Summary of things you should know before flying to Xi'an, Luoyang

Just got back yesterday, so I'm sharing this for others to benefit. A collection of useful things to know before flying, not in order, just writing as I remember. 1. White Horse Temple, Xi'an City Wall, you can use WeChat to scan and buy only if you have a Chinese phone number. If you don't have one, take your passport to the officer and do the following: - White Horse Temple, go to the officer at the entrance and tell him you're Thai, you can't use WeChat to buy, you only have a passport. He'll let you scan and pay him there. - The Great Wall, Yongnimgmen, there's a beautiful lantern festival right now. The door closes at 22:00, but the announcement sounds like the lights will be turned off at 23:00. When buying a ticket, show your pass, tell him you're a foreigner, you don't have a Chinese phone number, and he'll let you scan and pay the officer at the ticket booth. Actually, you can pay with cash or WeChat at the Great Wall. Tell him which you want to pay for. Cash is 现金 xiànjīn 2. When buying a train ticket through a trip, buy a second class ticket and you can sit for a short while. The seat can recline and there's a charger. The officer said you can take your passport to scan and go up to the ticket gate. But we want tickets so we know the train we need to take according to our seats. - At 西安北嫙 Xi'an Bei Station, walk into the station and walk to the end, it should be on the left side. There will be a ticket office. Submit your passport and tell them your booking number in your trip. They will issue you a ticket. If you can't make it in time and want to change to the next trip, you can do it here as well. Submit your passport and say 改签 Gǎiqiān. You can change it once without paying. - At Luoyang Longmen, the ticket office is on the left side of the station. You don't have to go into the station. Walk outside to the left and you will see the ticket counter. Show your passport and tell them your booking number. The officer will issue you a ticket. Then walk back through the security check to enter the station. 3. When entering or exiting the train station or a tourist attraction, if you don't have a Chinese ID card, always take your passport to the officer. When boarding the train, look at the time sign. If the last one is green, it means you can check your ticket at the gate. The person holding the passport should go to the ticket counter with the officer. Then walk down to the platform. Find your train. The train stops for a short while and then leaves. Be careful not to miss the train. Another thing is that the train will stop at other stations before reaching Luoyang/Xi'an. Watch the announcement on the train and listen carefully to the announcement to see if it has reached the station you want to get off at. 4. The air is very dry and there are many people who smoke heavily. It wasn't like this before. Restaurants are closed and convenience stores are still smoking. When we went, our throats were swollen from the first day. I recommend buying antibiotics and bringing them with you in case it happens to you so that you have medicine to take, antibiotics, cough drops, and antihistamines. Carry them with you. Bring a mask to wear and change frequently. Sip water frequently. 5. The toilets are almost all squat toilets. The cleanliness is mixed. There is a smell everywhere. Be prepared. Most other cities I've been to have squat toilets, but this is rare, except for the elderly toilets. Bring tissues. Many places don't provide them. 6. The Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. There are a lot of tour guides. Don't look back and pay attention. Just walk past them. Go buy a ticket and walk inside. You can walk slowly. Hole 1-3, find historical stories to read by yourself, no need to hire a guide. Chinese guides are expensive, English ones are even more expensive, 300++ yuan. It's more fun to read by yourself. When you exit Hole 1-3, walk out the back, there will be many restaurants, souvenir shops. If you have time, you can shop and eat, but if the tour is very crowded, after 4 pm, hurry up and walk out the front. It's far. If you walk, you will wonder if it's the right way. But it's the right way because it's a forced way. Walk, walk, walk, open the map, search for the ticket office, walk back there, find the free bus stop of the tomb to another zone. If you can't find it, show the picture of the bronze carriage to the staff or guides around there. Ask where to get on the bus. They will point you. The bus and entrance fee are included in the ticket. When you find the bus stop, get on. When you reach the other zone, the bus will stop. Walk to buy a golf cart ticket. Don't walk. It's very far. Don't be stingy. 15 yuan per person. ****Cash only**** This will take you to hole k0006. The highlight of coming to the tomb is to come here. Come see the bronze carriage. When you get there, it will stop at the first stop. It's not this hole. Take the next stop. Otherwise, ask the driver, is this pit k0006 or not? If he says yes, get off and walk into the museum zone. The bronze horse will be on the lowest floor there. *No need to walk to pit k0006, go to the exhibition zone*. Then, wait for the golf cart upstairs. They will return to take you to the entrance. Use the same ticket as the way in and show it to the officer. No need to pay more. 7. Inside the cemetery, there will be people selling souvenirs, clay dolls, etc. When you walk out, there will be souvenir shops. You can wait to buy outside. You can bargain everywhere. Just say the number. But if you bargain and they give you the price you want, you should take it. Don't bargain for fun. You might get scolded. The clay doll set in a box was originally sold for 200 baht per box. Later, you could get 2 boxes for 200 baht. But outside at the exit, they sell for 80 baht. Just different packaging, a little smaller. Try it. Choose the one that you are okay with and the price. 8. Accommodation: Xi'an Hesu Desinger Hotel is convenient and easy to travel to. It's near the city wall. It's a kilometer but you can walk. There are convenience stores and a shopping mall nearby. The room has a hair dryer, toothbrush, soap, shampoo, conditioner, and towels. You don't have to carry them to make your bag heavy. The staff were very helpful. They helped me order medicine because my throat hurt so bad. We spoke Chinese here, but there were a lot of tourists. The staff tried to communicate very well. You can ask for anything. Water is refilled every day. The room is cleaned every day. There is a welcome drink. There is a place to put complimentary things. There are things to check out. Highly recommended. The bed is soft, clean, and there are many plugs. There are cats, but the mother cat recently gave birth. She is protective of her kittens, so she doesn't let them play with them. But you can go and see them. They are all very cute. 9. Bring about 2,000 Thai baht in cash. Bring a mix of small bills of 50, 20, and 10 baht so that it is easy to use. If you are going back later and still have a lot left, when you go shopping, you can ask them if you can use cash. The rest we can add to WeChat Pay. It can be used everywhere without any problems. 10. Call a car using Didi. Call in the Didi app and then press to pay in WeChat. Many people have been cheated by Didi fees, such as adding toll fees or something else. Always check before pressing to pay to make sure the price is correct. Is there really an expressway?