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Nope sorry I haven’t been there in literally ten years
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Jun 30, 2019 01:29
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Mons Hubris posted:Anybody have restaurant recommendations for Xi’an besides De Fa Chang and the one paomo place that’s on every travel website? Big goose pagoda is cool Muslim quarter sb35 I think is his name, lived in xi’an maybe he can help also I assume you’ll see the warriors right
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Jun 30, 2019 05:09
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Looks like I might be back in Shanghai for a few weeks. Might use it as launching pad to do some leisure Asian travel. I've been to Beijing, HK, Macau, and Thailand. What else is good? Where you Shanghaiers go on vacation. Hainan? Singapore?
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Jun 30, 2019 20:52
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Yellow Mountain. Make sure you don't go during holiday. It's 100x times more crowded than Everest you will die in the middle of the traffic jam on the summit.
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Jun 30, 2019 20:58
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Mons Hubris posted:Anybody have restaurant recommendations for Xi’an besides De Fa Chang and the one paomo place that’s on every travel website? Not specific restaurants, just the usual advice to eat where it's full of locals. Muslim street has a couple of famous dumpling restaurants. They've generally got posters of famous people eating there. The paomo on Muslim street is meh. Wild goose Pagoda has transformed into a huge tourist place, and is much more interesting at night than during the day. It's full of people, small stages with singers, lights, food, etc. The metro makes it really cheap and easy to get there and elsewhere. Skip the warriors and take the fast train to Hua Shan. Also it depends where you're staying and for how long.
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Jul 1, 2019 02:32
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Xi'an smells like farts and has the terracotta army. Thank you, that is all I know on Xi'an.
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Jul 1, 2019 03:38
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The fart master has logged on
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Jul 1, 2019 03:39
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reading this thread for several years = huffing farts for several years
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Jul 1, 2019 03:41
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Don't skip the warriors, what are you crazy. Hua Shan is okay.
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Jul 1, 2019 07:17
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tino posted:Don't skip the warriors, what are you crazy. Hua Shan is okay. They're a bunch of reconstructed statues (bar one, found intact) in two large pits, often crowded to the point you can't see anything. There's virtually no information in English, and in the three times I've been, the tour guides have given wildly contradictory accounts of the history. You're guaranteed to be "lucky" enough to be there when one of the three farmers who fell into the hole is signing specially priced guidebooks, and the tourist shop sells exactly the same stuff as the fakes on Muslim street, at ten times the price. Throw in an often compulsory trip to a jade factory and eating at the drivers favorite local restaurant. Watch a decent documentary instead, or at least watch it before you go, so you know when you're being fed bullshit.
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Jul 1, 2019 07:40
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In fairness to China, most ancient statues you've ever seen were re-assembled from the found pieces and tour guides at historical sites anywhere never know anything and should not be listened to. Any site I've been to where I knew the history beforehand and overheard guides talking, they were full of poo poo. If they just read the Wikipedia article to you off their phones it'd be a hundred times more accurate.
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Jul 1, 2019 07:44
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Grand Fromage posted:In fairness to China, most ancient statues you've ever seen were re-assembled from the found pieces and tour guides at historical sites anywhere never know anything and should not be listened to. Any site I've been to where I knew the history beforehand and overheard guides talking, they were full of poo poo. If they just read the Wikipedia article to you off their phones it'd be a hundred times more accurate. That's fair, but I think China's "re-assembled" has a different quality to elsewhere. I'm currently in 大荔，a small town near Xi'an. They've got a newly constructed bell tower, in the same style as the one in Xi'an. It's been there less than a year, but in a few years, it'll be the ancient bell tower of Dali.
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Jul 1, 2019 08:04
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The terracotta warriors site look way more impressive in person than in the photos. I think it's totally worth it. Don't waste time and money with a guide. Why do you need any Chinese/English guide? All the known information can fit on a page anyway. There are baked figurines not dead bodies, there is no excavation forensic science behind it to extract more data. There is no DNA to tell you the whole story. If you are not going to see the terracotta warriors why go to Xi'an? It's an rigid old city with a preserved city wall. The center of the empire moved east one thousand years ago. Oh yeah, I went to the old Famen Temple where they excavate countless Tang royalty Buddhist treasures underneath the temple after 1000+ years. They had the treasure museum next to it. I wish I had time to go inside the museum. The photos look very impressive. I see they built another diamond shaped building now and it look dumb.
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Jul 1, 2019 08:23
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Trammel posted:That's fair, but I think China's "re-assembled" has a different quality to elsewhere. I'm currently in 大荔，a small town near Xi'an. They've got a newly constructed bell tower, in the same style as the one in Xi'an. It's been there less than a year, but in a few years, it'll be the ancient bell tower of Dali. China's certainly fine with faking stuff yeah. I haven't seen one in person since I learned archaeology so am not sure what the quality is like, but given they're made of terracotta I'm thinking of ancient pottery just spiderwebbed with cracks where they were put back together. They must've been in real rough shape when they came out of the ground, way worse than marble statues. Anyway I think the fakery is one reason to see them--historical stuff in China is almost always fake so it's a rare opportunity.
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Jul 1, 2019 09:07
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The terra cotta warriors are cool, don’t skip it in Xi’an lol
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Jul 1, 2019 10:28
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Do a trip report and settle this once and for all
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Jul 1, 2019 10:59
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Just got back and the trip report is: trammel sucks
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Jul 1, 2019 11:04
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I've seen the terracotta warriors and been to hua shan before. I'm just tryin to figure out a good place to get a meal, drat
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Jul 1, 2019 14:08
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Trammel posted:They're a bunch of reconstructed statues (bar one, found intact) in two large pits, often crowded to the point you can't see anything. There's virtually no information in English, and in the three times I've been, the tour guides have given wildly contradictory accounts of the history. Some students of mine from Henan said they've been a bunch and the "farmers" are most definitely bullshit because they're always a different guy over the years. Allegedly there is only one farmer, who has an autobiographical book he'll sell to you at the gift shop and sign for you. When I went a while back, the tour guide was pretty bad but I had a good group. Myself and some other guys were cracking up when we went to Tomb of Qin Shi Huang and one of the hawkers was selling one of the sets of figures you see everywhere for 5 yuan. They must have been desperate or something because to start off there is practically giving it away. The local Muslim art is nice, I have a picture of Hui grinding up chili peppers, so I recommend picking up one of those when you're there for a couple dollars.
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Jul 1, 2019 14:31
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Mons Hubris posted:I've seen the terracotta warriors and been to hua shan before. I'm just tryin to figure out a good place to get a meal, drat Shut up nerd we are busy here
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Jul 1, 2019 14:37
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Mons Hubris posted:Anybody have restaurant recommendations for Xi’an besides De Fa Chang and the one paomo place that’s on every travel website? When I went a year or so ago we asked the hotel receptionist where she and the staff go to eat, turns out there was the 东新街小吃城 food court literally across the street from our hotel and we ate there pretty much every day. So I guess my point is ask locals where they eat.
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Jul 1, 2019 16:09
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fart simpson posted:The terra cotta warriors are cool, don’t skip it in Xi’an lol My favorite part was the gauntlett of souvenir shops and burger kings after not seeing the terracotta warriors because there were 30 tour groups huddled around the viewpoint.
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Jul 1, 2019 22:06
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TheReverend posted:Looks like I might be back in Shanghai for a few weeks. I go to hk to visit my friends or japan to visit my friends or europe to visit my friends or america when I have to see my family. serious answer: singapore more like singaBORE lol
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Jul 2, 2019 06:35
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Back in 2003, I took a train way out of the way between Guilin and Beijing for a one night stay in Xi'an to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. I overslept, missed my tour and inexplicably decided I needed to high tail it to Beijing. One of those decisions I look back on and wonder wtf was going through my head. Admittedly, it was my first time traveling for months abroad and I was getting pretty exhausted at that point, but that's no excuse.
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Jul 2, 2019 07:23
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look there is nothing inherently special about looking at the terracotta warriors. they are some stone statues. it is the history, what they represent and being able to see the work that is being done on them. they were buried underground before Jesus Christ was born. it's mind-boggling to think about. yes, you might not get a great photo op for instagram or snapchat for it. yes, there might be a ton of tour groups there. that sucks. I dunno, find a way to get there early and see it and appreciate it and then leave. the idea that you'd be in xi'an and NOT do this is so freakin' stupid. it's like heading all the way to the outskirts Cairo and being like "eh, yeah, I mean I know there are pyramids, but I heard there were going to be people there, and also learned there was a Ruby Tuesday's around the block I could go eat at". I understand the pyramids aren't the same as the warriors, but the fact that the warriors were underground for 2,000 years with no one knowing they were there is cool AF. go see the warriors. seriously. it was the second major trip I did in all of china, in 2010, after I went to beijing like three times. it should be WHY you go to xi'an. "skip the warriors" is what the pretentious guy with a beret at a club in xi'an tells you, with a girl named "Penny" hanging all over him, smoking a cigarette and drinking a Vedette. he's also been in China nine months and his Chinese is "pretty good man" and he's also the one that has figured out the "real" future of china and the world
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Jul 2, 2019 12:12
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i told you to never talk about penny ever again arghhH!!!!!!
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Jul 2, 2019 12:46
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Do eat at Ruby Tuesday's though
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Jul 2, 2019 19:04
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The Great Autismo! posted:look there is nothing inherently special about looking at the terracotta warriors. they are some stone statues. it is the history, what they represent and being able to see the work that is being done on them. they were buried underground before Jesus Christ was born. it's mind-boggling to think about. Much more entertaining and historically enlightening: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mummy:_Tomb_of_the_Dragon_Emperor
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Jul 2, 2019 21:55
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The Great Autismo! posted:look there is nothing inherently special about looking at the terracotta warriors. they are some stone statues. it is the history, what they represent and being able to see the work that is being done on them. they were buried underground before Jesus Christ was born. it's mind-boggling to think about. Replace the OP with this
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Jul 3, 2019 03:10
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Tom Smykowski posted:Replace the OP with this lol I was feelin a bit salty last night
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Jul 3, 2019 06:49
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Soooo, re: the american meltdown last month, I'd just met a bad type for too long. I know most of you aren't trash sexpats. I need to stay in Beijing for 3 nights, can't be too expensive and needs to be legal (I gave an illegal hotel witness statement the other month...) preferably near the metro. Do you guys have recommendations? The amount of astroturfed 5 stars is making it hard.
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Jul 6, 2019 06:43
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Hanting is fine. I always stay there and they accept foreigners. Or holiday inn express Holiday Inn Express Dongzhimen
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Jul 6, 2019 07:18
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My buddy stayed at a Holiday Inn near the hotel I stayed at which was an InterContinental. Both were decent. This was in the financial area. But Holiday Inn in Asia is always a safe bet.
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Jul 6, 2019 18:29
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I have a multi-entry 1 year visa (category M) that permits 90 day entries, and it expires August 30th (specifically, it field says “enter before”, 请于此前入境). I have work travel that will be from about the 5th to the 25th of August. Does PRC treat visas like many places treat passports, in that you need 90 days of validity after your travel? Does the visa grant me 90 days after 30/08, or do I need to be out by then? Should I apply for another visa, or will I certainly be permitted entry with this one? Work is paying for it all, so I’m leaning towards taking the half a day or so to go and get another to be safe, but I’d prefer to avoid that bureaucracy if possible.
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Jul 19, 2019 03:35
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When I think of fast and loose with the rules, I think of the PRC. (Get a new one, you goof)
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Jul 19, 2019 03:41
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I don’t know what the rules are, not that I am wondering if they’ll bend them. But yeh I think it’ll be easier to just get another multi-entry year-long and be safe, even if this is my only trip.
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Jul 19, 2019 04:40
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Visas are always restrictive in nature. You are not allowed to be in the country after 30/08 with your current visa.
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Jul 19, 2019 04:51
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sincx fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Mar 23, 2021 |
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Jul 19, 2019 05:21
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I’m wrong!
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Jul 19, 2019 07:09
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So I could cover it by my current visa. That’s technically how I interpreted it, but definitely wanted to make sure. That said, I guess if work’s paying I have no reason not to renew
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Jul 19, 2019 10:13
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