Terracotta Wonders in Xi'an

2005

Xi'an

On my arrival in Xi'an I was picked up by the hostel bus and whisked away to my nearby hostel. I pre-booked through my previous hostel to avoid any language problems. I, coincidentally, ended up in the same dormitory as three Swedish lads I met whilst in Beijing. We planned our day trip to the Terracotta Warriors and headed off the next day.

Five Seconds of Fame

One chilly morning I arose and headed down to the bar/restaurant to see what was happening. I got chatting to a TV news reporter from one of the local Xi'an stations. We talked, and talked and drank tea and talked some more. One of the Swedish fellers, Elias, joined me and we ended up being invited out to following day for them to film a mini-news story about foreingers in China for the Chinese New Year. I was going to make my debut on TV in China! In front of a local crowd of possibly 6 million!

We met the journalist and her cameraman the next morning and took a taxi to a local Tao temple. They filmed us looking around it and did a mini-interview with Elias. We headed off to a sidestreet and found ourselves in a courtyard with a guy practising caligraphy. Caligraphy is huge in China. We were invited to join in and write symbols for our names (phonetically translated).

I was able to watch the final edit on the news programme the following night. I managed to get a bit of it on my digital camera video mode. I won't be able to post it here, so a photo will have to do. Note the cameraman!

This was a unique experience I'm certian the majority of travellers haven't had. Good fun. We went for a meal with the Journalist girl and her cameraman rounding off a great day.

The next thing I know its a farewell to the Swedes and off to Chengdu, home of the Pandas.