Aelfgifu Travels

Hi Aelf Crew,

I’m back with a story time from my time going to see the Terracotta Warriors in Xi’an.

Notes to bear in mind: I visited during Labour Day in China, which runs from the 1st to the 5th May.

I bought a day ticket from Viator (predominantly because this ticket was in English and I found booking online in China fairly difficult). After my experience in Beijing (read my previous post entitled ‘Learn from My Mistakes: Visiting Beijing‘ to find out more), where I encountered long queues and great masses of people, I made sure to book the earliest available time slot (as soon as the museum opened) to avoid the same issues happening again.

From the hostel I stayed in central Xi’An to the museum, it was a 50 minute drive to get there via taxi, which I chose to get via the DiDi function in AliPay. Taxis were a lot cheaper than what I am used to, and it came to about £10.

Whilst I was excited to get there early and beat the queues, I can’t help but feel in hindsight I was extremely naive. As soon as the doors opened, it was already absolutely swarming full of tour groups and individuals.

There were multiple different excavation pits to see. 

As you can see from the photo, it was very much a ‘shove or be shoved’ scenario, so after spending a bit of time waiting in turn thinking we would form an orderly queue, I realised it was time for me to do a bit of shoving to get to the front.

Whilst they were incredibly impressive, I can’t help but feel the overcrowding ruined the sensation. If I were there alone, I would appreciate the craftsmanship a lot more than the mere few seconds I got to take a look before being shoved on again.

Tips to learn from Aelfgifu:

All in all, I would only recommend visiting if:

a) You do not go during a bank holiday (or at least mentally prepare yourself for crowds, no matter how early you arrive).

b) You go as early in the morning as possible – I could see larger and larger crowds of people forming as the day went on. 

c) You are not frail and able to withstand thousands of people crushing and shoving to get a view. 

d) If you have a day to spare – it was an hour journey from the city centre (via taxi, which is the quickest option), so does involve you taking a chunk out of your day to visit.

Let me know any thoughts or experiences you have had at the Museum below.

From the crowds,

Aelfgifu