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 China travel tales
Our customers who stayed at Bell Tower Hotel Xi'an share their experiences.
Read about first hand stories on travel tips and guides, events, entertainment,shopping, food, business and transportation.
Also, you might want to read our
Beijing city guide,
Guangzhou city guide,
Kunming city guide,
Shanghai city guide,
and Xian city guide.
Pages (1 of 5):
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| S Sin hock |
15 August 2005 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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Never take up the local day tour with many places to go. You will be exhausted! Select trip with just Terracotta, Ching-Hwa Lake and Da-Yan Temple!
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| E Tabor |
10 July 2005 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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Xi'an is another large Chinese city (around 6 million, I think) but it's a polluted, rather beat place. The air was translucent and very irritating. We saw more beggars there than anywhere else we visited. So why bother? Two words: Terra-Cotta Warriors. Yes, this is the place. The Terra-Cotta Warriors stand about an hour away, and make a visit to Xi'an absolutely necessary when visiting China. When you visit the T-C Warriors, you get a "tour," which includes Emperor Qinlong's Mausoleum, the Huaping Hot Springs and site of the 1936 Incident (involving Chiang Kai-Shek and Mao Tse-Tung) and a very skippable gondola ride up a mountain with yet another temple on top. There are some interesting pagodas much closer as well. I hear the Shaanxi Museum is excellent, but my 11-year-old wouldn't hear of it.
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| L Murray |
06 May 2005 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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We used Golden Circle Tours - they have an office on 2nd floor of hotel - to go to see the Terracotta Warriors. It was a great day - 7 of us in a mini-bus and a charming guide called Cassie. We also used them to take us to the airport, with a stop at the Han Yang Museum on the way. Worked out very well and this museum is definitely worth a visit. Also, don't miss the Lamasery in Xi'an - it's lovely.
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| C Goble |
31 October 2004 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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We arranged a one day tour for the day after our arrival through Star Tours in Beijing. We were met at the airport by our tour guide and she recommended seeing some of the sights that day so that we wouldn't have so much to see the next day. We visited the Wild Goose Pagoda, the city walls, a wonderful old pedestrian street full of artist supply shops and buildings from the late 1800's. The Terracotta warriors are amazing and we took in a dinner show in Tangyue Gong Palace which was very interesting (colorful costumes, sets and traditional Chinese music). It's touristy but fun. The smog was really awful the two days we were there (the worst we experienced in 2 1/2 weeks in China) but a rain cleared the air the day we left. It's still a place one should not miss.
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| P Carlton |
26 September 2004 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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Xi'an was an amazing stop on my way home from a 2 week medical voluneer mission in China. In my opinion, you can not go to Xi'an and not see the Terracotta Warriors. I took the CAAC tour (45 RMB ($5.50) - not including entrance fees or lunch). I would not recommend it.
The tour went to 5 places. The Underground Palace (a replica of the inside of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's mauseloum), The Mauseloum of Qin Shi Huang, The Museum of the Terracotta Army, The Hot Springs and a Museum (I forget the name). They also stopped at a jade factory.
There were 8 of us on the tour. The guide picked us up at our respective hotels. I was the third to be picked up. Most of the people that were picked up after me were there waiting, but one couple had gone to the bank and we spent over 30 minutes waiting for them to return. On the way to the first stop, we made an unscheduled stop at a jade factory to look at very overpriced jade jewlery and sculptures. No one wanted to buy anything and we spent 30 minutes wandering around waiting to leave. That was supposedly the "last" souvenir stop, but at each museum, we went to the gift shop for at least 10-15 minutes and were told to "stick together", so I felt a bit like I was being held hostage. We had to pay our own entrance fees for each of the museums and so were told that we could skip any of the places we didn't want to see. If we wanted to skip them, we needed to wait on the bus. All except for 2 people said that the wanted to skip the last 2 places, so we were told that after lunch, we would spend the last 2 hours of the tour waiting on the bus while the 2 people who wanted to go to those sites went in (not good).
The first two stops (The Underground Palace and The Mauseleum of Qin Shi Huang) were really very interesting. The third stop was the Terracotta Army. It was one of the most amazing sites I had ever seen. When I signed up for the tour, I was told that we would have 2-3 hours there. After our obligatory 20 minutes in the gift shop, "you need to stick together, you will have free time later", we went in. It was breath taking. Then, we were told that we would have 1 hour to walk around. When I asked for more time, I was told that we were running late because of the 30 minutes we spent waiting for the couple who was late for the bus. I was really annoyed. I decided to stay longer and take a bus home. It was well worth it!!!
That was when I discovered how cheap and easy the public bus was. The green #306 bus goes right from the railway station in central Xi'an (a long, but reasonable walk - or very short cab ride from the Belltower Hotel) to the Terracotta Army. It costs 5 RMB (50 cents) round trip. The ride is about 1 hour each way. If I had it to do over again, I would have just gone on my own on the bus.
By the way, everyone else on the tour (except for the 2 people who wanted to go to the last 2 sites on the tour) ended up taking the public bus home after lunch).
Another great public bus find was the CAAC airport shuttle. It can be found right outside the domestic airport exit - by baggage claim (I'm not sure about international). It costs 25 RMB ($3.00) to go to the CAAC office in the Melody Hotel in central Xi'an - it is a 2 minute walk (one block) from the Belltower Hotel. A cab from the airport runs 150 RMB ($18.00).
If you are planning a trip to Xi'an, I hope that this helps.
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| L Ocarroll |
24 September 2004 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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The taxi from the station tried to overcharge me, but this was not my first visit so I refused to give in and paid him what I knew was a reasonable fare; although higher than the metered rate, he was still unhappy. At least I now know what "suan" means! For excursions to the Terracotta warriors, Qin tombs, Famen temple, etc., I was extremely lucky to rediscover a good taxi driver I'd met on an earlier visit. I hate organised tours which pack in the sites, but give you no flexibility.
If you are feeling adventurous enough to try this, be prepared to negotiate hard, but most importantly, politely and with humour. There's no advantage in antagonising the person you're hoping to spend the day with! Make it clear while bargaining if you don't want to make unscheduled stops for "shopping" (the driver will get a percentage). As a group of 3, we paid a fraction of the price of organised tours, got taken exactly where we wanted to go, picked up just when we'd had enough, and were even helped to buy apples and pomegranates along the way.
In the town, try to time your visits for the Bell and Drum demonstrations - the latter was performed by what I guess was a group of music students who easily made up for a slightly shaky performance with their enthusiasm; great entertainment! The only major problem was on departure. We took the sleeper back towards Shanghai, and I allowed "only" 1hr 10 mins to get to the station. Well, it was raining, rush hour, and no driver wanted to go there. In the end, the hotel found someone who was prepared to go for 50 yuan (metered fare around 8 or 9). I have to admit he worked hard for his money, and we made it with 2 minutes to spare. Moral, allow 2 hrs to get to the station and book something in advance. The risk of spending 90 minutes in the waiting room is far preferable to the hassle of missing the train - you can't just jump on the next one.
Shopping - Prices on the main streets radiating from the Bell Tower can be comparable with European rates - the further away from the centre you can go, generally the lower the price. Also, don't miss the market stall gauntlet on the way to the mosque. Assume everything is fake (because it is), and just buy what you like because you like it. "Fake" is not the same as "poor quality". Far from it, many of the objects on sale exhibit superb workmanship. The usual bargaining rules apply. Vendors often start at 4 times the going price, and sometimes 10 times. Also, beware when being offered an apparently low price for a set of four warriors & a horse. (This was outside the museum site itself). I accepted, paid my money, and then was asked which one of the five I wanted. This was the only time I broke the rules and lost my temper, but the ensuing scene did resolve satisfactorily. Make sure you know what you're buying!
Food - the Defachang dumpling restaurant is just across from the Bell Tower itself. One of our party is vegetarian, and after some confusion (and amusement) explaining in very limited Mandarin (a phrase book is handy here), the waitress disappeared into the kitchen for a minute, returned with a "haode" (OK) and sure enough, they whipped up some veggie dumplings for us. A good cheap "fast food" meal can also be had on the main street not far from the hotel. Head East from the Bell Tower on the North side of Dong Da Jie (East Main St) for a few hundred metres (sorry don't know the name of the place) and you will come to a restaurant with street stalls outside backing onto a restaurant inside. You point and buy from each section separately, and could probably eat for a week without having the same dish twice. Don't miss the various baozi (steamed buns) especially the ones with sweet bean paste inside. Excellent value.
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| C Gomez |
13 June 2004 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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There is a great restaurant across from the hotel between the Bell and Drum Towers that offers a great "Dumpling Banquet".
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| R Evans |
09 June 2004 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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Rented car through hotel - 8 hours for 35 USD. Went to warriors & Small Goose Pagoda. Very nice without having to contend with bus/tour schedules. Ate lunch at warriors site behind Pit 3. Outstanding meal & only about 5 USD per person. Made reservations for Tang Dynasty theatre over internet. Had no problems picking up tickets in Xian.
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| K Kunze |
02 March 2004 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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You can easily spend two days in Xian for Bell/Drum Tower, Great Mosque with Muslim Quarter, Stone Forest, South Gate with City Wall over there, Great Goose Pagoda and Shaanxi Historical Museum. All this locations are recommended to visit. Outside clearly take one day for the Terracotta Army & tomb but Hot Springs are also nice to visit.
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| E Logan |
15 January 2004 |
Stayed at Bell Tower Hotel - Xian, China.
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Well worth a visit here to see the Terracotta Army-amazing!! Be prepared for plenty of hawkers.
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