Terra Cotta Warriors - 22 September

After breakfast, we started our day at the Great Goose Pagoda. The tour guide provided some mind-numbing details about it that immediately flew out of my head so I can’t say much more than it was a Buddhist pagoda and very beautiful. We wandered around the grounds for about ½ hour and took lots of pictures. One of my favorite is one of a Buddhist monk feeding some birds in their cages.

We then drove to the Shaanxi History Museum which was supposed to be the best museum in Xi’an. It was a rather interesting museum that Eileen and I enjoyed. Lots of ceramic and bronze pieces that incredibly old. We wandered around for about an hour before we were called back to the bus.

Lunch was at a silk factory store disguised as a restaurant. We were taken inside and immediately accosted by a factory representative who gave us a tour of the silk making process which was actually quite interesting. Unfortunately, it quickly disintegrated after that when we were led into a room where we were given a fashion show and then the store where the salesman launched into his speech about silk comforters and all of their wonderful qualities. I was hungry, hot and cranky and in absolutely no mood to listen to the infomercial. I started wandering away from the group in search of the restaurant. I figured that I needed to get away from the situation before my crankiness got the best of me. Several of the students started to follow me so they were probably just as hungry as me. We were mercifully led to the restaurant and sat down to a serving of delicious food and beer. Once my crank-o-meter was back in the safe zone, I wandered back into the silk store and did a bit of shopping in silent apology for my previous disposition.

We finally got back on the bus and headed for the Terra Cotta Warriors – our entire purpose for being in Xi’an. Again, we were given the lecture about what we were about to see and then let loose at the museum. It’s a fascinating place because it is three extremely large buildings built over the field where the warriors had been discovered by a farmer in 1974. Given their knowledge of ancient battle formations, officials were able to figure out precisely where the figures would be even though they have not all been uncovered. The figures were made by a ruler to guard his tomb. They are over 2,200 years old.

We went into the largest building (Pit One) which contains 6,000 infantry warriors arrayed in battle formation. We just stood there with our mouths agape and totally speechless. It was awe-inspiring to see these warriors. Each one was an individual with distinctive features. Some were thin, some were fat, and all had different faces. I discovered that originally they had been painted too although the colors had long since faded.

Pit Two was still being excavated and contains the cavalry and soldiers. The horses were perfectly preserved with some of them attached to chariots. You could see the warriors on the chariots were supposed to be holding the reins which had long ago disintegrated. Pit Three is only partially excavated because the government wants to wait until better excavating and preservation techniques are developed. This location was the command center with about 70 high ranking officers.

Eileen and I walked around for two hours admiring the figures and imagining how they looked when first created. We went into the information center where the farmer who discovered the warriors was supposed to be sitting in the building signing guide books. He’s about 80 years old now and was taught how to sign his name for the tourists coming to the museum. Unfortunately, Eileen and I wandered in about a ½ hour too late because he had left for the day. However, we were able to buy a book with his name already in it. It would have been fun to have seen him though.

Our time at the museum was amazing. To be able to see these figures in person was a gift that I will always treasure. I’m glad that I have many photos to help me preserve this time.

We got back on the bus and had a one-hour drive back to the city. Rather than return to the hotel, we went to a “Tang Dynasty” show. It was music and dancing that was liberally interpreted from the Tang period. The dancing was good but the music was better. There was a trumpet player that was amazing and was able to convey a wonderful sense of humor through his music. He was definitely the crowd favorite. After dinner, we were served dinner that was absolutely delicious. We finally returned to the hotel happy and exhausted which seems to be the theme of the trip.