Xi'an, China

April 22, 2018

Xi’an is the home of the Terra Cotta Warriors, over 6600 life size soldiers and horses made of Terra Cotta. These warriors were created by the first Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, to protect the Emperor in the after life. They were discovered in 1974 by a farmer drilling for water. True story. This is now both a major visitors attraction as well as an ongoing archaeological endeavor.  Most of the warriors were broken apart during the process of being buried and archaeologists are doing the painstaking work of putting them back together. This work occurs at night so that neither the visitors nor archaeologists are disturbed by the other. We saw the Terra Cotta Warriors 9 years ago on our National Geographic Expedition and were looking forward to seeing them again. We were not disappointed. The attention to detail on both the figures and the features on the heads is incredible.  The rank of each warrior is determined by the knot of hair on top of his head and the division of the army is shown in the differing detail of the warriors uniforms. In the ensuing 9 years there have been obvious changes. The areas where archaeologists were at work were made clear by the presence of desks, file cabinets, etc. We could also see individual warriors that were in the assembly process with different numbers attached to various parts of the figures by the scientists. Unfortunately, the attraction has been “Disneyfied” by the addition of a long pedestrian-only street leading up to the exhibit containing restaurants, fast food joints, gift shops and souvenir shops where one can purchase an array of warrior related tchotchkes. We understand that the Terra Cotta Warriors now attract over 80,000 visitors a day so all these new additions should not be surprising.

This was the only tour we took in Xi’an. There was an optional tour in the evening that included dinner and a Tang Dynasty show that we had seen on our previous visit. Instead, we visited the mall across the street from our hotel and found a pizzeria that was a welcome change from all the Chinese food we have been eating.

Monday morning we flew to Beijing and were bused directly to “Old Beijing”  where we took an hour long Rickshaw ride that included a half hour visit with a local family similar to the visit we made in Tibet. This was followed by a “tea tasting.” Tomorrow, Tuesday, we visit the Great Wall and enjoy, we hope, a Peking Duck dinner in the evening. Wednesday we go to the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square before flying home on Thursday. Our last blog posting may not happen until we get home.

Old Beijing

Local Home Visit

Tea Tasting

Several other random observations. Each one of our hotels has had two gas masks in the closet!  While traffic laws in Italy tend to be suggestions, the Chinese have taken this to a new level. We have watched our bus driver make a left hand turn as soon as the light turned green directly in front of oncoming traffic. Likewise, our bus drivers don’t wait for a break in traffic before turning right on a red light. Unlike the rest of the civilized world where pedestrians have the right of way, in China you take your life in your own hands even when crossing the street in a clearly marked crosswalk.  Finally, motorbikes are everywhere and they don’t make any noise. Tim took a walk one morning in Shanghai while Lynda was getting ready and was on a quiet side street when about 10-12 motorbikes went by. It was like someone had hit the “mute” button as they went by.

As always, we hope you have enjoyed following along on our adventures and appreciate the interest that you show in our travels.  We look forward to seeing you all when we get home and don’t forget that you are suppose to have spring in place for us.