Today’s tour started very early. A 5:30 am wake up call and on the road by 6:30 am. We travelled to the Beijing airport and checked into our flight to Xi’an. Xi’an is one of the oldest cities in China. It served as the capital for 13 dynasties. We touched down and headed out with our local tour guide Jerry. Jerry was a fantastic guide. I found him hilarious because he talked non-stop and usually about what we were seeing. He was telling us about the history of Xi-an, saw a child and explained the one-child policy. This population control policy only applies to the Han people who make up 95% of the Chinese population. It has worked to curb population growth, but created a great disparity in the number of men and women since men are preferred. We read in the paper they are currently debating easing the restrictions to allow couples to have two children. The culture is based on the young taking care of the old; it will be difficult for one child to take care of his/her parents plus 2 sets of grandparents. Then he saw a BYD car and explained how Warren Buffett had recently invested in BYD so it would soon be a worldwide brand. Driving into Xi’an was honestly depressing. A grayish brown fog hung over the city blocking out what I assume to be a beautiful view of the mountains and it was a good, clear day. The smell of the coal fired plants just hung in the air. We passed farm lands with dilapidated brick homes. We went first to a handicraft site, of course. We learned how they make the terra cotta soldiers and the present day replicas. This is where tour fatigue really began to set in. We are both tired of taking so much for shopping and waiting for people to complete their shopping. Then we headed to lunch. For our included lunches, we sit at tables of 8-10 around a lazy Susan and they bring all different types of dishes to try. I think in general this is really fun, except they only bring enough for each person to have one or two bites so people get really stressed that they aren’t going to get any if someone takes too much. Then there is the issue of serving utensils. Most of us just reach in with our chopsticks and get what we want, but this grosses out another member of our tour group. Ahhh, the joys of traveling in a group. After lunch and too much time shopping, we headed to the terra cotta museum.
The museum is magnificent. Basically, in 1974 a farmer dug a well and found terra cotta solider remains. He notified the government and they began excavating. The site they unearthed was far greater than they could have ever imagined. The emperor, Qin Shi Huang, had ordered the replication of his army for his tomb. Qin Shi Huang is one of the most famous emperors because he unified all of China. His mausoleum is believed to stretch over at least a mile of land with the terra cotta soldiers being the farthest away. But it wasn’t just the army that was included, it was everything needed to sustain life: horses, chariots, stable hands, acrobats, supplies for digging wells, decorative bronze sculptures – all to take with him into the afterlife. The tomb took 40 years and at least 700,000 workers to create which is especially amazing because he only ruled for 37 of those years. The next emperor had to complete the tomb. The tomb itself looks like a large mound of dirt in the distance. At this time, archeologists have decided it is too dangerous to excavate.
The museum is divided into 3 pits. Pit 1 is the largest and housed in a building the size of an airplane hangar. At this point, about 6,000 warriors and horses have been uncovered. The warriors and horses were placed in battle formation on a tile floor in between walls of earth. Then wooden cross beams were placed perpendicular to the walls, covered with fiber mats and then covered with earth so from the surface, it just looked like a field. The pits were damaged during a revolution when the area was burned so the wooden beams caved in and broke many of the soldiers. Archeologists have to painstakingly glue the pieces back together to reproduce how the tomb would have looked. To the right of Pit 1 is Pit 2. This pit contains 1300 warriors and soldiers and is still being excavated. Pit 3 is believed to be the army headquarters complete with a room for making sacrifices before the battle. It is just incredible the amount of detail that went into this construction.
After the short tour of the museum, we headed back to the city center. Glenn and I decided to go on the optional tour – a dynasty show and dumpling dinner. Little did we know what a treat the dynasty show would be because it took place in an amusement park! Yes, the Tang dynasty amusement park. The only thing I can compare it to is things I have heard about Branson, MO. We walked in and the front part is a “cultural park” with replicas of gardens, traditional buildings, and exhibitions. Then we went to the show which was filled with music, dancing and song. The dancing was so-so but the costumes were amazing!! Behind the cultural park is a bona-fide amusement park with zipper rides, tilt-a-wheels, the whole works. We just couldn’t stop laughing. It’d be like having a pilgrim amusement park!
After the park, we headed to the hotel to check in. We stayed at the Aurum International Hotel near the city center. For all the depressing brick buildings we passed, the city center is quite exciting. We passed the Big Goose Pagoda and then drove into a neon extravaganza. The city walls and gates were beautifully lit. Our hotel was very nice with a sitting area outside the bedroom. After checking out the hotel, we headed to Da Fa Chung for dinner. We passed the Drum and Bell towers and all the excitement the high end shopping malls had to offer. Traffic – both pedestrian and automotive – was insane.
The restaurant is a famous local place for what they call dumpling banquet. After a course of 5-7 cold appetizers including noodle, peanut and vegetable dishes, we were served 18 little dumplings in all different shapes and fillings. It was amazing and SO delicious. There was pumpkin, pork, chicken, seafood, shrimp, vegetable and even walnut dumpling in the shape of a walnut. Then they heat up a pot of chicken, lamb, and duck broth at the table and cook some “baby” chicken dumplings. It was a really neat experience. After dinner, we were exhausted so we just headed to bed.
The museum is magnificent. Basically, in 1974 a farmer dug a well and found terra cotta solider remains. He notified the government and they began excavating. The site they unearthed was far greater than they could have ever imagined. The emperor, Qin Shi Huang, had ordered the replication of his army for his tomb. Qin Shi Huang is one of the most famous emperors because he unified all of China. His mausoleum is believed to stretch over at least a mile of land with the terra cotta soldiers being the farthest away. But it wasn’t just the army that was included, it was everything needed to sustain life: horses, chariots, stable hands, acrobats, supplies for digging wells, decorative bronze sculptures – all to take with him into the afterlife. The tomb took 40 years and at least 700,000 workers to create which is especially amazing because he only ruled for 37 of those years. The next emperor had to complete the tomb. The tomb itself looks like a large mound of dirt in the distance. At this time, archeologists have decided it is too dangerous to excavate.
The museum is divided into 3 pits. Pit 1 is the largest and housed in a building the size of an airplane hangar. At this point, about 6,000 warriors and horses have been uncovered. The warriors and horses were placed in battle formation on a tile floor in between walls of earth. Then wooden cross beams were placed perpendicular to the walls, covered with fiber mats and then covered with earth so from the surface, it just looked like a field. The pits were damaged during a revolution when the area was burned so the wooden beams caved in and broke many of the soldiers. Archeologists have to painstakingly glue the pieces back together to reproduce how the tomb would have looked. To the right of Pit 1 is Pit 2. This pit contains 1300 warriors and soldiers and is still being excavated. Pit 3 is believed to be the army headquarters complete with a room for making sacrifices before the battle. It is just incredible the amount of detail that went into this construction.
After the short tour of the museum, we headed back to the city center. Glenn and I decided to go on the optional tour – a dynasty show and dumpling dinner. Little did we know what a treat the dynasty show would be because it took place in an amusement park! Yes, the Tang dynasty amusement park. The only thing I can compare it to is things I have heard about Branson, MO. We walked in and the front part is a “cultural park” with replicas of gardens, traditional buildings, and exhibitions. Then we went to the show which was filled with music, dancing and song. The dancing was so-so but the costumes were amazing!! Behind the cultural park is a bona-fide amusement park with zipper rides, tilt-a-wheels, the whole works. We just couldn’t stop laughing. It’d be like having a pilgrim amusement park!
After the park, we headed to the hotel to check in. We stayed at the Aurum International Hotel near the city center. For all the depressing brick buildings we passed, the city center is quite exciting. We passed the Big Goose Pagoda and then drove into a neon extravaganza. The city walls and gates were beautifully lit. Our hotel was very nice with a sitting area outside the bedroom. After checking out the hotel, we headed to Da Fa Chung for dinner. We passed the Drum and Bell towers and all the excitement the high end shopping malls had to offer. Traffic – both pedestrian and automotive – was insane.
The restaurant is a famous local place for what they call dumpling banquet. After a course of 5-7 cold appetizers including noodle, peanut and vegetable dishes, we were served 18 little dumplings in all different shapes and fillings. It was amazing and SO delicious. There was pumpkin, pork, chicken, seafood, shrimp, vegetable and even walnut dumpling in the shape of a walnut. Then they heat up a pot of chicken, lamb, and duck broth at the table and cook some “baby” chicken dumplings. It was a really neat experience. After dinner, we were exhausted so we just headed to bed.
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