Xi'an and the Warriors

Day Two in Xi'an and it was time to see the terra cotta warriors. 

We signed onto a tour group associated with the hostel where we stayed,

which provided an English-speaking guide, transportation and know-how,

all of which were appreciated.  It was fun to get to know the others in the group.

 Our transport wasn't fancy, or fast, but adequate--typically Chinese.

 The day was beautiful!  Early April, trees in blossom, fresh green covering the trees

fairly clear skies, and no need for a coat.  Glorious!

 And the warriors look just like they do in National Geographic. 

 It's just that there are SO many of them!

*** 

We were commenting on how the world's great monuments (pyramids, etc), were

done by slightly crazy tyrants who cared nothing for the 

suffering of those who did the actual work.  

This guy had all the workers killed so no one would know

about this vast clay army.  And that was after they had painstakingly 

made each face individually (could have been self-portraits!). 

To build the Great Wall, villagers were conscripted and often never

heard from again--it didn't matter if they were leaving wife and children behind.

 And perhaps you can notice how large they are compared to the people along the sides.

There are three different excavation areas, and there were crowds everywhere

since it was a Chinese holiday, Tomb-sweeping day.

 At a gift shop, an old man was autographing books--he's the farmer who

found something interesting in his field back in the 1970's.  

He's pretty famous now.

 Our guide also had prearranged a Chinese meal, and the food was good,

served in the traditional way with all the food on the lazy susan and you 

use your chopsticks to pick off what you want.  There are serving spoons for the

soupy dishes.  Each person has a small plate and bowl to keep refilling with food.

This makes it harder for me to determine how much I'm eating. 

 I'm used to setting certain portions on my plate, and when they're gone, I'm done!  So far though,

Chinese food hasn't seemed to cause any weight gain, in fact, quite the opposite.

***

It became obvious as the day progressed that our guide had "guanxi" with certain vendors.

Perhaps she got a kickback.  Maybe it was just that if she steered her tour groups

to them, they would get a better price.  But despite all sorts of food vendors, we "didn't want to

go to any of 'those', as this was the only good one."  Same story with the different

vendors of souvenirs--we were told all those others weren't good.

***

That evening, we collected our light luggage and made our way to the train station for the trip back to Beijing.  And wow!  Was the station crowded!

 The whole plaza out in front was filled with small clusters of people,

waiting before they entered the actual station.

 This is what it's like on a holiday!

 The old wall, still intact, encircles the inner city.  

If we had stayed another day, it would have been great to rent bikes and

ride along the top (it's wide enough for a small road).

And this is the perfect illustration of "Zai jian!" (Bye),

looking pretty chipper after the night on the train!