12 Days of Solo Backpacking in China – Beijing to Xian Overland - Itinerary, Travel Guide, Expenses

This solo trip to China was decided on a whim, and I blame it on CebuPac’s Piso Sale. I usually take a long leave from work and I make sure that there are non-working holidays on my date of travel so that I will I only need to deduct few from those VLs and CDOs. Due to the recent conflicts with the Philippine-China government, my friends were very hesitant to join me on this trip. So I decided to go alone and to dare myself on another solo backpacking adventure.

12 Days of Solo Backpacking in China: Beijing, Datong, Pingyao and Xian

A Solo Journey to The Great Wall of China

「不到長城非好漢」: Who never climbed The Great Wall cannot be deemed a Man - 毛澤東 Mao Zedong -

I guess one way to interpret this quote is “You’ve brought your butt all the way across to China, there’s no reason in hell you’re not going to see and climb The Great Wall?!” Kidding aside, this marvelous architectural treasure is China’s most recognizable landmark. There’s no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to finally be able to see this mighty structure that I have admired for so many years.

Mutianyu Section - The Great Wall of China

My new found peace at Beijing’s Summer Palace

Spending summer at Beijing was just really exhausting, the humidity and the lack of trees to give you shade from the scorching heat was enough to make me feel beat all day. After going around The Forbidden City, I just found out the best place to spend a lazy Saturday afternoon – The Summer Palace.

My welcoming view at The Summer Palace

Weekend visit at the crowded Tiananmen and Forbidden City in Beijing

Aside from the Great Wall, Tiananmen and Forbidden City is one of China's crowning glory, these places are what everyone would think about when thinking about traveling to this country. I made it a point to be able to visit these two spots before I leave for Manila. I couldn't remember why I set to go there on a Saturday and this is something I regret not giving much thought about. Truly, China is a home to one billion of residents, and competing with them on such a popular site in Beijing proved to be my fatal mistake. It is said that these places even reach 80,000 visitors a day during peak times. Define crowded.

Summer heat and swarming in with hundreds of people, one of the "must experience" at The Forbidden City of Beijing

Food Trips in Beijing at Nanluoguxiang and Wangfujing Night Market

I am really surprised to know that there are lots of things one can do in Beijing. I spent a lot of time thinking what to visit next, and yes, apparently, cheap and interesting food is something that always strikes people that I would likely have and experience whenever visiting a new city. I ended up visiting a hutong neighborhood close to my hostel and one of China’s famous night markets. I was certainly up for a look out for tasty yummy treats, that’s for sure.

exotic street food at Wangfujing Night Market

Interesting walk at Qianmen Street and 798 Art District of Beijing

I had no itinerary when I went to Beijing, I had no time to plan and so I had some last-minute Google search for activities on what to do on my first day in the city. I ended up doing the thing I hate the most during summer when it is hot, sticky, and humid – long walks. China has tons of those long shopping and restaurant-filled streets that would not bore any traveler but I chose to spend my first day in this city at 798 Art District and Qianmen Street.

cool graffiti at 798 Art District

Emperor’s Qin Terracotta Army in Xian, China

I have daydreamed of traveling ever since I was a kid. I would usually hang out in our school library during lunch and free time and look at all those books about archaeology, history and exploration. I was ever since fascinated by a set of army sculptures that have been buried in the ground a long time ago. I may have forgotten what it was called and where it was excavated, but I never forgot what it looked like in that book. Years after, I am now working and planning for my travels that I remembered that image. I looked it up with keywords “terracotta sculptures” and found out that the picture I saw is in China and located in the city of Xi’An. On the last piso sale of 2012, I booked for a flight going to this country. Aside from The Great Wall of China, going to the Terracotta Warriors is one of the must-dos I planned out for my 12-day trip.

Terracotta Army of Xian, China

Yangling Mausoleum of Han Dynasty (Tomb of Emperor Jingdi): Mini Terracotta Warriors of Xi’An

My purpose of going to Xi’An was solely to see the widely-known Terracotta Warriors, I was only supposed to stay for two days but when someone told me about another interesting site in this city, I didn’t hesitate to add more day just to be able to visit it. The joy of traveling flexible. :) Even though there’s still one line of subway train as of writing, commuting to the tourist spots in Xi’An is designed to be very efficient with all the bus circling around all the possible tourist routes in the city. The trip to Hanyangling took almost 1.5 hours, but given the location of the site at Xianyang and the cost of only CNY 4 one way, this was certainly a good treat!

a display of sculptures at Yangling Mausoleum of Han Dynasty

Fun things to do in Xi’An for a day

One of my main goals of this trip to China was to visit Xi’an to see the Terracotta Warriors. Aside from that, I really had no idea what else to see aside from those statues, but it give me the enough motivation to stay in this city for 3 days. After the 8-hour hard seater journey from Pingyao to Xi’An, I decided to sleep the entire morning in the hostel as I was already feeling nauseated due to the summer heat, exhaustion and lack of sleep. Before noon, I decided to go to the Terracotta Warriors, and when I was already in the ticket office, I noticed that I only had 70 CNY and the admission fee was 90 for those with student IDs, I remember having enough money before I left but the hostel key deposit fee was 150 CNY that was supposed to be used for the admission to the warriors. Feeling stupid and wasting almost three hours of travel time round trip, I decided to see the city of Xi’An and make use of the time I still have left for the day. Good thing the sun sets by around 8 PM during summer so I was still left with enough sun light to have nice pictures.

One of Xian's majestic towers

Pingyao’s Treasures: Wang Family Compound, Shuanglin Temple and Zhangbi Ancient Castle

My trip to Pingyao has been quite interesting so far, and it’s not about natural landscape that has charmed me, but the preserved ancient man-made buildings and structures that show a lot about China’s traditional way of living. After a day of wandering around the Old City, I decided to join a group from my hostel who planned for another day trip on some attractions around the Shanxi countryside.

Entrance to Wang Family Compound

Attractions to see in Pingyao for a day

There are tons of places that one could see inside the ancient walled city of Pingyao (平遥), which is also why I wanted to stay in this place for 2 days and see everything that I can within this time. I allowed myself to absorb more of ancient Pingyao for a day by getting a map and buying the visitors pass ticket. Just looking at the map, planning to visit all the sights in this town would eat up more than two days as there are too many that one could see and explore. I squeezed all the recommended places in one go enjoy my flexible schedule.

Ancient City of Pingyao

A step back in time into the ancient city of Pingyao

My initial plan on my 12-day trip was to go to Beijing, Xian and Chengdu’s Jiuzhaigou, but I figured Jiuzhaigou would be too crowded during summer and so I remade my itinerary and went to Datong and Pingyao instead. After browsing some travel blogs, I was really looking forward to seeing the place. Too excited maybe that I even decided to endure traveling by 8-hours on a standing train from Datong to Pingyao. I have arrived at my destination same day afternoon and was really exhausted and just wanted to reach my hostel and rest for a while. Without no itinerary for the day, I wandered off by dusk around the city walls of this old town.

Ancient city of Pingyao

Standing, Hard Seaters, and Sleepers in China’s Railway Trains – Guide and Travel Report

China is a LARGE country, a fact everybody knows. I was expecting that it would be hard to go around as I only expected planes and buses will be the only means of transportation – I was wrong. China’s extensive connection of railway trains presents a very efficient way on traveling the country.

Pingyao Railway Train Station

Hanging Monastery of Datong, China: Not for the weak hearted!

The sights of Datong did not disappoint so far. Yungang Grottoes was nothing short of amazing, making my expectations set high on our next destination, the Hanging Monastery. After lunch, our group took a 3-hour ride going there, though it was a long and tedious one, provided us with brilliant views of the mountain ranges in the area.

Hanging Monastery of Datong, China

The Remarkable Yungang Grottoes of Datong

We were blessed with great weather and clear blue skies on my second day in Datong. Perfect for seeing tourist spots that we have planned for the day. I was off with a group and we rented a van provided by our hostel and I can say that the 75¥ fee per person was not bad given how far those tourists spots were located from each other. After an hour, we have arrived at our first stop, Yungang Grottoes.

Yungang Grottoes, Datong

Going to Datong and My first day in China

I have arrived in Beijing. But it was not yet the time to explore the city. My 12-day trip will kick off at a city called Datong, located north of Shanxi Province. As soon as the Beijing Capital Airport Express Train opened up, I immediately took the transfer to Liuliqiao station where the bus going to Datong was located. Technically, it was my first challenge in China, getting confused with the subway system and loosing myself at its long and very crowded transfer lines during rush hour! It was 10 minutes past 9 in the morning when I arrived at Liuliqiao bus station. No frills on buying the ticket and after a couple of minutes I was on a bus heading for Datong. Many locals were staring at me as apparently I was the only non-Chinese who was there and also the only female! I decided to sleep through the entire trip :)

relaxing stroll in Datong