An army for the afterlife
Trip Start
Jul 17, 2008
1
24
26
Trip End
Aug 16, 2008
Xian,
China
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Each car had an Asian bathroom and a hot water tank. The hot water is for tea, drinking and noodles. Available for purchase on the train were books, noodles, warm prepared foods, breakfast and what appeared to be toys. Alex and I had been to the WuMart so we were prepared with water and noodles.
Surprisingly I slept fine. The bunk was so small though that I couldn't toss and turn. So I had a little bit of a sore shoulder when I woke up.
When we arrived at Xian we were swept with the crowds outside the terminal. Outside the terminal was controlled chaos. People were milling everywhere. Some coming into the terminal, others leaving. Others offering services. A bit beyond the terminal was a row of tents providing a barrier to the busy street. I'm not sure what they were selling, perhaps tours of Xian?
Thankfully there were English signs directing us to the Left Luggage area. Our bags were so big that they didn't really want to look in them for dangerous items, too much hassle. So with great efficiency we dropped our bags off at the train station and were ready for the next step!
The next step was to book our train tickets out. We left the train station to head to a satellite office down the road. We arrived early and waited in line. Finally the counters opened and we moved to the front of the line. We step up and say we want to buy a ticket for Shanghai. No English. Great. The teller pretty much ignores us and we wander away a bit unsure how to proceed. As we were going to leave the room we were pulled aside by an English speaking Chinese. He asked us where and when we were looking to travel and wrote it out in Chinese. We headed back to the front of the line and were let back in. When we showed the teller the note she understood more but was still confused. Our English speaking friend came to our rescue and negotiated for us! In the end we left with two soft beds on the night train to Shanghai!
Next step was to head to the TerraCotta Army. The site is about 30 km from the city of Xi'an so our plan was to hire a taxi, have him wait and then have him take us back to the city. We stopped a taxi and with our phrase book conveyed our plan. We settled on a price of 300 yuan and away we went!
The drive was uneventful. We were on a highway most of the time. Xi'an is a smaller city (compared to Beijing) and it didn't have much by way of scenary on the way out. It's more known for it's older city center than the outskirts (except for the army of course!).
When we arrived at the Terracotta Army we were immediately approached by a Chinese man even before we were out of the car. This must have been prearranged. Anyway he offered his services as a guide for the Terracotta army museum. The rate wasn't too bad so we accepted having seen what a guide could do for places like the Forbidden City. He also confirmed that the taxi driver would wait for us while we were in the museum. And he would bring us to the taxi driver after the tour.
We bought our tickets and went in. There were three main buildings in the museum. The first contains two bronze chariotts that were unearthed close to the Emperor's tomb. The guide explained that the army is in it's original location. The Emperor's tomb is about 1.5 km east of the army in an untouched hill. Why untouched? Well apparently the tomb is on a bed of mercury. That's a good way to foil grave robbers. Archeologists too...
The chariotts where damaged when they were found and were painstakingly rebuilt over a period of 8 years. They were spectacular! The first was an open chariott with a general leading the horses. He was to protect the Emperor as he travelled. The second was a closed chariott for the Emperor. The detail in the chariotts was exquisit. The umbrella tilted using a complex mechanism so it could be adjusted based on where the sun was. The wheels could actually spin. It was amazing.
The next room was the Terracotta Army. Emperor Qin Shi Huang had unified China and had done great things. So he decided that he needed protection in the afterlife. So he commissioned an army. The terracotta army.
The army is in it's original location. (A farmer in 1974 was digging a well and happened across one of the soldiers. He's famous now and for a fee he can sign a terracotta army book. We passed on that.) The museum was simply built around the pit.
Pit 1 is the one you've seen and/or heard about. About 1000 warriors are unearthed including some chariotts and horses. It truly is stunning. And it's incredible to think that there are another 5000 warriors still buried. (They are buried because the warriors are painted and the paint fades when exposed.) Every face on the warriors is different. They have different hair and hats. Different hands. Different clothing. They weren't mass produced, they were individually created! There are warriors of different rank (general, soldier) , of different unit (cavalry, vanguard, flank). They are deployed facing the west, where the Emperor's enemies had traditionally been. The detail is just amazing. We spent a while taking in the scene before moving onto pits 2 and 3.
These were definitely underwhelming after having seen pit 1. These contained chariotts and a command post. The army of the afterlife must be well organized!
After viewing the pits we ate an overpriced sandwich and had overpriced tea (thanks to our guide). As we headed out we were brought to see how the museum was making souvenir warriors using clay from pit 3 (and could buy one), shown how to grade jade and ensure it's real (and could buy some) and to see the farmer (and could have him sign a book or buy a photograph with him). The end of the tour was more like a tour of shopping. We were reunited with our taxi driver and we made our way back to Xi'an.
We arranged for the taxi driver to drop us off at the Shanxi Provincial Museum. We paid our driver and got in line. We were surprised that the line was so long for the museum but later discovered the reason. The museum was free. While in line we enjoyed freshly cut melon ... on a steeek.
The museum was a treature trove of artifacts from the various Chinese dynasties. The amazing aspect was that the vast majority of the artifacts were from the area. This really highlighted the vast long history of China. Here was a small area but with a rich history of thousands of years and the resources and artifacts to place them in a museum. Amazing. Maybe being a dynasty has some advantages when it comes to keeping your 'junk'.
(This is getting long so I'm going to condense the rest of the day.)
After the musem we had trouble hailing a cab to go to the city center. We aren't sure why but four cabs turned us away. Maybe it was in a different zone? Who knows. We did hail a three wheeled cab. What a ride that was as we rode through the city! Remember that right of way, lanes and rules are optional on roads in China.
We observed the Bell Tower and toured the Drum Tower. The Drum Tower was named that because a drum would sound every two hours overnight to indicate the time. After the tower we wandered through a market toward the Great Mosque. We toured the mosque which was our first non-buddhist temple religous tour of the trip!
After the mosque we headed back to the train station (no problem getting a cab to there!). We picked up our bags, went through security (they started to go through my bags but decided against it since I had a lot of junk) and waited. I picked up some mystery meat from the station supermarket. It was good. There was also mystery vegetable which I ate as well. Both were cooked so I figured my risk was low.
We boarded the train and found our bunks. Alex and I were in separate rooms. He was bunking with some a great couple from Amsterdam. Later they were joined by a Chinese mother/daughter. This little girl was unbelievably cute and amazingly smart. She was playing with cuetips and a book. The puzzles were to make and manipulate shapes. She was pretty good at English too. She's going to be a very smart woman someday!
In my bunk I had a famly of Chinese. A grandmother, two sisters (I'm guessing) and one of their sons. The son had some sort of learning disability but was full of life. They were constantly looking up to my bunk when he made noise (and he made a lot) but I kept telling them not to worry.
Finally they turned out their lights and we all went to bed.
I woke up in the middle of the night and looked down. There was a little light left in the cabin and I saw one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The mother and the son were lying face to face. He was wrapped in her arms. They slept silently.
