Welsh Davids Silk Road and beyond: 11 to 14 July

The journey to Lanzhou was on windy roads and through a lot of tunnels as the Chinese seem to think that there is no need to go round anything but go straight through things. The city used to be called the Golden City, and since at least the first millennium BC it was a major link on the Northern Silk Road and also an important Yellow River crossing site. To protect the city, the Great Wall of China was extended as far as Yumen.

Views on the way to Lanzhou

Our stay in Lanzhou was in the new Victory Hotel right in the city. I went for a boat trip on a very brown and fast Yellow River with the fee including a drink and water melon seeds. In the evening a visit to the local street market was done and where I ate dinner.

City view

Hire bikes (Boris type)

The following morning it was off to Xi’an on an eleven hour drive, again through tunnels up to 12.5 kilometres long. There were the usual road works and new buildings going up but interspaced with market farming on quite a big scale as the area seemed to be very fertile. It had become more noticeable that the majority of houses and blocks of flats had solar hot water panels on the roof. Also, there were more cut=outs of police men and police cars on the side of the road as a deterrent to drivers. Some were reasonably realistic. The hotel this time was the Dynasty Hotel and as it was a late arrival I ate at a stall over the road from the hotel.

Views on the way to Xi'an

The following morning we all went in the truck to see the Terracotta Warriors. As this was my third visit I left the group and went round by myself and was somewhat disappointed in that in the first pit to be excavated a lot of the sculptures had been removed since my last visit two years ago. It was difficult to see the different uniforms and faces of the warriors which was what I enjoyed before. It was still interesting though and well worth the visit even with the hordes of other tourists there.
The Terracotta Army or the "Terracotta Warriors and Horses" is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife. (He must have been afraid of something!). The figures date from approximately the late third century BC and were discovered by accident in 1974 by local farmers. The figures vary in height according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots and horses. It is estimated are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses. The majority are still buried in the Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum nearby. Other terracotta non-military figures were also found in other pits and they include officials, acrobats, strongmen, and musicians.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang

Views of the sites

As they would have been painted

The chariot in a glass case

Having left the group to go round the museum by myself and being too late to catch the truck on it’s return to the hotel, I took the local bus back to the railway station in town. At least this was air-conditioned, not like the truck. Two Chinese girls started to talk to me on the bus and when we arrived at the station they decided to join me for a bicycle ride round the top of the city wall. They lived and worked in the city but had never been on the wall. There is a payment to go onto the wall and then another to hire the bikes. The girls (25 year old Sunny and Virgo) would not let me pay for anything though no-one paid for the bikes as they knew someone and had them for free. The rule was that over 60’s could not hire a bike but I was able to after promising that I would not fall off, that i had insurance to cover any accident and though I wore a helmet it was not really necessary as no-one else did. Not long after starting Sunny’s dress caught in the chain and she had to have help to move the wheel to free her dress. It took us 90 minutes to cycle round the wall, which was not flat and very bumpy as the surface was all blocks, something like riding continually on cobbles. Besides having a sore backside my hands shook for ages afterwards as well.

The three of us

Showing the top of the wall

Another admirer

They decided I needed a rest after the ride (they were two 25 year olds on a tandem and I was on my own bike so it was hard at times keeping up with them) so we went to a hostel near the wall for a drink before having a Muslim barbecue in the Muslim Quarter. This consisted of soup, various meats on skewers and a plum syrup acid (they called this type of saying ‘chinglish’). Again I was not allowed to pay for anything as they said I was like a grand father to them. I walked the three kilometres back to the hotel mainly to take some night photographs of the wall when lit up. There were a number of groups doing exercises on the way back and I am positive one of them was the same as two years ago as I can remember a very serious group being led by a woman, same again, and I know I commented that she did so in high heeled shoes. There cannot be two women in high heels doing this in the same place!

The Muslim Quarter

Virgo, me and Sunny

Wall gate houses

The following day was spent walking round the bell and Drum Towers, the Muslim Quarter and the rest of the town. The following photographs were taken during this time.