Xian and the Terracotta Army
Trip Start
Aug 18, 2008
1
21
38
Trip End
Aug 16, 2009
Xi'an,
Shaanxi,
China
Friday, January 2, 2009
We are working our way south towards Shanghai, along the way there are some places that we want to see, one of which is the terracotta army. It was discovered in 1974 by some farmers looking for water, it dates back to 246 BC and the mystery is that there are no records of when it was commissioned, so no one really knows what they are about or what they are doing there.
There are three pits, as you walk into the first pit you are greeted by six thousand warriors in full battle dress with chariots and terracotta horse in various states of repair. Without doubt its one of the most impressive sights we have seen on our trip .The other two smaller pits are still being excavating and you can see the work in process. it reminded us a lot of Pompeii.
To travel around we have been using sleeper trains (as the distances are so great) they are good fun, clean and on time, the only problem is booking them is a nightmare and as we can't read the tickets and are never sure if we have booked it for the right place, and getting off at the right station is even worse.
We happened came across an old Chinese aircraft museum but really it was a scrap yard of old planes. they have been bought here and left to rot, there was every thing from old soviet MIGs to DC3 to crashed airliners to old bombers, and there were rows and rows of of them. It was bazaar to see all these beautiful old aircraft on mass left rotting into the ground. I could of spent days and days pocking around and wanted to take one home with me, no one would have noticed (except Dave next time he went into the lock up).
