It’s a public holiday today in Australia, so we reminisced about public holidays we’ve experienced overseas.

I pride myself on being relatively well prepared prior to our travels, reading up on possible places to visit and things to see, researching the expected climate, investigating possible events or special occasions, opening days/hours of attractions. And, of course, if there are any public holidays during our visit.

Planning to visit Beijing and Xian in 2008 I had purchased the most up-to-date Lonely Planet guide, and further investigated on the internet. When planning, early April seemed in the clear for public holidays. Oops. That was a mistake.

We’ve seen crowds before, having navigated busy train stations such as Shinjuku in Tokyo. We’d even come to grips with crossing the roads in Beijing, where the traffic signals for pedestrians seem to be mere suggestions. But early April 2008 was busy!

On 3 April we had booked the overnight sleeper train from Beijing to Xian to see the Terracotta Warriors. We checked out of our hotel in the morning, left our luggage at reception, and arranged a taxi to the station later for our evening departure to Xian. With a full day of leisure, we headed out for another day of sightseeing Beijing. This day we crammed in the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace, enjoying the sights and sounds in beautiful weather.

Around 5pm we decided to return to the hotel for our booked taxi for the short trip to the train station for the 8:40pm overnight train. Plenty of time, we thought, but as we sat in the hotel foyer waiting, we began to feel increasingly nervous.

Someone else’s long-awaited taxi arrived, would ours be soon? Time was ticking as we debated the pros and cons of waiting or go over to the mall area to find our own taxi. At the one-hour wait, we decided we had to do something, so we went over to the busy mall area. No taxis at all were interested in being flagged down. Not a single available taxi anywhere.

A very helpful lady noticed our predicament, and suggested that, as it was a very busy day today, we had better not wait for a taxi at all. Despite it only being a 25-minute taxi ride, it was going east to west, and no taxis were interested in that drive at this peak time. She suggested taking the subway, and walked with us to the subway station, ensuring we purchased the correct tickets and guiding us as far as possible: Line 1 to Military Museum, then take a local taxi a few blocks south to the entrance of the Beijing West Railway Station.

Thanks to her help, we duly arrived at the Beijing West Railway Station. To say it was huge would be an understatement. It was massive. As we rode up the escalator into the railway station waiting area, it was like a movie scene. As the waiting area came into view, a panoramic vista of predominately black-haired Chinese travellers crammed into every square inch appeared before us. If I saw it in a movie, I’d think, “yeah, that’s overdone. I’ve seen crowds, but that’s ridiculous.” It was. We felt like we could step over and run over the top of the masses, like cattle dogs across a mob of sheep.

Fortunately, the crowds were well ordered and gradually dispersing, moving onto the trains; soon it was our turn to board the Z19 to Xian. We shared a 4-berth with a Chinese mother and young son.

Arriving in Xian at 8:25 the next morning, we quickly realised that the busy-ness of the train station the previous evening was not to be a “one-off”. The station here at Xian was also incredibly crowded. It turns out that April 4 is a newly re-introduced traditional public holiday in 2008. Who knew?

Holidays in China are complicated …. In 2008, the Labor day holiday was shortened to three days … and instead, three traditional Chinese holidays were added.

Public holidays in China – Wikipedia

The Qingming Festival (Tomb-Sweeping Day) has been observed by the Chinese for over 2500 years, although the observance has changed significantly. It became a public holiday in mainland China in 2008.

Qingming Festival – Wikipedia

As we only had one full day in Xian, we persevered with our plan to see the Terracotta Warriors. I’d researched which local bus to take and, armed with phrasebook and guidebook, we headed to the bus stops outside the station. You know the queues at Disneyland, where they snake around, back on themselves, and with “3 hours waiting from here” displayed? Well, I think these queues for the local buses were probably longer.

Early on we were approached (clearly not being Chinese locals) with an offer of a private driver for the day. We scoffed at the idea, determined to take the local transport and be self-sufficient. Soon, however, after negotiating various queues, determining the length of the wait and overall inconvenience, we resigned ourselves to taking a private driver. I suppose he put the price up for the public holiday!

First stop: Banpo Neolithic Village; second stop: Terracotta Warrior Factory (one of those obligatory “we want to sell you something” stops); third stop: lunch at a big Chinese restaurant, then on to the Terracotta Warriors themselves.

The site was much larger than we had imagined, even having seen it on documentaries. There were more buildings and pit areas than expected, many warriors which have been restored, yet many more to be dug out. Impressed, we were glad we made the trip, despite the minor inconvenience of the unexpected public holiday crowds.

The next day we rode bikes around the Xian city walls – but that’s a story for another day. Here’s Tom on the old city wall, overlooking the railway station. Not so busy today!