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Published: August 8th 2007
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Terracotta Warriors
This is a Chinese General Xian - The Terracotta Warriors
For those people who haven't heard of the warriors, and to be honest before this trip I hadn't, I'll start with a brief history lesson... (Scott Howarth stop chewing gum, leave your nose alone and see me after class!):
They are life size terracotta figures of warriors, horses and chariots over 2000 yrs old. They were made for the emperor of the Qin Dynasty, they would protect him after his death and are arranged in battle formation. Each figure is unique with individual faces and expressions.
The warriors were discovered by three farmers in 1974 who were digging a well and un-earthed one of the heads. This led to archeologists finding over 7000 figurines and they are still finding further sites to this day.
The 1st building we visited housed the main find and holds the majority of the warriors and horses. It's akin to walking into a massive warehouse and covering almost every inch is a giant archeological dig where the warriors stand in formation.
Most admittedly have been restored in some way (A peasant uprising destroyed almost all of them) but they have done this fully to only a few leaving
Terracotta Warriors
The only thing missing is the Bronze weopons they were holding others half repaired or still in pieces which allows some idea of how they were discovered. Only one figure was left in perfect condition!! (See pic of Archer)
It's an amazing place and to think that all of these are lifesize, individual and 2000+ yrs old, it one of those "must see before you die" places.
Beijing
I've just noticed that we've stopped putting travel information down, i.e how we got here, length of journey etc. So we'll give you a quick summary: Trains and buses...loads of them...all dead long journeys...all boring.
We have arrived in Beijing for the last 3 days of our trip!
Our first day was a free day so we just wondered around a bit. Like most other capitals, Beijing is a large rambling city and struggles to provide you with the feeling and culture of the country you are in (God i'm starting to sound like a travel journalist!)...however it's not without it's sights and the first we saw was very high on our "Things to see while we are away traveling for 12 months list"...I agree...It does need a catchier title.
The Great Wall of China
Terracotta Warriors
The main site with warriors, horses and Chariots covering almost every inch After a 3 hour bus ride we arrived at the less touristy area of the wall (Simatai) to begin our hike for the day.
This part is less touristy because it is more dilapated which in turn means it's a harder walk. With a four hour hike in mind we avoided the 25 minute road walk and caught the cable car to the top.
When you first see the Wall stretching out in front traversing mountain tops and valleys, exactly how you have seen dozens of photographs, you are stunned for a few moments.
As far as the eye can see you can see the wall and towers disappearing into the distance.
The Wall itself has had some repair but only for the 1st Kilometer or so it then becomes quite dilapidated and ruined for most of the walk.
Where the towers rise, every 500 meters-ish it can become quite difficult to walk and some of the steps up (Approx 150) and the wall are just rubble and broken brick. It was bound to happen but almost on cue Victoria slid on gravel straight onto her arse, as usual no real damage but it was almost caught on
Terracotta Idiot
We got to pretend we were one at a nearby re-production site...Have i got a small head?? Video!
The whole walk is approx 10 kilometers (6.6 miles in English money), the last 1k being almost all down hill, that is until you reach the last tower which saps the last of your energy by having to walk up yet more steps!
The walk took us about 4.5 hours, this was with quite a few stops though to catch our breath and take some, hopefully world class pictures.
There is some fun relief at the end as rather than having to walk back to the end car park (25 mins) you can catch the "Flying Fox", a Zip wire from the wall, over a lake to the other side, where you then catch a little boat to your bus. (There is a video on YouTube:
)
The only down side to the walk was being "Shadowed" for the 1st hour by hawkers selling water, books and postcards...they just follow about a foot behind and would probably walk the whole wall with you if they thought you might buy one item. In the end we had to tell them we weren't interested...about 50 times...then they left...eventually.
Tianamen Square, The Forbidden city and Huiling Charity
The Archer
The only figure found fully intact...although his bow has been nicked We had a tour of the square the next day where 600 students were killed during demonstrations in 1989. I asked our guide about the tanks, one of the students stood in front of one and just before it ran him over the officials pulled the plug on everything and blacked out the city!!. He told me "no-one knew what happened"! It had all been hushed up (And cleaned up overnight, literally).
Anyway after all that it's just a big square, again though we were photographed just as much as the other sights! We also tried to see Chairman Mao's body which is on display, or it would be if he wasn't having a bit of bodywork done ready for the coming 2008 olympics!
Next was the Forbidden City - This is where the emperor and his advisors carried out their daily business, oh and 3000 Concubines also resided here for when the emperor had a minute to spare! He picked 3000 because that was 1 woman from every province...just so the others wouldn't get jealous!
Last trip of the whole tour was to attend a charity for mentally disabled adults (trainees) supported by Intrepid (the tour
The Great Wall
The best 4 hour walk we have ever done! Co). The Trainees are taught
life skills and trades.
As soon as we walked in there one of them spilt boiling water on one of our groups foot...I laughed but she didn't see the funny side!
They made dumplings for our lunch (Victoria was vommitting later that night!) and then a performance which was highly amusing. A man & woman were doing a traditional dance with Fan's and he wanted all the attention so he kept blocking her every time she got to the front.
Last of all we had 20 minutes of Calligraphy, trying to write Chinese Characters. I was the best but no one seemed to agree:-(
So that's it for China...
To quickly summarise; the Wall was definatley the best sight, followed closely by the Panda's, then the Terracotta Warriors.
The Three Gorges on the Yangzi river were gorgeous as was the scenery at Yangshou.
Cooking school was fun, eating snake was...different.
On the down side... The Chinese gobbing at every opportunity, even on restaurant floors, the constant staring and sometimes grabbing in markets, oh and also rice....for 4 months now we've been eating rice....we've decided to kill the next person who offers
The Great Wall
One of the less repaired sections us it...so beware!!!!!
We have also
The Great Wall
One of the less repaired sectionsuploaded a video of the baby pandas if you want to watch it on you tube.
Next stop Australia....
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clairey
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You not bored yet??!!
Crikey!?? You're blogs are alwasys so great to read... but blimey... i bet you'll be looking forward to getting to auz and well... having some 'non' rice dishes and a bit of lazingaround on the beach!!! Vicky.... you're looking pretty slim my dear! I'm going out with a personaly trainer at the moment so you'd think that would help.... but nope! russ...hope you're hanging on from going insane with Vicky (lol) only joking... I'm still hoping that i'm going to win the lottery before you return home so i can come out to visit!! take lots of pics of fishes for me in the sea in Auz with you're funky waterproof case/camera thingy!! Happy rambling!! oh ... i've got glasto tickets.. i'm so happy. Spanked some money on a tent... whoo hooo.... Love ya..