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Published: December 3rd 2015
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Wednesday 28th October 2015 Upon boarding the train from Pingyao we arrived at Xian roughly 4 hours later. We then boarded the metro and made our way to the centre of the city to our hostel which was based within the city walls. Xian, much like Pingyao is an ancient city and is surrounded by a city wall. Xian however, is much larger and more developed, probably on account of the discovery of the Terracotta Army in the 1970's which turned this place into one of the most popular tourist destinations in China.
We checked into our room and decided to explore the town a little before a relatively early night as we would be up early the next day to visit the Terracotta Army. It was around 4pm by the time we mobilised ourselves and we decided to walk to the Drum and Bell towers which were only a 10 min stroll away. First stop was the bell tower and inside were a troupe of Chinese ladies playing some tunes on little bells. Never going to feature on China's got Talent!! We had a stroll around the tower which is now a roundabout for the city centre main
road. As a result the views were of traffic 360 degrees around us. We could also see what we thought was the Drum Tower about 200m down the road. We therefore made our way over and entered the Drum tower. Similar to the Bell Tower there was a performance but this time on Drums. This was much better and I enjoyed watching some bloke beat a HUGE drum. Very noisy but much better than the Bell Tower.
From our view point of the Drum Tower we could see a market street before us. This, it turns out was the Muslim Street. A market street selling a whole array of food, knock off clothing and other crap. Before entering though we were both mesmerised by the people flying kites in the street. The reason was because these kites were a good 300 metres in the air. This is no exaggeration, as along the string they were holding, roughly every 50cm there was a kite face and these ran all the way up until you couldn't see the end of the kite as it disappeared into the evening sky. Tempted to buy one, but not knowing when it'd ever be used,
we walked on by and headed to the Muslim Shopping street. Here we wandered through the side streets where Gemma purchased a few little items and after a good hour we bought some water and headed back to the Hostel where we slept.
Thursday 29th October 2015 We left the Hostel at about 9am to walk 20 minutes to the Railway station where you can take the local bus 1 hour out of the City to the Terracotta Army site. We found the correct bus after a little wandering around and 1 hour later arrived at our destination. The bus journey only cost 45 pence each which was considerably cheaper than the package of bus and entry that the Hostel was offering for a whopping £36 each. After paying our £15 entry fee we entered the site which housed 3 pits, each of which were different sites that have been excavated throughout the years, and are still being excavated and have unearthed some amazing statues and artifacts buried underground for over 2000 years. The Terracotta Army are like size statues of an actual army for the old emperor "Qin" which were buried at his death to offer protection
on the after life. The Emperor himself is actually buried down the road at a place called Lintong but this mausoleum has never been unearthed but is expected to house many treasures and even a river of mercury.
The discovery of this Army was made in 1974 when some local farmers were digging a well and instead of water discovered lots of pottery. This was investigated and after much excavation, what we see today was found. Pit 1 is the most famous and houses more than 6000 soldiers, each with a unique face which goes to suggest that these statues were modeled on the actual army, which if true is unbelievable given this was all done 300 years BC. We walked around pit 1 using our GPS audio guide to offer some more information. We spent a good hour walking around pit 1 which is a spectacle to behold. The vast expanse of the pit is something that you don't really see from pictures.
We entered Pit 2 which was unearthed a few years after pit 1 and houses some more Terracotta Warriors, some repaired and intact and some just rubble on the ground. There are also some
horses and parts of carriages. This pit is quite small and after 20 mins of taking it in, we entered Pit 3 which was unearthed in 1977 and similar to pit 2 had some more Terracotta statues as well as some of the most well preserved statues housed in glass cases surrounded by dim lighting. This was great to see them up close and able to take in the fine details of their faces such the carving of eyebrows and eye lashes. Lots of effort went into creating these statues and each statue has the name of the creator which was done so that should one fall below standard, they knew who to reprimand.
We also visited the exhibition hall which showcased some bronze horses that were also unearthed and then we headed outside for a sit down and rest. Whilst minding our own business a toddler came walking up to us and said 'Hello' and when we looked up we realised her mum had sent her over for a picture. We obliged and stood her between us so her mum could take a picture of her daughter with 2 scary foreigners. We then found the bus and headed
back to the railway station. We got back around 6pm and needing to be at the airport the next morning we decided to find out where the airport shuttle bus departed from. We found it and then headed back to the hotel where we ate some food and did a bit of onward planning and then got some sleep.
A short but interesting visit to Xian. The detail of the warriors was amazing and a must see if you ever visit China.
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