Hotel Xi'an
Bell Tower in Xi'an
Neat downtown in Xi'an
Drum Tower in Xi'an
Bell Tower
Farmer that discovered Terra Cotta Warriors
Pit #1 - most elaborate
Look at the faces
2,000 uncovered in Pit #1
Mustache up - higher ranking
countless statues
All had swords at 1 point
Big-picture of Pit #1
Horses as well
Look at the detail
Pit #1
Hair positioning indicated importance
See where the swords should be
Well site where this was discovered
More impressive shots
Area they fix the statues
Numbers represent where they go in the pit
Horse being fixed
Original pieces still in the pit
Horses and soldiers
Details - where arrow holder goes
Pit #2 - not as developed
Fractured pieces
Fractured pieces labelled
The 1 pristine soldier - Pit #2
Chariot
More details
Meeting room
Pictures of original color
Chariot with 4 horses
Incredible
Unreal attention to detail
HanYangling Museum
81 pits
relics in 1 of the pits
Well - about 4-1/2 hours of sleep for me last night. After getting checked-in, I was able to fall asleep about 1:30am. Up at 6am on Friday morning. I wanted to see some of Old Xi'an before our 8am tour departure. I slept really well - just not very long. All good - I would recover a couple hours on the shuttle rides today.
Because of tight timing this morning, I chose to hail a taxi to the main downtown area of Xi'an. I got out at the Bell Tower. Built in 1384 during the early Ming Dynasty, the Bell Tower is located in the center of Xi'an and the interchange of the North, South, East, West Road. It is a symbol of the city of Xi'an and one of the grandest of its kind in China.
I then walked over to the Drum Tower - another historic structure from the early Dynasty. The Old City of Xi'an is surrounded by a City Wall that was built between 1374 and 1378. It is the oldest and most well preserved defensive City Wall in all of China. It's perimeter is 14km (about 9 miles) - and can be walked on. Many folks are challenged to hike the entire perimeter. After some great photos, I got another taxi back to the Hilton Xi'an - our hotel for the night.
Randy/Wendy were waiting in the lobby as I brought my bags down from the room. We met up with our tour guide for the day (Agnes). She was fantastic! Today we were off to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.
Well - this tour was remarkable! Extraordinarily interesting. Reminds me a lot of Machu Picchu in Peru. The Terra Cotta Warriors was discovered in the spring of 1974 in the eastern suburbs of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province by a group of farmers who were digging a water well 1.5 miles east of Mount Li. 1974 -- that's not long ago!! The last farmer still alive was at the tour site today signing books (see picture above).
OK - let me layout this Terra Cotta Warrior thing. The first Emporor of China - Qin Shihuang had these army pits created to protect his grave site - the grave-site being about 1.5 miles away from the army. One day a few farmers were digging a well, they found a head of one of the warriors. They brought it home - "a pretty cool find" - maybe it was a Buddha they thought. A buddy comes by one day and says: "Uh - I don't think that is a Buddha - you may want to tell somebody about this". Next thing you know - millions of people are travelling to Xi'an China to visit the "Eight Wonder of the World" and "one of the greatest discoveries in the 20th century in the history of archaeology". In 1987, the UNESCO added Emporor Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum (including the Terra Cotta Army Pits) to the World Heritage List.
The whole day I couldn't stop thinking about 2 things: (1) I can't believe this was just found in 1974 and (2) I can't believe someone would think so highly of themselves to have an army of statues created to guard their gravesite when they pass away.
You can see by the pictures above, fascinating details and elaborate work went into these pits. It's estimated that over 720,000 people were involved in the construction. 3 separate pits make up the Terra Cotta Warrior site - with Pit #1 being the most elaborate. Upon finding the site in 1974, it was discovered that most of the army men had been destroyed by rebellious farmers not long after the original construction. Therefore, years of archaeological efforts have gone into piecing this creation together once again Really unique - every soldier's face is different. In Pit #1, only 2,000 of the estimated 6,000 soldiers have been uncovered. This is an active archaeological site. So many features - hair aligned a certain way meant prestige, an upturned mustache also symbolized a higher ranking officer. All of the army men had colors at 1 point - but exposure to air has removed most of the color detail.
We spent the better part of 5 hours viewing the 3 separate pits. I must have taken over 300 pictures. Close-ups, big-picture, details -- you name it -- I wanted the shot. I think seeing the pictures can give some real perspective to this incredible site. I know it was amazing to see in person.
Side note from today ---- all these people kept asking to get their picture taken with me. Everyone was staring at me, coming up and taking selfies with me in the background. I sat down for a water and a group of folks circled me and just wanted to here me speak. I have no idea who they thought I was (Randy/Wendy weren't getting this attention). The weird thing -- I was looking pretty shabby today. 4 hours sleep, hat on, no shower, no shave for several days. Maybe scrubby is a good look for me - who knows?
After the Terra Cotta Warrior tour, we took a 1-hr ride to another location - the Hanyangling Museum. Situated near the Wei River in the northern suburb of Xi'an City, the Yangling Mausoleum is a historic site designated for state protection. The Mausoleum was built at the base of the joint tomb of Emporer Jingdit and his Empress. It is the top national museum in China.
Emporer Jingdit (188BC - 141BC), named Liu Qi, was the fourth Emporer of the Western Han Dynasty. The museum we visited today is unique because it is underground. Built in 2006 - the area was found during a highway construction project. There were 81 pits which housed the relics the Emporer thought would be necessary in the afterlife. Really interesting stuff to end the day!
Agnes dropped us off at the airport and helped us get our flight bumped to an earlier departure (7pm vs. 9pm). Agnes was incredible as she waited until we made it through security check before leaving.
Unfortunately, I write this blog at 9:40pm - still in the Xi'an airport. Delayed again today - the board is not updated. It is saying our departure is 8:20pm - about 1 hr, 20 min ago. No news other than - we wait. I'm bellied up on some chairs with my shoes off and feet up. Hopefully we get to Shanghai tonight - the final destination where Randy/Wendy will be joining me.
LATER ----- We ended up with another 4-hr delay and got into Shanghai and to our hotel between 2-3am. Again - we arrived and we were safe. We went to sleep with a 12-noon proposed meet-up time set for Saturday.
