth stop: Bell Tower Hotel

I really don't know why we thought of the Bell Tower Hotel. Anyway, we went there stealthily.

The view on the top of the building is much better than that on the bottom. Standing high, you can see far and wide. However, I was too late to sharpen my skills. It took me a long time to set up the tripod, and I couldn't find the skills after taking photos for a long time.

Before long, the management personnel appeared. It should be said that it will definitely appear, because there is a monitoring probe on the door at the back of our head. It's not that I want to drive us down, just that I can't take photos here, and I left without stopping us. I wanted to shoot for a while, but my classmates were a little worried. I was also afraid of being confiscated, so I left in disgrace.

Downstairs, not far from the clock tower, I set up a tripod. I think it's very shameful to be so formal at my poor level in broad daylight, but only this time, so I don't feel so shy. After taking a blind photo for a while, two students asked me if I could help them. Shame explodes. In a word, I took it, it was very ordinary, but I still sent it to them.

After that, you should practice your photography skills.

Day 3 August 31

To visit Xi'an without seeing the Terracotta Warriors is probably the same as to visit Beijing without climbing the Great Wall. The Museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses is in Lintong District, and we are in Beilin District, which is about 40 kilometers away. So our plan today is to spend the whole day on the road to see the Terracotta Warriors and Horses. Today's weather is overcast, but it's a good day to go out for sightseeing.

Fifth stop: Terracotta Warriors and Horses

We checked many plans and found no satisfactory route. As a result, we got stuck in a heavily overloaded through bus. This is really a challenge to avoid close contact with others. Students felt that this trip was the most crowded bus in their life, and I felt the same way. Not only standing, but also holding the handrail.
We arrived at Xi'an Terracotta Warriors Museum at about twelve o'clock. But unexpectedly, buying tickets is also a challenge. Tickets can only be bought in cash, and we don't have any money with us. It was fruitless to ask around for cash exchange. When I was exhausted, I remembered the official official account of the Terracotta Warriors on WeChat. Sure enough, we can use WeChat to pay for tickets, which solves the urgent need. I thought that famous scenic spots like Terracotta Warriors should be more advanced in payment.

After following the guide for a long time, I saw today's main character, so I have the following photos.

After seeing the Terracotta Warriors and Horses, I went back to have the most expensive meal since I came to Xi'an for three days. Unfortunately, it was too hot for me to eat.

It began to rain later.

DAY 4 September 1

The happy time is always so short that it is the last day of the travel plan in the twinkling of an eye. But there was no plan today. The schedule was empty today. We also returned the room and carried bags of clothes. In addition, it's raining today, so it's not suitable to go to the outdoor attractions. So I propose to go to Shaanxi History Museum. I heard that there are a considerable number of collections there. But we miscalculated again. Although the museum tickets are free, they are reservation based. Today's free tickets have been reserved completely, and it is not cost-effective to buy them on site. My roommates were grumbling about dinner in the QQ group again, so my classmates and I immediately decided to change the sign, from the original five hour green to high-speed rail, and returned to school early.

So, this trip to Xi'an is over. In the end, we neither enjoyed the delicious food in Xi'an nor bought any souvenirs. We went empty handed and came back empty purse. Fortunately, I had a very pleasant trip and didn't leave any regrets. However, it suddenly occurred to me how many times I could travel with my classmates? Somewhere on the fast high-speed railway, I couldn't help thinking.

Author: mikusa

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