Xi'an: The Terracotta Army

Fri, July 31

Mike

Yesterday was Tisha B'Av, but starting the fast the night before was impossible because we couldn't get dinner before 9:30 PM, and Jul 30 was just plain inconvenient. Oh well.

Took a wake up call for 5:30. Way too early, but Curtis got up and showered. I finally got up closer to 6. We do not have breakfast in the hotel. We walked over to the north street, and waited for a bus to the train station, and waited, and waited. Finally one appeared. We got to the train station at maybe 7:30 or 7:45, and wandered around, looking for breakfast and looking for the 306 bus to take us to Terra Cotta Warriors. (7 Y)

As we were walking, we saw a McDonalds, where Curtis could get an Egg McMuffin and maybe some potatoes. We walked in and the menu was all in Chinese. It turns out that P C Lee's Restaurant has totally ripped off the entire McDonald's design, and the only hint is his picture on the front of the building. Well, none of that, and we had two small bread things from a vendor.

We finally found the 306 bus but it was a tour bus (at tour bus prices, presumably). They are even copying public transportation to deceive. We were also told we could take the 915, which we found and at 8 AM we were off.

The whole point of this exercise was to be there before the opening of the gates at 8:30 to beat the Chinese hordes. We got there at 9 AM and still beat the hordes, who were about 30 min behind us.

Entrance was 90 Y (no discounts available). As we were walking around, looking for the movie before going into the pits, we were joined by Tom and Katharina, from Belgium and Germany (Munchen), in their 20s and doing the hostel scene. Katharina, in particular, had been on the road for over 10 months.

The advice was see the movie first, then Pit 3, Pit 2, and finally Pit 1. However, we couldn't find the movie. We went into the introductory building first, went through it fairly quickly, and, realizing that the Chinese hordes were not far behind, straight into Pit 1. It is as we have seen in the pictures. The first couple of sectors are filled with the completed warriors standing in regiment row. After that are numerous covered or inactive sectors. One sector was being worked by 4 - 6 archeologists with maybe some toothbrushes or such. It must be very slow work.

Pits 2 and 3 are smaller but more chock full of stuff. There are two stories here: 1. "This is what this is about." 2. "This is the archeological proof that 1 is true." It gets confusing because both stories are being told at once.

Anyway, after about 2.5 hours we were out. We decided to get lunch, and had a very representative lunch - yangrou pao mo, the lamb soup with bread pieces and rice thread, a lamb plate, and biang biang noodles (broad noodles in a soup), along with three beers and an orange drink. We assumed that the beers were 10 apiece or less, but they charged a ripoff price of 25 Y each, so the total bill was 194 Y, when it should have been closer to 120-140 Y.

Out and down 2 km to the tomb of Emperor Qin, basically a tall mound that you climb and say that's nice and then climb down.

Back to town and to the railroad station. It started raining, and we needed to buy train tickets. Inside, the ticketing area was total chaos: 28 lines, noise and more noise. There were general announcements, all amplified, and the individual tellers also each had their own amplification.

We got in a line of maybe 12 -15. Finally, we got to the front and I succeeded in buying 2 tickets from Xian to Luoyang for 1 Aug. They had sold out 1st class (soft seats), so we got hard seats for 55 Y each. We couldn't buy the tickets from Kaifeng to Nanjing for 4 Aug because it was too far out.

By this time, the rain had stopped, and we took a bus back to the Bell Tower, and then walked to pick up our laundry - it was clean and ready (this is the laundry for which, after bargaining in Chinese, I had paid 50 Y yesterday). Back to the hotel, where we relaxed. After a while, I realized that I had brought over the clothes in a green stuffsack, and I hadn't received the stuffsack. So while Curtis meditated and then napped, I walked back to the laundry. I am so proud of myself. In my best Mandarin, I said "Yesterday I gave you one of these (showing the yellow stuffsack) - green colored. Do you have it?" Lo and behold, they reached behind the counter and gave it to me.

By dinner time it had started raining hard again, so we had dinner in the hotel, instead of trying to get back to the Muslim market street. We had chili oil noodles and a small dish of seasoned egg, with bread pieces. You take the bread slices, pull them apart and stuff them with the flavored egg mixture. Really good food, and with some tea and a local beer, only 30 Y. We had given the waitress a hard time over "what is this, what is that," so we left a 6 Y tip.

Then out to get two sticks of the breaded chicken we so like.

To the internet place, and then to bed.

Curtis

We got up early and found a city bus to the train station in Xi'an where the public buses to the Terracotta Army leave. These buses, only 7 Yuan (about $1) for the 50 km drive, just make a couple of stops along the way, as opposed much-pricier tour buses.

The hard part for us was escaping the tour bus hawkers. When we got there and purchased our tickets, again avoiding the tour peddlers, we went through the entrance and ran into two other Westerners who had come there by the economy method - Tom Jansen, a guy (traveling alone) from Belgium who had come to China on a three-week vacation and Katharina Kohlmeier, a girl from Germany who is on an eleven month adventure which has taken her to Australia, NZ, Fiji, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and now China. The two reminded me of old times, when I travelled solo in India and Africa on a 10-month adventure. Mike and I both shared travel stories with them as we viewed the Terracotta Warriors and later at lunch and on the return bus.

The Terracotta Army exhibit in Atlanta helped us quite a bit in appreciating the site. The entire dig is covered by three Wal-Mart-size buildings, so rain would not have been a problem. Actually we avoided rain today anyhow, but it was really humid with almost no wind to relieve the stickiness. Nevertheless, I think the threat of bad weather kept some of the crowds away, so viewing was pretty good - definitely better than we were prepared for, based upon the guide book descriptions.

In one section we saw some of the archeologists at work. From the dig we took a taxi (4 Y) to the tomb of Qin Shihuangdi. It is a pyramidal earthen mound with a flat top. A long stairway goes to the top, but not much else to see. There is a rather poorly tended rose garden at the bottom and a long path around the mound, which we didn't bother to traverse.

We got back to Xi'an early enough to get a coke float at McDonalds and pick up our laundry. Ahh, clean smelling, folded clothes! Then I went back to the hotel and had a nice nap while Mike came up to the wangba and caught up on the last couple of days in his email.

Then we had a light dinner at the hotel restaurant. I wanted some sesame noodles, but they had a similar but simpler dish of wheat (possibly buckwheat) noodles with chili oil and peppers and spinach (a little bland but good) and a dish of egg and hot peppers with some of the flatbread with black sesame seed that is a specialty of Xi'an. It was quite tasty.

Afterward, we went up to the street for another stick of the breaded chicken breast that is fried and really delicious. It costs only 2.5 Y. Amazing.

Tomorrow we will take a train to Luoyang, the capital of the Latter Han, sometimes called the Eastern Han as opposed to Chang'an (Xi'an), which was capital of the Former or Western Han. There we will spend Sunday at the Longmen Caves, sometimes known as the 10,000 Buddha caves. I'm really looking forward to that.