Tour of Xian and Terracotta Warriors

We slept really well last night...probably because we were so tired. I woke up at 5:45 and didn't really go back to sleep but was able to kind of doze until my alarm went off at 6:45. I got up at 7:00 and took my shower. The shower felt sooo good and I feel human again!


We went down for breakfast and had a wonderful buffet. The eggs in the omelette could have been cooked more but the OJ, bacon, chocolate donut and rice were very good. The rice had eggs, ham and green peppers in it and I could make it myself--and I just might!


After breakfast we exchanged some money (FINALLY!) at the front desk and went back to the room to get ready for the day. We met Sean in the lobby at 9:00 and started our tour of Xian.


First we stopped at the Shaanxi Provincial Museum and he told us all about the Tang, Han, and Qin Dynasties and showed us relics that had been excavated from Shaanxi Province (or replicas of relics).


Our next stop was the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is part of the Temple of Thanksgiving. We didn't go into the pagoda itself because he said there was really nothing to see in it, it has more than 280 steps AND it would cost us another ticket. We just walked around and saw the various worship places where people can worship Buddah. A side note for anyone planning a trip to China: Make sure to bring toilet paper (almost all used but leave a little on the roll) because there may or may not be toilet paper in the restrooms. AND if you don't want to use the "squatty potty" look for the handicapped toilet (singular, not plural) in the restroom.


We then got back in the van to go to the Terracotta Warriors Factory. They kind of showed how they make them and then (of course) took us through all the shops where they want you to buy stuff. We broke down and bought a set of replicas and a couple T-shirts.


We got back in the nice warm van and were told we'd have lunch in a half hour. We stopped and went into a VERY cold building, up to the second floor and were taken into a restaurant (of sorts). There was only one table of people (all men) eating. It was FREEZING in there! They had us sit down at a table next to them and they moved a tall propane heater closer to us so it was (trying to) warm both the others and us. The table of men sounded like they were speaking Russian.


They brought out some hot tea. Now, I'm NOT a tea drinker but it was freaking COLD so I drank tea today and it actually felt good! They brought out chicken, rice, vegetables, celery, noodles (big, fat and VERY LONG!) and sweet and sour pork--all hot dishes that didn't stay hot very long in that cold room. We tried it all. The vegetables were quite spicy so we didn't eat much of them, but we filled up on everything else. There was no fruit at the end of this meal.


Sean came and got us (I don't know why the guides and drivers eat separately from us. It would have helped to have them help eat the food we left.)


A ten minute drive later we were at the Terracotta Army Museum (our "holy grail" for the day). We meet the owner/discoverer of the pits, Mr. Yeng, and bought a book about the area that he signed and then were allowed to have our picture taken with him. Very special! He will turn 78 years old this year. Sean went to buy our tickets. We walked to Pit 1. This is the pit you see in the pictures. It is the pit that has the most excavating done. They still work on excavating every night after the tourists leave. Currently, after these 38 years since discovery of the site, there are about 1000 figures that have been excavated. They believe there are about 8000 total figures. They were discovered in March of 1974.


When we finished in Pit 1, Sean took us to Pit 3 and then to Pit 2 (numbered in order of discovery). Then we went to another building and saw replicas of two bronze chariots with four horses each. The real ones are out touring somewhere. We also saw up close some figures, including a "kneeling archer" which was the most complete figure found to date.


Have I mentioned it was cold EVERYWHERE? Before we finished Pit 1, I had to put my hood up because my head was so cold. It helped keep the heat in. Tony was getting pretty cold with what he had on. I'm glad I brought my scarf. We had to keep our hands in our pockets because we did not bring mittens/gloves (didn't want to mess with them). My face and legs got cold but my upper body stayed warm enough.


When we finished with the Terracotta Warriors Museum, we found the van and Mr. Xia drove us back to our hotel. They will be back at 7:30 tomorrow morning to take us to the train.


We got up to our room and climbed into bed to try to warm up. We both took naps because this was a BIG day. I think we've warmed up now, too.


We found some water and were able to get Internet access to post about our first couple of days.


We go to Zhengzhou tomorrow!