China, Day 5: Xi'an
My train arrived in Xi'an around 9:30 am this morning, and I headed straight for an ATM to fill my poor money belt with some Yuan. On the way to the bank, an American girl came up to me asking for directions to her hostel. Being completely clueless, I asked her to join me. About an hour and 4 miles later, we finally arrived at Mariel's hostel. At this point, we were great friends, so we made plans to check out the famous "Army of Terracotta Warriors" located just outside of Xi'an.
After finally taking my first shower in two days, I met up with Mariel, and together we hopped on the bus bound for the warriors, China's #2 tourist must-see destination(after the Great Wall). I had heard many mixed reviews about the place, but love it or hate it, it is one of those places you have to see for yourself while in China. When we arrived at the site, it was slightly sprinkling, but fortunately everything was indoors.
Soldiers ready for battle.
We first checked out the museum, then made our way to the first "pit." In 1974, some farmers were digging around and uncovered an underground vault of thousands of life-size terracotta soldiers, thought to be built over 2000 years ago. Today, at least three of these vaults have been discovered, and they think there are many more out there. Anyway, the first pit contained mostly covered vaults that have yet to be excavated of its warrior inhabitants.
It is said that every single face is different.
The other two vaults, located within large, modern buildings, contained the thousands of warriors and terracotta horses and chariots that we had come to see. It was a pretty amazing sight, seeing the warriors lined up in long, narrow rows, ready for battle. (They formerly held real weapons, but I suppose the Chinese government felt it necessary to seize their swords and what-not). This, along with the fact that the warriors were housed in extremely modern hangar-like buildings (I would have preferred a more ancient setting), was the only disappointing aspect. Also, I had heard taking photos was strictly forbidden, but upon witnessing other camera-weilding tourists, I whipped out my Canon and got busy (keeping an eye on the guards, of course).
The Bell Tower.
After arriving back in Xi'an, Mariel and I had an amazing dinner of paomo in the Muslim Quarter of the city. I had heard the food was to die for in this large Muslim section of town, and my dinner only proved that point. Paomo is a mutton soup that requires you to break up a loaf of flatbread into little pieces before adding the soup. Unfortunately, we were cheated out of our bread-ripping experience, as the chef did it for us. Seeing as we were absolutely famished, and I had heard stories that this could take up to an hour, I was not too disappointed.
Xian's Muslim Quarter.
After dinner, we walked around for a bit, buying incredible loaves of bread and dried fruit, before meeting up with the English teachers I had met on the train. An hour later, I sadly said goodbye to all my new-found friends and headed off to bed.
After finally taking my first shower in two days, I met up with Mariel, and together we hopped on the bus bound for the warriors, China's #2 tourist must-see destination(after the Great Wall). I had heard many mixed reviews about the place, but love it or hate it, it is one of those places you have to see for yourself while in China. When we arrived at the site, it was slightly sprinkling, but fortunately everything was indoors.
Soldiers ready for battle.
We first checked out the museum, then made our way to the first "pit." In 1974, some farmers were digging around and uncovered an underground vault of thousands of life-size terracotta soldiers, thought to be built over 2000 years ago. Today, at least three of these vaults have been discovered, and they think there are many more out there. Anyway, the first pit contained mostly covered vaults that have yet to be excavated of its warrior inhabitants.
It is said that every single face is different.
The other two vaults, located within large, modern buildings, contained the thousands of warriors and terracotta horses and chariots that we had come to see. It was a pretty amazing sight, seeing the warriors lined up in long, narrow rows, ready for battle. (They formerly held real weapons, but I suppose the Chinese government felt it necessary to seize their swords and what-not). This, along with the fact that the warriors were housed in extremely modern hangar-like buildings (I would have preferred a more ancient setting), was the only disappointing aspect. Also, I had heard taking photos was strictly forbidden, but upon witnessing other camera-weilding tourists, I whipped out my Canon and got busy (keeping an eye on the guards, of course).
The Bell Tower.
After arriving back in Xi'an, Mariel and I had an amazing dinner of paomo in the Muslim Quarter of the city. I had heard the food was to die for in this large Muslim section of town, and my dinner only proved that point. Paomo is a mutton soup that requires you to break up a loaf of flatbread into little pieces before adding the soup. Unfortunately, we were cheated out of our bread-ripping experience, as the chef did it for us. Seeing as we were absolutely famished, and I had heard stories that this could take up to an hour, I was not too disappointed.
Xian's Muslim Quarter.
After dinner, we walked around for a bit, buying incredible loaves of bread and dried fruit, before meeting up with the English teachers I had met on the train. An hour later, I sadly said goodbye to all my new-found friends and headed off to bed.
posted by Tiffany Joiner @ 9:43 AM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home