Inside the Imperial Palace, Forbidden City, Beijing 

Tiananmen Gate, Forbidden City, Beijing  

Terracotta Warriors, Xi'an, China

Ever since we saw that episode of the Amazing Race, we just had to make a dash to Xi'an to see the terracotta warriors for ourselves. We took an overnight train from Shanghai to Xi'an, the first in our long series of train journeys all the way into Russia. Right before we boarded the train, the ticketing lady told Nagesh that there were no trains from Xi'an to Beijing. Complete nonsense!

As we neared Xi'an next morning, a lady came around selling local maps, train schedules, and accomodation information that was extremely useful. Our plan was to make a beeline to see the warriors and then get on a train to Beijing that same evening. Working with clockwork precision, we deposited our bags at the station storage and caught a bus from right across the station. Overly proud of being such clever travellers, we hopped off at another tourist site, a few kilometers before the actual museum. It's fun to receive a reality slap like that every once in a while. No worries, we caught the next bus that came along.



The terracotta warriors were built by Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty, 221-206 B.C. during his lifetime to guard his tomb after death. The tomb took 39 years and 700,000 workers to build. An accidental find by some local peasants triggered off archaelogical activity. Four pits full of lifesize soldiers are housed inside huge halls in the museum complex. The soldiers are sometimes accompanied by horses and chariots. Once painted brightly, the soldiers stand today bearing a colorless testimony to royal eccentricities.

Yuyuan Gardens, Shanghai 

Shanghai Nights at The Bund

Shanghai caught us by surprise. This city is so ready to give New York a run for its money. Right from the moment the MagLev (magnetic levitation) train zoomed us from the airport into downtown in a flash, we were enthralled. Yes the train literally flies, no levitates, not quite touching the tracks because of its intense 450km/hour speed. It's like riding a seven minute roller coaster into the city!

Language also caught us by surprise. I guess we just presumed more people would talk English. Since the signs are mostly in mandarin as well, we just relied on our instincts and hoped for people to be friendly as well as experts in dumb charades. We found a bit of both. Any time we stood around looking lost someone would stop by to offer help. Language or no language, communication always takes place. Its one of those magical things that make travel so exciting and undaunting. Add to that the adventure of it all, like when we bought a bottle of something that looked like flavored milk but tasted like something else. We never found out what we drank but it was good.

Then we set foot on Nanjing Road to be wowed for life. It's a street straight out of disneyland filled with lights, color, people, shops, and restaurants buzzing into the wee hours. A bigger and brighter version of Times Square. Next, our stroll led us to the breathtaking Bund. This is the romantic waterfront strip crowned by a futuristic skyline straight out of star trek on one bank and an equally magnificent skyline composed of classical buildings of the french, victorian, and gothic styles on the other. Were we in Europe or some future city? This was certainly not the China we had imagined.