Xi'an - at last, the terracotta warriors

Asia » China » Shaanxi » Xi'an
August 22nd 2011

Published: August 23rd 2011

The last day of school was Thursday but we decided to wait until Saturday to leave on our last Chinese adventure. Friday was spent doing the last minute packing and cleaning of the apartment before we left it for the final time. Because we had no food left, we managed several meals in our favourite haunts. Took lots of pictures. Autumn, one of our favourite drivers, took us on our last trip to the... Read Full Entry

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Dianne and Peter Wilson

WilsonsInChina

The WilsonsInChina blog charts the course of our three year adventure in China between 2008 and 2011. Dianne was a school administrator in Canada and heard about this opportunity just after retiring. Peter was an IT professional whose last contract ended just as Dianne decided that China sounded like an exciting adventure. He taught ESL one year but spent the rest of the time supporting Dianne as she shared her great knowledge and experience with the Chinese and Western teachers at the Maple Leaf International School in Dalian. China. While we are back in Canada now, our adventures are ToBeCon... full info

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Warriors and support animals

Just a few of many.

Row upon row

The warriors line up four by four in what seems like endless columns. And there are more to be discovered.

No two alike?

They say all the soldiers are unique. When you get up close you do see differences in each soldier.

Horticultural Expo

Shanghai may have had the big Expo but Xi'an had itw own, a huge horticultural expo. Dianne loved the pomegranate mascot. We were chatting with four young male students. One said "You must go to it!" Another said "No, it is boring". Luckily, we had a full schedule so we didn't have a choice.

New site

This billboard highlights a new tomb several kilometers from the warriors site. It is the tomb of yet another emperor. The site is currently being developed for tourism and is several kilometers in each direction. Amazing sites.

The hills may not be alive

The tomb is aligned with the mountain. It's too bad we won't get back to see the finished product.

Equipment

This isn't something used in the warriors day. This wheelbarrow is being used in today's project.

The huddled masses

When we arrived back in town we discovered these folks camped out under the wall. Never did figure out why they were there.

Water park

They really seem to like these water parks in Xi'an. This park was just in the middle of town with nothing around it to say why it was there. Just a nice place to have lunch. There were lots of kids enjoying the spray and feeding the pigeons.

The Great Mosque

The mosque is much more Chinese than you would expect in a Muslim mosque. No domes or minarets. It dates from 742 which is just over 100 years from the death of the Prophet.

More Mosque

Another view of the mosque which is supposed to be the largest and best preserved in China.

Arabic

Just to show there is some evidence of the Abrabic background to the mosque

Doors

Pretty old door. Note Chinese characters which are much more common in the mosque

Well

Well preserved sample of how they got water in the old days.

Chef at work

This guy was preparing our lamb supper. He was pretty busy so we figuered his food must be good. Not sure exactly what he put in it though.

Yummm

This was really good but also really messy.

The Bell Tower

Every city seems to have a bell tower (for morning) and a drum tower (for evening) . One sign told us the drums were beaten every two hours during the night so you knew what time it was. I don't think I would care. Aparently the emperor didn't either as they weren't beaten if he was in residence!

In line for the museum on the last day

Did I mention it was raining? Or did I say pouring?

Prepared for anything

People seemed to take the rain in stride. This guy was well prepared. Our favourite, which we weren't ready to photograph, was a parent and child on a tandem bike with a tandem rain coat that covered both of them and they could both still see where they were going!

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Xi'an - at last, the terracotta warriors

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