Terracotta Warriors
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2005
1
21
114
Trip End
Dec 22, 2005
Xian,
China
Thursday, July 28, 2005
The hotel is unique in that it is set behind a bustling dumpling and fast food restaurant, which we immediately made full use of.
We are surprised to find our 1st big Chinese city is amazingly affluent with lots of big malls and coffee shops, juxtaposed within the old city walls, the fulcrum of which are the bell and drum towers. In olden days the drum was banged at dawn and the bell struck at sunset. We spend our 1st day acclimatizing.
Marble Carving at buddhist temple
Next morning we set off for the terracotta warriors. A very easy journey on the bus!! The warriors are set in a large complex with a huge amount of touts that you have to walk through before finally getting to the entrance. There are 3 pits that have been excavated to date. The warriors are very impressive but Jerry was disappointed not to be able to get up closer and have his photo taken next to a legion of lifesize warriors.
For dinner we experience yet an other different type of chinese cuisine, a hotpot. The pot contained two sections, one containing broth and one containing spicy oil with many chillies. You dip meat and vegetable into your selected half of the pot. It takes seconds to cook and is delicious. At the end we savoured the broth as a soup to finish.
We finished the evening with a couple of beers in a bar at western prices, crooned by a live chinese band singing slushy love songs.
We also did our 1st chinese shopping and bought a dragon, a watercolour, two masks depicting our chinese birth years (Ox for Maggi and Snake for Jerry) and a small pot for Maggi's collection. Thankfully our guide book says we are compatible!!
We also visited the big goose pagoda and Dacian Si (temple of grace). Set in lovely chinese gardens with impressive buddhist carvings in marble, bronze and wood.
We then shipped our purchases back to the UK via the very efficent chinese post service. Here's hoping they arrive in 2 months!!
Comments
Hi Guys
John P just sent me a note - thought I should catch up with you travels - looks like your having fun especially re Snake for Jerry - v. appropriate ;0) Hope it's all as good as it sounds - still totally jealous of you - keep in touch
All the best
Giles