Terra-Cotta Warriors

Today was the day I had been waiting for, the reason I came to Xi’an, to see the Terra-Cotta Warriors.

I got up early to have a hearty breakfast, pack my bags and meet my tour. I had a fantastic breakfast at the hostel, delicious and cheap. Can’t ask for more really.

I met my tour driver outside the hostel, we waited for a while, but I wasn’t sure why since there ended up being no one else from my hostel going. So to kill time I made friends with the resident dog named Moon. He was so fun and playful, he made me miss my dogs.

We had one stop to make where we picked up the other 15 people going on the tour with me. They were a variety of people, mainly students from all over the world. Who knew China had a diverse college/university program. One of the guys was from Vancouver but lives in Edmonton. We only chatted briefly throughout the day, and then there was a Chinese-Australian guy who was nice and chatty. We had a few laughs as he was super friendly.

The tour guide we had was really good, her English was well spoken and she was very detailed.

The drive up to where the Terra-Cotta Warriors were was interesting. First I should mention that the drivers here are insane!!!!! Second, it gave me another look / different perspective on the areas outside the tourist areas. The people seemed very poor and their housing showed that. Sadly, it’s something I’ve grown accustomed to seeing when venturing outside to the more rural areas.

Now onto the good stuff ... the warriors. Jiao Jiao our guide insisted we visit the pits in the order of 2, 3, and then 1 since that one was the best.

Pit 2 was cool because it was our first taste of what to expect, and it gave us an idea of what the active excavation looks like. The soldiers here were all in pieces, and we got to see the workers actually working on the soldiers which is a rarity since they usually work at night. Pit 2 also allowed us to get up close to the warriors behind glass. This was neat because some of them still had the color on them from when they were found.

Pit 3 was small, since it was the last one being built and it stopped because the Emperor died. Most of the soldiers didn’t have heads but a few did. It was cool to see this pit as it was proclaimed to be their headquarters.

Pit 1 ... this obviously was the crown jewel of the trip itself, and I’ll be frank, it wasn’t as grand/epic as I thought it would be. The pictures mainly shown to the public are misleading and make it seem that they have excavated more than they have. Now don’t get me wrong it was still amazing to see but just didn’t have the grandeur that I had expected. This pit contained mainly the infantry men, and the building was the size of an airplane hanger. They still are excavating it, so maybe in 30 years it will be at the epic ness I expected from today’s visit.
I did find some things funny though ... in this pit they tell people no pictures at the rear since that is where they are re-constructing the warriors, and they even have an officer standing guard to enforce. However, if you walk a foot to the right you can clearly take a picture of the area without breaking the rules.
As well one thing that was really cool, was they marked the spot where the hole for the well was dug that led to the discovery of the warriors. That was something I really appreciated as it’s hard to believe something so great came from one man trying to dig a well for his village.

After we went for lunch and the food was ok. Mainly meat orientated so I had to pick through a bit.

After we went to Emperor Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum .... let’s translate this to what it really is: a man made Hill that is too high in mercury content that they won’t excavate for another 20 to 30 years because of this. It’s said that underneath is a palace with rivers of mercury running through it. Let’s just say that most of us laughed at this and compared it to a Mummy movie. Which by the way the third one featured the Terra-Cotta Warriors, I didn’t know this and am going to hunt it down to watch.

We made good time back to Xi’an and I was able to have ample time to take the bus to the train station, get lost and then find my way. Seems to be the way this trip is going.
I’m now sitting on my “soft” sleeper bed which is hard as a rock, riding the rails towards Beijing. Let’s see how sleeping on a train goes tonight, since it’s been almost 10 years since the last time.Read more