Terracotta Warriors

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Neil:
Hello All. We're now in Xi'an, famous for the Teracotta Warriors! As usual with this trip, gettting here proved to be an adventure but we've arrived safe and sound eventually. Due to the snow in Pingyao, there were no trains out to Xi'an so we had to take a bus. The hostel booked this for us and a taxi driver took us to the bus stop from the hostel. However, when we arrived at the bus stop, the slip road from the town to the main highway was closed, so our taxi driver lead Nicky and I along with an Italian couple across a few fields coverewd in snow through barbed wire fences and up a sippery embankment up onto the highway where we waited on the hard shoulder for the bus to come. I have to say I enjoyed watching Nicky slipping and sliding over the fields and fences with her 10 tonne back pack on. It made my morning!! Ha ha. (I am looking after your daughter, I promise)

We spent yesterday on a tour which took us to see Banpo Village and the Warriors.

Banpo village is a Chinese settlement discovered in the 1950s that dates back to around 4000BC!! 6000 years ago!! It was amazing to read about how they lived and constructed their villages all those years ago. Essentially, what they unearthed and what was on display was some very, very old mud.

After the village we went onto visit the terracotta warriors. The warriors were only discovered in the mid 1970's and only opened to the public in the late 80's. Despite all this time they are still only about half way through excavating the site. When they discovered the warriors they had all been smashed to pieces by anti Qing rebels (only one year after they were competed) - so they are matching all the warrior's broken bits up and piecing them together. In all there are around 8000 warriors - all there to guard the tomb of the first Qing Emperor. It was quite a site! This emperor was also the chap who ordered the building of the great wall.

Nicky:
I seem to be starting all my blog entries lately explaining something Neil has written, but anyway - I promise it wasnt fun tramping across those fields at 9.30am with our back packs on!! And even when we got on the bus we didnt really go anywhere because about one hour into our 6 half hour trip we were caught in the tailbacks of a massive accident and didnt move for 3 hours!! When we arrived in Xi'an the bus dropped us off at the wrong station so we walked for an hour to find our hostel, only to discover the next day (when it was light and we could see the road names) that we could have turned the other way and found the hostel in about 15 minutes!!! I am so umimpressed with Chinese public transport, it is nearly as bad as home!!

Apart from that I have enjoyed Xi'an, it is another walled city which makes it seem really authentic. The warriors were a really impressive site, it is very imposing to walk into a room and come face to face with 4,000 clay soldiers all in full armour and looking a bit menacing. Especially as they are all based on actual people who were in the army at that time, it is easy to imagine them coming to life!!

Have got another day here (again because the train system is so rubbish and we cant get out before tomo night!!) then we are heading back to Shanghai for one night before we get our flight to Japan.

Hope everyone is well, lots of love N & N xxxx

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Photos

Street Food
As Nicky called it, "Rice Pudding on a stick".

Comments

[Ma & Pa]

Teracotta Warriors
Sounds facinating but NEIL PEET you are cruel!!