Alot'a Terracotta
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Xi'an,
China
Friday, April 4, 2008
After yet ANOTHER night train ride (only two more to go!) we got into Xi'an bright and early and did a quick walk around this 'mid-sized city' of like 6.5 million people. I was actually impressed with how beautiful the city is - minus the bit of a smoggish haze that seemed to predominate, although we did luck out with random splashes of sunlight. During our brief stay of about 3 days we managed to see soooo much of the city - the Muslim quarter and its Great Mosque (the largest in China, serving the city's 60,000 muslims), the Bell and Drum towers (right in the city centre and spitting distance from our hotel), the impressive museum and Big Goose Pagoda - the birthplace of Chinese Buddhism.
The highlight, of course, was the excursion to the site of the Terracotta Warriors, guarding the Qin Emperor's mausoleum (he was the first emperor to unite China and pretty much spent ALL of the country's resources and used 700,000 to build this terracotta army to represent the forces protecting Xi'An - too bad they couldn't protect his dynasty from the peasant uprisings which followed!). The site was divided into three buildings, with the first and largest housing most of the warriors that are commonly seen in photos and documentaries. It was incredible to see SOOO many lined up, and each one having a different face! The Emperor had assigned each family in the city to make a certain number of them, and each one wanted to be unique and interesting, thus thousands were created with no two alike! We spent several hours there just walking around the airplane hangar-like buildings that housed these incredible monuments - about 2200 years old!
Otherwise I enjoyed Xi'An a great deal more than I expected to. A number of people said it was worth it solely for seeing the warriors, but the city has a lot to offer and is very pedestrian friendly. I even went cycling again! (I hear the gasps of disbelief, but I assure you, it's true!) - we spent about 2 hours riding along the city walls, which gave a great look of the city (they are about 12.5 km all around). The food was also really good - a common theme in CHina. ALthough we did have the misfortune of going to a resto which we THOUGHT was one recommended by our guide, but it turned out not to be and were treated to an oily broth filled with mostly chicken bones and some very tought meat, served with raw potatoes and cabbage (we figured we had to cook them in the broth, but weren't sure) - ahhh the joy of travelling!
We're heading off to SHanghai next and I'm very excited to finally see this city! And I can't believe it's less than a week before I leave China and head back to North America (I'm VERY excited about fresh fruit/veggies and sunlight, probably what I've missed most while in China!). So two more stops to go!
