Reconstructing an army

Sunday, April 29, 2018
Xi'an, Shaanxi, China
Sunny 30C
Another early start (we’re beginning to think Angie never sleeps) and after breakfast, on the bus by 7a. m. because it’s at the start of a long public holiday, the crowds are expected to build rapidly at the site of the Terracotta Warriors today. It takes about an hour in the bus from the hotel and the gates open at 8 a.m. Even at this time, there are already large crowds milling about. We avoid the souvenir sellers (very persistent), enter through security (bag scanning) and enter the first hall of three. This is the largest and has approximately 1000 warriors already reconstructed. The story is that a few years after the warriors were originally constructed and buried in 221BC, grave robbers destroyed them while looting the area. It has been an enormous task for archaeologists to gather and photograph the pieces and then reconstruct each one. They believe there are another 5000 yet to be done in the first hall.
We then went to the third hall which is much smaller (only 64 figures and horses and mostly (apparently) administrative staff. Then onto the second hall also small in comparison. In this hall were reconstructed warriors of low, middle and the highest ranks and in scenes reminiscent of the crowds surrounding the Mona Lisa in the Louvre in Paris, getting to a photographically advantageous spot for each with for all of us required a tactically superior strategy than the other ten thousand people intent on achieving the same outcome. We won!
The last exhibit we saw was the bronze chariots. These are in a large and very dim underground room and the chariots themselves are national treasures. With thousands of people pushing through the situation was somewhere between a rugby scrum and a riot. We were all glad to get out of there with no injuries.
Back to the bus via the numerous shops that you must pass (security guards won’t let you take the non-shopping direct route) selling food and cheap souvenirs. Starbucks, KFC, McDonalds and Subway are all over represented as well as stalls selling kebabs, persimmon cakes, special noodles and pomegranate desserts (all local delicacies).
We were taken to lunch at a shop that manufactures replica terracotta warriors; all sizes and postures in a variety of materials. If inclined, you can have a warrior head made with your face likeness on it and the factory will mail it to your home address with shipping and insurance for around $1000. After easing our way through that sales team, we passed through to the lacquer furniture displays/sales and then onto Chinese lunch upstairs
Lunch was very good today as they had salads as well as Chinese Hamburgers made with pork, dumplings and a good variety of other dishes which you could choose from. And at last, green tea to drink with lunch instead of beer and soft drinks.
Then on the way out, one final lunge through silk scarfs, jade jewellery and all the same souvenirs we had seen earlier but with bigger price tags, onto the bus and back to the hotel to refresh.
From the hotel, we then walked down one of the main streets of Xi’an. There is a pagoda about 1.5km from our hotel and a number of huge bronze statues on this avenue leading to it. Because of the National Holiday there are decorations everywhere and many performing stages set up with an array of musical talent on offer. The place is buzzing already at 3:00 in the afternoon. Angie tells us it will be absolutely jumping tonight.
We went out to dinner and a show tonight at a theatre restaurant. Unfortunately, the traffic was so bad we arrived just ½ hr before the show began and the 7 course meal was given to us in 20 mins. The waitresses made a valiant effort to get it all on the table in time before the lights went out. Just about made it too. The performance was set in the Tang dynasty who attracted the gaze of the king, somehow threw herself in front of him during a battle and saved him from being pierced with arrows, then back at the palace, managed to negotiate the palace politics of the empress and her retinue to finally become the empress herself…. Or something similar. Great night, fabulous dancing and costumes.
The show went for an hour and fortunately, the traffic had lessened by the time we left, so were back in the hotel by around 9.15 and ready for bed. A very long day.
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