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Published: June 11th 2008
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This morning we were up, and had had our cold showers, and were ready for whatever today threw at us. We avoided the hotel for breakfast this time, and Dan and I went down the road to Starbucks. We saw the girls on the way back, and then headed over to the bakery for some bits. Then we all walked back to the hotel, and waited for the others. Once we were all there, we got on the bus bound east out of Xī’ān, to the Army of Terracotta Warriors.
We arrived at the site late morning, and got in with no real waiting around. Our first stop was to watch a panorama film presentation, which explained the history of the Army of Terracotta Warriors.
The site was uncovered only in 1974, as peasants drilled a well. They uncovered a vault, which eventually contained thousands of terracotta soldiers and horses in battle formation. This was known as Pit 1, and was such an impressive sight, though is still so much more work to be done. There were also wooden chariots, which were pulled by the horses, but these had long since rotted away.
From here we walked over
to Pit 2, of which contains around 1300 warriors and horses, though large sections of pit are still covered, until technology is developed to ensure that once uncovered, the colouring doesn’t leave the soldiers, which is what happened to those in Pit 1.
We finished of with Pit 3, which is home to 72 warriors and horses. However, these were more important than the other two pits, as these were the high-ranking warriors.
Finally there was a small museum, which was where the bronze chariots and horses are located. They were in simply amazing condition, and such an impressive sight.
From here we made our way back to the bus, passing a number of persistent street sellers, passing a memorable stall which sold all manner of animals furs. Most noticeably here was dog, which was a little disturbing.
Back on the bus and heading back towards Xī’ān, we stopped off at Xī’ān Huiling, a learning school for the disabled. This was really more about helping the local communities, by showing an interest in the good work they were doing, by supporting their underprivileged. We had a basic lunch of tomatoes, and then a noodle meal, washed
down by tea. We were shown their work, and interacted with some of the ‘students’, who were all adults. It was an enlightening experience, and one that although it may have seemed a little uncomfortable at first, we were all pretty happy we’d done this.
We were dropped back at the hotel, and had some free time. Some went off and did some shopping, some went off to the Internet café, and some off sightseeing. I went off for a spot of shopping, but didn’t buy anything. I then met up with Dan a bit later. We cheekily went up to Marcia’s room, as that was where all our bags were stored for the day. No one had taken up Marcia’s offer earlier that day, of letting any of us use the shower if we wanted to. So we used the warm water, and the fresh towels that had so handily been replaced by the maids, and were ready and fresh for the train journey later that afternoon.
We then met up with everyone back outside the hotel, with our bags.
A short drive to the station, and walk through the station terminal, with our backpacks, and
we were back hot and bothered again. After an hours waiting around we boarded our train. This was another sleeper train, and our journey was to take 15 hours. This, however, was a single-tier train, which meant that each carriage berth had two lots of three bunks, meaning it was six to a berth. After a little bit of switching around (I switched with Damon, so he and Georgia were in the same berth, and I then switched with Steph, so she and Ros were on the two bottom bunks together), leaving Steph, Ros, Elli and Erlend, and me, plus a random stranger, in our berth. He wasn’t a problem as he kept himself to himself pretty much. The other five plus Marsha had the other berth. Once the train was moving, we decided to all go to the dining cart this time. We didn’t envisage it however, to be full, so after traipsing through the ten or so carriages, passing all the carriage berths, we all had to turn around and walk all the way back again. Forward thinking was not our strong point that time.
So we were stuck in our berths for the night, and I
missed out on the ‘dining cart experience’. Never mind! One thing I would say that was nice on these train journeys is it has a nice community feel about it. Well it seemed it to me anyway. I hadn’t noticed the others getting all their food, until it had gone, but thankfully the girls let me have their leftover noodles. I did manage to get one of the very large (and fairly cool) bottles of beer. Dan was over with the five of us, and we had a game of cards. Yes Steph, I do remember it now. It was a nice and cosy night, until ‘lights off’ anyway.
The lights on the train turned off at 10pm sharp, which was annoying as we’d got playing a good game of cards. However, when the lights went out, we all had our mobiles for light, so we were OK haha! Actually there were reading lights so we used them, but it was a nice cosy night in haha! Note to Dan and Ros: Dan, it doesn’t look like you caught anything off that wall licking, and Ros, did you ever try that drink that made Vince ill in the end?
Definitely played it safe there me thinks with that one)
After finishing the cards, we all hit the sack, for an uncomfortable and noisy nights’ sleep on the train.
Army of Terracotta Warriors:
http://www.bmy.com.cn/index.htm
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