Xian-Home of the Terra Cotta Warriors

Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an
March 18th 2005

Published: February 2nd 2006

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Warrior

The moment that Matt had been waiting for since the start of our trip…the Terra Cotta Warriors. They had been through so much prior to being discovered. Made over 2000 years ago for the afterlife, they were housed in a huge tomb. That tomb was robbed, burned, and destroyed several times over. Most of the warriors were found in pieces. What’s more amazing is how they have been pieced back together, bit-by-bit to reunite the army. They are beautiful and powerful to see. We were also lucky enough to see one of the farmers that discovered them in the 70’s. He was there signing books. It’s funny that the two men who made the discovery only received new bikes and jobs working for the government. Seems like so little for such a profound discovery!

Another highlight to Xian was a walk that Matt & I took. After arriving at our hotel from the airport, many of the other tour members wanted to rest. We were faced with another “we wish we didn’t do a tour moment” because we were in China..we didn’t come here to rest! We decided to go explore and go for a walk and it turned

Shy Girl

Once she saw we were taking her picture, she became very shy. She's cooking her lunch

out to be one of our most memorable experiences. Since our hotel was not in a touristy area it felt a little more real and personal. We never have experienced being stared at or studied like we were on that walk. People would stop dead in their tracks and stare as we made our way down the street. We found out later that many of them never even seen a white person with their own eyes. We made our way down a neat alley where people were cooking on the street and selling goods from their little “stores.” Many of them were happy to pose or smile for pictures and excited to show us what they were cooking/selling. As we were walking down the street at one point (my face hurt from smiling so much) there was a group of men and one said “Hello.” I said “hello” back and all of a sudden there seemed to be a large group of them gathering around Matt trying to ask questions about his camera and wanting their picture taken. At first I was scared thinking he was being mobbed, but quickly I realized that they were fascinated by the “Americans” and

Happy China Man

wanted badly to be in the pictures we would take home. This was our only “real” China experience. Away from the tourists - real people, real culture, real life…unforgettable!

Our trip to Xian concluded with the City Wall (quite amazing) and the Wild Goose Pagoda.

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