Hey Hey and a Big G’Day toya,

Guess what! I sat my learners permit test and I was promoted to 'Designated Pram Pusher'.

Each evening when we all headed out for Beers N Noodles N BBQ I was given the reins. Give me a pram and I'll find a race track! We were doing bunnyhops, cross overs, mono's, pancakes, endos you name it. I wanted to go out and buy a pram with a full chromolly frame with tuffs, a double gooseneck, snakebelly tires and put Red Line, Mongoose or Diamond Back stickers on it. 

It was rad, we were like BMX Bandits going freestyle.
It's 12:3am and I am sitting in Mc Donald's waiting for the 2am east bound train.

As usual I am sipping my ElcheapO coffee and writing a blog but not really feeling up to the task. It was hard to say good bye to Luo Wei because when we caught up it was one of those special moments where if feels as though you are continuing the last conversation you had in person. So at the moment I'm feeling rather sad inside which is tiny compared to what she will be feeling tomorrow.  

Her husband has not worked since their baby was born (two months ago) and I actually think he took a month off prior to the birth. He has been there for her each and every day as has his mother who now lives with them. But tonight we part again and her husband will fly to Anhui Province to work for around six months only to return several times during so this will be the first time she will really be alone as a new mother. Catching up with Luo Wei again in person after so many years between the end of our relationship and the present was emotional for the both of us and after spending the last week together I can honestly say that we did a great job!

I'll miss you my sweet friend xoxox

So Luo Wei and I were sitting on the couch yesterday morning going through some of my previous days photos and there was one of a temple that she did not know. For those that don't remember or know, she was raised in a very small and poor village temple by Buddhists Monks so like me when it comes to travelling together she becomes 'Spectempletacular'. As her and hubby moved to Xianyang just prior to birth they both don't really know much about the city other than the fact that it;

Was where Xian used to be and is no longer.

We had been talking for most of the afternoon so as time had drifted away I choose the Xiangyang Museum for the photo's on her computer and as I raced out the door she yelled out 'Take Bus 13' from up the road and around the corner near the bridge. Over the past week we had pieced together a 'Mud Map' (crude lines and squiggles on a napkin) so this made sense to me.  

After catching two Bus 13's and a Tuk Tuk and having no luck (the museum supposedly didn't exist) I decided to go shoe hunting (again) and try my luck at finding 'My Shoes', the only ones that can fit both my feet comfortably without hurting my right foot and causing a million blisters each day. As usual I had no luck and just as I was about to head to McDonald's for a coffee I stopped mid step and the Museum Photo from Luo Wei's computer came to mind as did my photo of the temple she didn't know.

It was the same damn picture!

THE XIANYANG MUSEUM

The renovated building was once a Confucian temple area of the Ming Dynasty era (1368-1644), and it retains some of the look of a Confucian temple. The best artifacts in the collection are the bronze vessels and pieces of art and the Western Han Terracotta Army. Some of the Terracotta Army pieces retain much of the original color, so visitors can see how people looked 2,000 years ago. There are 9 halls and a newly opened "Stele Corridor".

The 9 halls house a collection of Han and Qin Empire artifacts and teach about the history of the two empires. The first three halls contain Qin Empire relics including jade objects, potteries, and written records. The fourth hall contains modern painting and calligraphy. The Han Empire Terracotta army is in the fifth and sixth halls. The 3,000 terracotta statues were excavated in Xianyang in 1965. They give an idea of how the Han people used to dress. The seventh, eighth and ninth halls contain the biggest sitting bronze Buddha statue of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) as well as other religious and cultural relics. The stele corridor contains steles with inscriptions.

THE QIN AND HAN EMPIRES

Qin Shi Huang who was the first emperor of the Qin Empire was ruthless, but he succeeded in making the area's first big empire that stretched from Korea to areas south of the Yangtze River. It covered most of Central China north of the Yangtze River. During that time, the various cultures and countries in the area were merged together. He used the human labor to build huge construction projects. He also destroyed much of the religious and philosophical texts of his time as he tried to wipe out opposition, so the Han Empire that emerged from the Qin Empire had a standard of philosophical and religious ideas. The Qin Dynasty wasn't popular, and it lasted for only fifteen years.

The next dynastic clan called the Western Han Dynasty lasted for much longer. 

It lasted more than 200 years. The people in the empire were much more prosperous, and the population grew substantially. The population in the Qin Empire collapsed due to the warfare and purges. The Western Han Empire also added territory, so it was much bigger. Members of the Han Dynasty built a terracotta army that resembles the better known Terracotta Army of Qin Shi Huang Di's mausoleum. About 3,000 statues of the Western Han are on display in the fifth and sixth exhibition halls. They are arranged in formation. The mock army is more than 2,000 years old.

Beers N Noodles toya…..shane
 
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The soundtrack to this entry was by Eddy Current Suppression Ring
The album was 'ST & Primary Colours'
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