The Terracotta Army. Several thousand warriors who never need a toilet break.
We only spent one night in Xi'an. Though because of the times of arrival and departure, and everything that we did, it felt like longer.
Got up early again. Though not as early as those of us who fancied breakfast. Luggage was collected by the hotel staff (we having left it outside our rooms) and held downstairs in a big net. We would be coming back to collect it.
We were off to see the Terracotta Warriors, which probably would have been counted amongst the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World had the Greeks known about it at the time! They were designed by (made to order for) the Emperor Qin, for his tomb. However he died (207 BC) before all the warriors were finished, and the local populous didn't feel the desire to complete their work! Although only Emperor of China for a short time (221-207 BC), his rule was achieved by conquering/subjugating most of the other Chinese kingdoms, thus effectively uniting China for the first time. His legacy thus continues to this day - a sort of Chinese 'King Alfred'! Qin is also responsible for the original development of the Great Wall of China, so with hindsight he's one of the most important Chinese emperors ever - especially for tourism purposes!!
For historians and archaeologists, the interesting thing about the warriors is their individuality. Each warrior is different, and represents a real warrior in Qin's army. However, not all of the warriors are ethnic Chinese! There are Mongols, other East Asians, even the occasional Arab! Proving that the Arabs and Chinese had some contact even all those years ago. As a comparison, the Roman Empire at this time consisted of most of Italy and not a lot else.
We went by coach to the tomb site, complete with local guide, a 27-year-old guy who, while being friendly, was also loud! He didn't stop talking through the whole journey (an hour and a half, or thereabouts). A couple of people at the back ignored him, and went to sleep, but people like Radka were interested, and asking questions (as always).
Quite a dull journey really, quite flat countryside, and pretty good roads. Which made a change, after the roads we'd been on previously. We reached the site about 9:30am, slightly later than we intended but still early enough to avoid the vast crowds!
Off the bus and into the mad throng of street vendors (well, after buying our tickets anyway). We passed through them quite quickly - we could always buy some stuff later.
The site is divided up into several sections, or pits. The vast bulk of the discovered warriors are in pit 1; the other two open pits are still being developed (one represents the command centre! It is that detailed!). There is a pit 4 and pit 5 but they're not open yet. Even in pit 1 they haven't even got halfway yet! Pit 1 is enclosed in a huge room - a bit like an aircraft hangar in terms of shape and style. There is some natural light allowed to come through windows, but the room is so vast that it's still quite dark - you'd have thought this was to protect the warriors but they've already faded so it probably doesn't make that much difference. Originally painted in multi-colours, they have all now faded to grey.
Recreating these warriors is a vast job; as of some estimated 8,000 individual statues, they have recovered only 3,000. It's not simply a case of finding them either; they are broken and the archaeologists have to put them together like a jigsaw puzzle. You can see that some bits have been lost forever. You might think that this was because of the sheer time between then and now, but no! Most of the warriors were smashed up some ten years after Qin's death by a gang of rebels in the civil war that followed!
We had a look round pit 1, then the smaller pits (3, then 2). In the latter two pits there is much less to see, they are smaller areas and are very much still "work in progress". The archaeologists work on them during the night when there is a lot less noise and a lot less disturbance and distraction from tourists.
We watched a small film beforehand at the complex, a small 360° Imax effort. Quite well done though; it was all about the emperor Qin, what he did, and the history of the warriors. They were discovered in the 1970s completely accidentally by farmers digging a well!
We stayed most of the morning at the site, and we finished by going round the museum (which really wasn't that memorable!), then briefly passed through a bit of an art gallery (paintings of almost Mongol looking people doing sport painted in an artistic way) before wandering past the vendors on the way back to the coach. At some point Dan and Louise disappeared on ahead - cue more gossip and disappointment in my mind! (Even still, maybe I had something for her.)
Passing through the vendors I saw thimbles!! My mother collects thimbles and I had wanted to get her a couple from China. Jane thought this would be nearly impossible. In the confusion wrought by Dan and Louise's departure (ie we couldn't find them!), I managed to slip away and start to haggle. Managed to get her down from over 100 Yuan for two, to around 70 Yuan.
I think they must have thought that I'd go lost; Jane came back to see where I was. Seems the missing duet had already made it to the bus so I was the last one left! Whoops ... hey it took a while to get the right price!!
The journey back was considerably quieter than the journey there. It was also longer. Again the New Zealanders took the opportunity to have some kip ... we got stuck in traffic coming into Xi'an town centre and it took almost an hour longer than the journey out!
We had about two to three hours to spend in Xi'an before we had to meet up for the bus to the station (get another overnight train!). I had a wander round the Muslim area where we had had food the night before; bumped into the Swedes who had had lunch in a small noodle place where we had seen the chef banging noodles the night before. After a filling 5 Yuan bowl I was ready to see the mosque.
On the way I bumped into Radka and Vivien, so we explored the back streets together. Narrow, with food stalls on either side - it's hard to get away from it in China! They bought some bread snacks for the journey and we tried to find this Chinese-style mosque that Xi'an is famous for. Although we got lost on the way (bad signage, honest!!) we found it eventually - down an indoor mall of souvenir stalls in typically touristy fashion (cf Yangshuo, only a corridor not a road). I did buy Mao's Little Red Book - should have got one in French for Laure maybe?
The mosque was strange. Obviously living in Birmingham, I am used to the Islamic style - one of the biggest mosques in Britain is just off the Middle Ring Road, it's traditionally styled and impressive as you go past. This mosque in Xi'an, er, wasn't LOL. It looked not a little like an ornate garden, could imagine trellises of hanging ivy all around. It was, basically, a Chinese building that just happened to be used for Muslim worship. The only indication of its use, if you didn't know beforehand, is that on many of the doorways and overhanging wooden bars, there are inscriptions in the Arabic script.
Anyhow. We wandered back to the hotel; supposed to meet at 4pm, got back quarter to and saw half the group just leaving in a minivan! We hung round the hotel lobby for maybe 45 minutes to an hour waiting for it to return - traffic was apparently horrendous! We had the "treat" of watching Dan singing and dancing softly to himself to his headphones. Certainly a lively soul, if a bit mad.
Eventually made it to the station, avoided the X-ray machines for the third time (!) and waited for the train, in a station that was just as typically hectic as the others. We had to walk a bit along the platform when the train got in (the other two trains, our carriage was right at the entrance). It was quite crowded - obviously mostly Chinese (we'd seen very few Europeans on any of the trains! Two backpacking Finns had passed us on one train, and on the train to Xi'an Dan had found another tour group, but otherwise it was mainly locals). It turns out I'm sharing my 6-bed compartment with a little kid - whose favourite pastime in the early part of the journey was to hide behind the corners of the bed then pop his head out, look round, say "hello", and disappear before we had a chance to see him. He mainly did this at Tom ... he was sleeping in the bottom bunk of the three I was on top of. (Dee told me later that he was screaming much of the night - didn't hear a thing. Evidentially, once asleep, I'm a heavy sleeper!)
There were no DVDs to be seen on this train either, seems that all trains have different things offered.
Before night fell, we passed through some interesting scenery, including by some caves that are still used for habitation. Wonder what the Council Tax would be on them?!