Today ended with a very un-english argument in a hostel lobby after the worlds worst tour...really when will we all learn that tours are generally nothing to do with what you pay for.
We visited the Ban Po museum (fascinating displays of ancient holes in mud - including one 3inch deep hole that had been excavated and put in a glass case) and a factory and shop.
Then we made our way past the Qin tomb - a giant mound that housed the body of the first emperor and one of the great sites of Xian - to the next door warehouse, to see a reconstruction of the tomb covered in fairy lights and manequins. Something was said or done during this trip (possibly the whole group laughing at it) that made the tour guide very cross and not speak to us all for the rest of the day.
Various arguments ensued and the tour culminated in 4 of us waiting for 40 minutes in the rain while the other members visited some hot springs. Something we had not paid for. Then followed an hour long drive back to Xian in silence.
In the middle of this the terracotta warriors were fairly interesting...but there's very few even vaguely intact and you're taken through the biggest exhibition after being told that they are pumping phormaldyhyde into the rooms. There are only so many petrified roof beams you can look at while the tour guide ignores you.
So maybe not the world beating sight we had hoped for but after getting no joy from the operator after a long row we headed to the restaurant where they were doing the hokey cokey outside last night....and they were insanely friendly.
We visited the Ban Po museum (fascinating displays of ancient holes in mud - including one 3inch deep hole that had been excavated and put in a glass case) and a factory and shop.
Then we made our way past the Qin tomb - a giant mound that housed the body of the first emperor and one of the great sites of Xian - to the next door warehouse, to see a reconstruction of the tomb covered in fairy lights and manequins. Something was said or done during this trip (possibly the whole group laughing at it) that made the tour guide very cross and not speak to us all for the rest of the day.
Various arguments ensued and the tour culminated in 4 of us waiting for 40 minutes in the rain while the other members visited some hot springs. Something we had not paid for. Then followed an hour long drive back to Xian in silence.
In the middle of this the terracotta warriors were fairly interesting...but there's very few even vaguely intact and you're taken through the biggest exhibition after being told that they are pumping phormaldyhyde into the rooms. There are only so many petrified roof beams you can look at while the tour guide ignores you.
So maybe not the world beating sight we had hoped for but after getting no joy from the operator after a long row we headed to the restaurant where they were doing the hokey cokey outside last night....and they were insanely friendly.
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