Hotel Royal Xian Xi'an

... there had been snowfall the day before as well. We headed to lunch (we DO eat well) and then went to our hotel, the Sheraton. Since it was snowing, and we are all teachers, we declared a Snow Day! We took the opportunity to rest up form our past busy days and get ready for the busy days ahead.

Tomorrow we go to the site where the Terra Cotta Army was discovered underground in 1974. I am very excited to see this marvel!

... of musicians, singer and dances performing music, song and dance from the Tang Dynasty 600 AD. It was a wonderful experience and we all really enjoyed it.

Tomorrow we are off to Lhasa, Tibet, we are all looking forward to the experience, even though we have been warned by our guild that it will be a totally different place to the other places we have been. Anyway I will tell you about it tomorrow.
Buy for now.

... and bought my mug for 90 yuan ($15). It has a warrior on it! I bought a whole wheat and carrot muffin to also have for breakfast.

We started walking toward the hotel and did not find a cab for a bit. So, we ended up walking the whole way back. Bill bought at Gatorade for 4 yuan (less than $1).

My feet were killing me when we returned to our room. I think we have been on our feet for over 9 hours today. How nice that our bed is turned down and I can just slide right in! Ahhh!

... 246 BC), Qin Shi Huang, later the first Emperor of all China, had begun to work for his mausoleum. It took 11 years to finish. It is speculated that many buried treasures and sacrificial objects had accompanied the emperor in his after life. A group of peasants uncovered some pottery while digging for a well nearby the royal tomb in Array in Pit 11974. It caught the attention of archeologists immediately. They came to Xian in droves to study and to extend the digs. They had ...

... and playing cards. I was on the top bed of the three which proved to be a bit of a mission to get up to. The train left at 6.30pm and I sat writing my diary, with an audience most of the time, until 10pm when they turned the lights off and everyone went to bed. Monday 21st April The train pulled into Chengdu train station at 6.30am. I slept pretty much the whole time from 10pm. After finding out that the next train to Xi'an wasn't until 11.30am, which would have been the same ...

... the first emperor of a unified China - tomb and dates back some 2000 years ago. They weren't discovered until 1974 when some farmers digging a well chanced upon them. They are still being excavated to this day. As soon as we arrived in Xi'an, we hooked up with Caroline and Andy, a British couple we'd met way back in Ulan Bator and who we'd bumped into again in Pingyao. We took the one hour bus ride out to the Army ...

... they won't let people take pictures with him. You can buy books with his signature inside. It turns out that he does not know how to read or write. The government felt embarrassed so they taught him how to sign his name beautifully, but that is all he can write. For dinner we had hotpot. Basically we cooked various vegetables and other edibles in spicy or unspicy soup. There were also beef and lamb sticks ...