Jacket watch--enjoying reading about your adventures, good and bad.
As you saw, China is changing rapidly. But changing the attitude of the service people will take more time. They seem to yell and fight a lot for every little thing. Of course, part of the problem is doing a satisfactory job for foreigners who expect a certain amount of help and understanding esp. because of the language barrier. I had a yelling experience at a post office when I needed stamps for a postcard!

But these will be your life long memories.

I traveled around China several years ago and then recently again. The big change I noticed was many restaurants and stores as well as taxis are not accepting credit cards or cash. Chinese all over are using mobile payments using cell phones. Being tourists, it was a little bit of disappointment as in US we are still not using mobile payments as a norm.
I noted you had similar experience at shoe shop.
Well, looking forward to your report.

Wow that was quite the ride you had from the Xi'an Train Station.

Yes I will be looking forward to the Terra Cotta Warrior pictures.

Since I was just there in early June , this is like a review of my trip !!;)

I am really enjoying following you

Hi Ileen. The sites in China are amazing to be sure and yes the service ethic is not what we are used to. Sometimes its really good but often its not.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt in KL after leaving China and the service there is amazing, like night and day compared to the overall service we received in China. One of the food and beverage managers there said a sense of pride in doing a job well is lacking. Maybe so but in any case its just not the same.

The gal in the shoe store who was in shock act my foot size :lol: tried to see about a mobile payment but I could not t do that. Here I like to use the card for the points.

Percy yes that was quite a ride indeed and so was the experience with the housekeeper. ;). As ileen said it reflects the lack of customer service skills there. Oh well.

Ill post pics below and continue with the narrative later.

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This lady is according to the owner the last artisan left in his store who can hand make figurines. He said all the others have left for IT jobs.
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This dragon she made. So beautiful isn't it? Got it for my son and my DIL.
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Ok so you saw the pics of the Terra Cotta Warriors so now let’s do the narrative. That morning after a lackluster dinner at the Wyndham we had breakfast as it was included in our package. It was very busy and we like some others had to clear tables so we had somewhere to sit. The buffet food was lukewarm at best and hereafter we got fresh made omelets in order to be sure we had a hot meal. There was a large variety of items so that was good but the substandard service tainted everything.

Lets finish off this hotel and get it done, That evening we had dinner there and it was ok, not great but decent. This was in their other dining room where we were seated in a separate room, the two of us alone at a table for 8. After the food was served the waitress disappeared. I had to go searching to get the bill. I signed the bill and we headed to the bar. The hostess came running after us with a duplicate bill claiming I didn’t sign it so I produced my copy.

I then ordered a Stoli vodka which should be clear like water. The same lady poured it from the bottle and it was very harsh with a slightly grey color. This was not Stoli.

The following morning this same hostess told us breakfast was not included in our package. Well I assured her it was and she let it go but I think you get the idea about service here. I called the Wyndham when we got home and they generously offered 25% back on the bill which I accepted.

Our guide “Mike” was on time and off we went to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. Mike is very polite and speaks English well so we were off to a good start.

We stopped at a factory where a ton of beautiful art work ranging from silks to all types of figureins are made. Here there was no hard sales push so we went at our own pace and I did get a dragon figurine for our son and his wife as they are less than a year in their new home and dragons are considered good luck in China.

By the entrance the is a gift shop and who is there but the farmer who was the first discovered the TCW while working his fields. He now sits in the museum. That’s his job. I shook hands but wasn’t allowed to take a pic unless I bought something first. No thanks.

We then toured the buildings where the TCW are housed and the museum where many of the pics were taken. This is truly an amazing site and we are happy we had a chance to see it.

Back to the hotel now and Mike suggested we take tomorrow off as our other two scheduled tours could easily be combined. We took his advice and had the following day at leisure.

Lunch the next day was a local restaurant a few blocks down the street where we had some nice dumpling and wonton soup. As there was a language barrier issue the owner got a ruler and pointed to pictures on the menu and that was quite nice.

We we decided we would not spend anymore money on hotel food so we found something easy and more familiar for dinner. Thank you KFC. We rarely eat it here except for their coleslaw but tonight it was time.

More tomorrow with Mike. Stay tuned. :)

We also met the farmer who discovered the Terra Cotta warriors in his field. He has become a celebrity. Surprised to learn you cannot take a photograph of him until and unless you purchase something. You see, everything is getting so very commercial in China.
But the sight of the underground warriors is so very amazing and memorable. We have to forget all the crazy things tourists encounter during China travel.
Well, waiting for more travel report from you.

So true Ileen. You see amazing sites and have exposure to a fascinating ancient culture and get a look at life there now too. No regrets at all.
Thank you for your comments and more to come probably tomorrow as my “honey do” is packed today. :p

This is nice to follow since I was just there 4 months ago.

That farmer who discovered the terra Cotta Warriors is well taken care of.

He used to sign autographs at the Terra Cotta Museum Complex.

As I wrote back in June the comedy event that happened when Bill Clinton wanted to meet him back in 1998. !! ;)

Are you going to get a chance to walk the Wall and see the Drum and Bell Towers inside the Wall.

It was at the Tang Dynasty Dinner Show that they serve you that 50% alcohol proof Rice Wine , that I was telling you about !

Did you get to go to the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda , the park complex around there is very nice.

Thanks for all the pictures and for taking the time to post this report.

From Xi'an , where do you go ?

I'm sorry, but the probability that the guy signing books is one of the group of farmers who discovered the warriors, never mind the one wielding the spade, is really quite small. The discovery was in 1974, and the signer was already geriatric when I was first there in 1997. As long as people will pay for a signature, someone who looks right will be there to sign. The Chinese seem to have a somewhat different attitude to fakes, I have seen them knock down the genuinely old to replace it with the fake old. And it is China that has built its own Hallstatt: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt_(China)

Taking what you are told by Chinese tour guide at face value is often a mistake.

Alas! I'm afraid that thursdays is correct that the Chinese have a different attitude toward what is genuine than we generally do. And the man that thursdays saw in 1997 was very unlikely to have been involved in the discovery either. Chinese guides are renowned for the misinformation they give - if you want Chinese history that goes with the places you are visiting, read a guidebook.

Nonetheless, it sounds like you had a good trip in China despite the problems. In part, I think this is due to your flexibility in responding to the various glitches which occurred.

I'm looking forward to reading about your time in KL and Singapore!

Actually Kathie it was just KL and not Singapore.

As for the man in question it was the people in the shop who told us he was the one who first discovered the TCW. They had a pic of him from back then and it sure looked like the same guy. Oh well.

When life gives you lemons.... :lol:

Seriously as I mentioned before the sites in China are amazing and its quite clean too which is plus. I have no regrets about going though a friend of mine who had to to to Shanghai at least 4-5 times per year for work told me you are better off there in terms of more people understanding English. We do have a ten year vise so maybe one day we will go back.

As for the rest of the trip we did go tot he Wild Goose pagoda the day oft our one day break. Again Mike was on time and a very good escort. See the pics below.

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Nice photos. You got to see a lot!

So yes Percy we did go the Wild Goose Pagoda and rang that huge bell but the video won't upload so too bad about that. Its a rather nice site to visit indeed.

The next day its off to KL. The cab driver dropped us off at the domestic terminal and not the international one unfortunately. However we met a nice young man who works security at the airport and just got a cart for our bags and escorted us to the correct one which was about a 10 minute walk. We exchanged emails and have kept in touch since we left. He told me that in China the country may be wealthy but average people are not. His salary is 4000.00 RMB per month or about $600.00 USD. He also seems to think if your family is not wealthy your chances to advance yourself are slim. He would to leave china to go to a developed country but there doesn't seem to be a path out for him which I find sad really. He's very nice and very bright. I hope he can get his wish one day.

We booked Cathay Dragon Xian to KL via HK and then KL to Beijing again with a stop in HK to change planes. We were most impressed with the service on biz. It was a welcome change form the at times indifferent service one sees on UA.

We arrived in KL just after midnight and was met there by my friend who took us to the Grand Hyatt in downtown KL. His SIL works there so we got a great rate from her friends and family plans and wow! what a gorgeous hotel and guess what, English is widely spoken. :love: Check in is on the 38th floor and the view of KL at night was beautiful and so was our room with floor to ceiling windows and a super comfy bed.

By this time it was around 0230 so good night for now. Our new day would begin around 1100 later that day.

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And here is our view for breakfast.

Maybe our cautions were too specific. Anything you are told by a person or entity officially sanctioned or licensed by the Chinese government to deal with tourists should be treated with deep suspicion. Unfortunately, anything you are told by someone not so sanctioned but educated in China could well be wrong, too. When it comes to information China is not the US, it is not even India, although the streets are indeed cleaner.

I, too, am glad you enjoyed your trip and hope you go back. But I also hope that if you go back you will ask the posters here for input.

I expect this will be a very different hotel experience than your experiences in China!

Amen that sister!

And as your your comment about rolling with the glitches if you read about the three waitresses not knowing what “fork” meant until I googled one the funny thing is all 5 of us got quite a laugh out of it, I think they were embarresed not knowing what it was but all that dissipated with one pic and a smile. It’s all good.

Hi, jacketwatch! I finally had a few moments to catch up with your trip report, and am delighted to read that you enjoyed some of the highlights of Beijing, not to mention the glorious Terracotta Warriors of Xi’an. And I’m glad that Da Dong continues to provide delicious Peking duck – I believe it’s prepared somewhat differently than is customary, and OMG, my mouth still waters when I remember that meal!

For anyone who reads this report while planning their own travels to Beijing or Xi’an, I’ll echo what Kathie and thursdaysd have said – tours are known for their shopping ops and less-than-ideal dining options (the kickbacks are a major source of tour guides’ income), and unfortunately, Chinese people are not provided with the information about their own history that is available to those of us in the West, so they often misinform the people they guide -- not because they intend to do so, but because they literally don’t have accurate information.

Fortunately, both Beijing and Xi’an are, IME, incredibly easy to visit without guides – and without speaking Mandarin! There are restaurants in both cities where one can taste some delicious local foods that you may never find elsewhere -- yes, they are usually bright and loud and you will probably have few if any options for an alcoholic beverage other than beer and they aren’t generally located in Western hotels -- but they can provide some extraordinarily flavorful and tasty experiences. And taking the subway in Beijing is cheap, easy, and faster than trying to travel by taxi, and IMO, a delightful way to see Chinese people interacting with each other and going about their daily lives.

Thanks for reporting, jacketwatch, and again, I’m very glad you were able to see some of China’s most remarkable sites.

Embarassed is probably an understatement, mortified might be better, and the smile did not mean what you thought it meant. You caused them a serious loss of face. If unfamiliar with the concept this article might be a helpful introduction:

The Cult of Face | Chinese obsession with saving (and losing) face