Empark Grand Hotel Xian Xi'an

We saw the famous Terracotta soldiers today. We took a public bus ($1/person, one hour) to the site, then hired an English speaking guide ($15) for 2 hours which was great. We ended up seeing the 3 pits out of order because Paul wanted to see them in order of "least" impressive to “most” impressive.

Pit 1 is the biggest, where 6000 soldiers were found in battle formation. Pit 2 is partially excavated, because they can't ...

... to the train station. From there I caught another bus (#306 for 7Y) to the Terracotta Warriors. I loved the feeling of independence finding my way around using public transportation… it was cheaper and I usually saw some interesting people and events. For instance, there was a woman throwing up at the back of the 603! On the 306 I sat beside a young girl who is a university student in Lintong (just outside Xi'An). She spoke fairly good English but there were a few ...

... and Chou Ping Writing of My Sorrow Heaven's already taken my wife, Now it's also taken my son. My two eyes are still not dry, My heart desires only death. Rain falls and soaks into the earth, A pearl sinks into the ocean's depths. Dive in the sea and you can seek the pearl, Dig in the earth and you can see the water. Only people return to the source below. For all of time. This we know. I hold my chest; to whom now can I turn? Emaciated, a ghost in ...

... de tierra aun no excavada. Lo que si fue bonito fue ver un ejemplo de cada uno de los rangos en las vitrinas. Salimos de los guerreros no tan satisfechos, el sentimiento es de ambos, realmente esto tiene mucha fama pero comparado con todo lo demás esto a pesar de ser extraordinario no iguala la experiencia anterior, esto creo también afectado por Xi'an que no es un lugar bonito. Después de acá fuimos a las termales que están cerca de la ...

We arrived in Xian at 8am after spending the night on the sleeper trin. It was so hot dn sticky and I felt so disgusting teh moment I stepped out of the train. Esther, Whitney and I hired bikes and rod around the city wall. It was so long and hot - i got sunburnt and you couldn't even see the sun!! - but there were some great views. Some of it is so ancient that you just can't ...

Arrived in Xi'an pretty tired after the long train journey. Although we got a hard sleeper and were able to lie down this time we had a delightful family sharing our 'area' with us. They were extremely dirty literally covered in mud or oil or something and had a baby which had appropriate holes in its clothing so it could wee all over the floor which it did frequently and poo luckily it kind of squatted as a hint and they ran away to ...

... unfortunately we didn't have a guide so didn't understand a lot of what we were looking at. It was a big day so we had dinner and then had our last trip to the markets to buy a shadow puppet and headed off to bed. Our last day in Xian had us visit the Terracotta Warriors. So cool! Emperor Qin, the first emperor of China, who united the warring clans in 221 BC used 720 000 slaves to build 6000 warriors to guard him in ...

... aerobics room (that provided distraction during ping pong time), cardio machines, bench area, and even a half-court basketball court. We would take breaks from ping pong and sit at the bar. Yes, the bar. That is one feature that our fancy NYC sports clubs are missing. The bar was filled with men playing pool, drinking, and smoking cigarettes. Phil and I just shared a Gatorade. After a shower and a nap, it was dinner time. The group (minus the ...