- I had the opportunity of visiting Yinchuan during 3 days, probably a place where I did not ever think of visiting, and one of these days I decided to visit Xian
a) Yinchuan
- One day I went for some sightseeing within the city, while the second day we did a short roadtrip for Suyukou National Park & Shahu Sand Lake
- Capital of the Ningxia province in North China, the initial impression I had of Yinchuan was that it is a phantom city which is however developing fast
- The Yellow River, second largest river in China, passes through Yinchuan (it has that yellowish colour due to the sediments it transports)
- The city is not overcrowded as many other Chinese cities, and despite not having lot of attractions, I cycled a bit around Yinchuan and found a few decent spots
- The Bell & Drum Tower, traditional in Chinese cities as ancient musical intruments and official timekeeping tools, is the start of the commercial Gulou street
- Nearby you can observe the Yuhuang Pavilion, dedicated to Jade Emperor, originally a Taoist temple which cannot be accessed currently anymore
- Between the Bell & Drum tower and this Pavilion you can enjoy Ningyuan park
- Not far you can find Nanguang Mosque, an original and colourful mosque which combines Arab and Chinese traditions (as a curiosity, nowadays Yinchuan has close ties for cultural and economic exchanges with the Arab world)
- I enjoyed plenty of green areas and the cyling lanes across the city
a2) Suyukou National Park:
- For the second day, we took a taxi 2 of us to visit Suyukou & Sand Lake for 500 yuan (a bit pricy but our time was limited)
- Suyukou is really worth it, in our case for a short trek, and also apparently for good ski during winter
- Entrance was 80 yuan including bus to the start point, but we paid other 30 yuan for a cable chair ride to a higher point
- The Sand Lake was very disappointing, even if some photos might looks nice
- Being in the north of China we expected to enjoy Gobi desert, but we found a kind of artificial Disneyland desert surrounded by water and attractions such as a few camels for tourists
- Apart from that, entrance was very pricy, 130 yuan
- We wished we would have visited Shapotou where hopefully the Gobi desert is more authentic... maybe next time
- We were excited about visiting the city of the Terracotta Army of the considered first emperor of China, and we found an internal return flight with China Eastern airlines for 100 euro
- We landed in Xian before 9am and we took taxi straight to Terracotta warrios (60km, 200 yuan)
- The day was expensive as our time was limited, we wanted to take the most of the opportunity and we did not want to risk wasting time in buses which by the way are quite convenient (one bus to Xian city center, and from there, direct bus to Terracotta)
- Entrance to see Terracotta Army was very expensive as well:150 yuan
- There are three different areas, being pit 1 the most impressive
- I would recommend watching some documentaries to understand the huge magnitude of Terracotta warriors...23 centuries ago, an Emperor unifying 7 territories in war, with population decreasing so much. The considered First Emperor of China decided to stop burying army alive with him as had been done in the past but ordered the construction of a huge Terracotta army of over 8,000 pieces to be buried next to his tomb... a crazy job with exhaustive detaisl that entailed thousands of workers probably exploited during many years, certainly impressive!
- The area surrounding the exposition is very nice the way, green, withn plenty of trees, mountains... and touristic shops I am afraid too
- After visiting the priority of our short trip, we took the bus to Xian and we liked the city a lot, mainly the walls surrounding the city (entrance 45 yuan), a total of 13km which can be cycled!
- There are 4 main gates to go up the city walls (North, East, West and South), all open till 8pm but for the South gate which opens till 10pm
- Within the walls, you can find a Bell & Drum tower as well, which you can also visit paying 34 yuan for 1 or 50 yuan for both
- I hope this post helps!
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