China's National Day is October 1st, (like our Fourth of July) so we had October 1st-7th off for vacation! Anokhi and I got our passports a couple days before the break so we decided to go somewhere! Another guy from our orientation, Sean wanted to go also so we all bought tickets to Xi'an! It is just a province away and has the Terracotta Warriors! I was really excited! Xi'an is one of the oldest cities in China with 3,100 years of history! It is one of four ancient Capitals of China!
Our flight was really early Tuesday morning and no problemo. We spent the day in Xi'an city, visiting the Drum Tower, walking up and down the Muslim Quarter, and biking around the City Wall!
Sean and Anokhi hitting an ancient drum
Roomies
Our hotel was right on the street of the Muslim Quarter! It was so fun, there was a ton of food to try and thing to buy but SO MANY PEOPLE. The picture below shows the street at a light moment...it was seriously wall to wall people. At night it got even more busy and I know people know about the pollution in China, well it is so weird to see it in person. People finish their drink or snack and throw their trash on the ground right where they are standing. It was so insane. By the end of the night you are just walking on piles and piles of trash. It was really sad. Made me glad America is so "green" these days.
Lots of fun food to try!
The Xi'an City Wall
We decided to bike around the wall! It was so pretty and a great way to see the whole city!
Chongqing does Xi'an!
Showing my China pride on National Day!
The Drum Tower all lit up!
We decided to take a tour to the Warriors. Since it is National Day, most of China has the week off and is on the move. It makes it extra crowded and we wanted to make sure we would be able to see them! They picked us up from our hotel and we picked up a German couple, a British man and a Polish woman and hit the rode. It took about an hour and a half to get to the location and then we had a quick lunch. Before going inside we saw the farmer who discovered the Warriors on the hillside so many years ago! It was so weird! He now sits in a tourist shop ready to sign anything and take a picture, for a price of course! We weaved through the crowds and followed our guide to the three pits with the Terracotta Warriors. Pit 1 is the main pit and the first one to be discovered.
A little background on the Warriors just in case some aren't as familiar. The Terracotta Warriors are sculptures of the army of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. Their purpose was to protect the Emperor in the afterlife. They date back to the third century BC and were discovered in 1974 by that farmer guy. There are an estimated 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots, 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses most of which are all still buried or being excavated. All of the warriors vary in height, uniform and hairstyle according to rank and have different facial features. It is believed that they are all based off of his actual army.
We entered Pit 1 and it was a madhouse! So many people pushing and taking pictures, it was crazy.
But so worth it! I mean it was unreal to see them in person!
Those ones are still being put together!
Notice all of the little pieces! They literally piece them back together, piece by piece.
I made it! This makes dealing with Richard's Mom SO worth it!
a Warrior!
Pit 2 has yet to be excavated, it is completely enclosed and you can visit it but there aren't any soldiers to see. They have the lighting dimmed and everything so they can be preserved for when they are ready to excavate that area.
Right now they are excavating Pit 3, where they found lots of horses and chariots.
One big puzzle. So cool
The people under Emperor Qin's rule were not happy with some of his choices (i.e. spending all this time and money on an army for him in the afterlife when they were starving) so after he died many warriors were destroyed. That is the main reason most of the heads are chopped off...Sorry Emperor Qin.
We went to the Terracotta Museum where they make replicas and duplicate the process from thousands of years ago to show the lengths that the people went through to make the Warriors. It was really interesting to see them up close and to see the differences between the generals, soldiers, archers, chariot drivers, etc. They were a little too heavy for my suitcase though :-(
By the end of the Terracotta day I was getting pretty sick :-( Nothing serious, just a cold. The annoying thing was, was that we were planning to go on an intense hike the next day and were leaving at 5:30am. Not the best sitch when you're sick. I knew I would regret it if I stayed back though so I pulled it together and we hopped a two hour bus to Mount Hua! The "most precipitous" mountain in China!
What a day. I probs should have just stayed home. So, we bought a ticket to go up the mountain. Then we took a bus to the entrance where we could take a gondola up the mountain. We waited in line for two hours next to blaring music just so we could get inside a building to wait in line for another 45 minutes. This is where we bought a ticket for the bus to take us to the gondolas. Confused yet? Annoyed yet? Tired yet? We were. Then we stood in line for two more hours waiting for the gondola...we had made it maybe 20 feet and couldn't see the end of the line! We were never going to make it. What if the line to get back down was like this? We had to get the last bus back to Xi'an...What a waste. Imagine this, the most people you've ever been around, like Disneyland at Christmas, shopping on black Friday, New Years Eve in New York, etc. Times that by 1,000 and you get what we were experiencing. It was insane! There weren't ever lines either, it was just mobs of people pushing and no one getting anywhere. No personal space. And I'm sick. We basically spent all day paying to take buses and stand in lines. Fail, big time. We took the many buses back and then I slept for 15 hours...haha
looks pretty right?
Our last day we visited the Great Mosque! It was so different than my Mosque experience in Malaysia! Much more laid back and peaceful. It was beautiful and in the middle of this market.
Our flight was that night and I was excited to sleep in my bed and just get better before I have to teach again! We don't have to go back until Tuesday but then we work Saturday...lol so weird!!!
Xi'an was a great first travel experience in China! I learned a lot and feel so excited for our big three week break in February!
"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."
~Mae West
