Xi'an Part Deaux-The Terracotta Warriors

We arrived late last night to Xi'an after our plane had been delayed a few hours because of a light snow in Beijing.  After catching a bus from the airport near Xi'an to downtown we bartered with a taxi/random van driver to get us to our hotel (turned out he was a little crooked...oh well...they always are).  Once in the hotel we made a rough plan for the next day and hit the sheets shortly thereafter.

One of the many Terracotta Warriors

Bright and early the next morning we met Patrick, a driver recommended to us by several faculty at ICB who had previously visited Xi'an.  Since the Terracotta warriors are a great distance away from downtown Xi'an, a private driver or a vast knowledge of the local transit system is needed.  Since Peter quoted us a price of $50 for the entire days worth of driving...we decided to go with that option :-)  Once in Peter's car he asked us if we would like to visit a Bamboo village.  Rodney was very non-committal about it...but I was excited...YEAH!!  Bring on the Bamboo village!

After a short while we pulled into the 'Bamboo village' and I realized why Rodney had been so non-committal.  Turns out Peter wasn't talking about a Bamboo village...but rather the Banpo village, an archeological site of sorts where they think the oldest Chinese civilization once lived.  Hmm...still I guess when in Xi'an...might as well see all the sites right.  Anyways...we roamed around looking at the outlines of old huts and visited the museum with tons of old pottery and weapons and stuff of that nature and it was pretty cool.  Probably the most eventful happening was when Rodney and I were actually looking for Peter after we were done at the 'village'.  Rodney was down on the path looking around and I was on top of a set of stairs looking for Peter.  Apparently I decided to walk while not looking at the ground and fell face first off the set of 6 stairs...right on my face...yep.  Rodney saw the whole thing and in his defense only laughed a bit.  Bam...nothing like falling on your face to wake you up and get you ready for the rest of the day right.  Right.  O.k. we found Peter and were soon off again.

Banpo Village...no Bamboo to be found

After the Banpo village Peter drove us to 'the official Terracotta Warriors souvenir place.  I think this stop is mandated and helps keep the cost of his services down.  Rodney and I looked around and actually did barter a few items.  I found a little teapot Christmas tree ornament for my mom for Christmas and was pleased with the price...and then back on our way to the actual warriors :-)

In Pit 1 with the football field full of warriors :-)

Peter dropped us off for a quick lunch on the outskirts of the Terracotta Warriors and then we were off inside to start our viewing of the three different pits.  For those unfamiliar with the Terracotta Warriors (the 8th wonder of the world), an ancient Chinese emperor believed that an individual could take with them all items buried with them into the afterlife.  So he had his people construct an entire army out of stone to bury with him for him to have in the afterlife.  Crazy right!  Football sized fields full of soldiers, horses, carriages and regalia...all handcrafted with the most intense detail you could ever imagine.

They are still working on unearthing some of these warriors here

There are three pits of soldiers and each was incredibly impressive and well worth the trip to Xi'an just to see the warriors.  Lighting was a little low so the pictures didn't turn out that great...but it was the type of experience that one can never forget.  If you want to read more about the warriors click on Terracotta Warriors :-)

These are all life-size warriors...incredible!

On our way out of seeing the warriors Rodney and I stopped and bartered quite a bit.  It was here that I had my first bartering experience where the ENTIRE transaction was done in Chinese...from start to finish.  It was a great feeling to know that I actually could barter the whole way through without the seller flipping over into English (which they will do in a heartbeat if they feel your Chinese isn't good enough)...so woohoo!!  Ended up buying some shadow puppets as Christmas presents, some ginger taffy, and some other local Xi'an treats.

After our bartering we found Peter and he graciously took us back to our hotel (seriously if anyone is going to Xi'an this guy was fantastic).  By the time we got back it was 5:00 and we were feeling like another adventure.  This time we wanted to find and explore the Muslim Quarter of Xi'an.  Rodney's impeccable directional skills quickly got us there and we were soon immersed in the lights, sounds, smells and vibrant nature of the street life here.

Mmm...muslim food...BAA!!

Food was the #1 priority on our agenda and Rodney soon found a restaurant with great smelling food out front that we had to try...but one small problem...they spoke neither English...nor Chinese!  And there were no picture menus...uhh...I'm about ready to abort mission when Rodney and the waiter start in on some sort of baaaaing mooing routine and before we know it Rodney has successfully ordered us mutton, beef, and lamb chuar, bread, and rice...score!  The food was delicious...and the experience was even better.

Slightly out of focus...or perfectly capturing the mood?

We left with our bellies full (well not full enough to prevent me from trying many other great street food items...yum) and began to just stroll and do some light bartering.  I found a set of China dolls for another Christmas present that I liked and some other novel items...but decided that rest was important than bartering and we were soon back to the hotel to wrap up a GREAT first night in Xi'an.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow where we will get to explore the rest of the town, the city wall, and many of the pagaoda's around.  If the weather is nice we hope to bike around the entire city wall...so fingers crossed.

Zaijian and Wan An (Good night)
Gary