Before getting on the train to Xi'an I met a young guy who has just finished an entrance exam to medical school. His English was ok and he wanted to practice with me. We chatted a bit before boarding the train, turns out we were in different coaches so I said I would come see him later after we began moving. In my coach I shared the "six pack" with five other Chinese guys, one who looked like Yul Brenner. After two of the guys broke out the takeout of chicken feet and pigs ears(they also offered some to me, I declined saying I was not hungry) we began talking as best we could. Their English was almost non-existent but we exchanged a little information. My young friend I met in the train station came by and joined us to help translate. Turns out one of the takeout food guys designed huebans or skateboards for a living on the computer. I thought that was interesting so we talked about his business. She FangTao, the aspiring medical student left for his coach and we all turned in for the night.
We arrived into Xi'an about 9:00am and I was met by a hostel tout who steered me to his hotel/hostel. It was close to the train station which was my plain anyway so it worked out. The room was on the five floor and it was a dorm room but no one but me. After getting upacked and adding several layers of clothes(the temperature was much colder then Shanghai)I set out to explore the city. I went to the famous Bell Tower and next door Drum Tower before finishing at the Muslin Quarter. This was a very interesting place with people who looked Chinese but wore the traditional pillbox style hats on their heads. After visiting the Great Mosque I took a tour of the street food vendors. I had read it was good so I had a sample of chinese pizza. Not bad but greasy. I then set off for the hostel which was quite a walk back and it was getting cold.
The next day I was bound for the famous Terracotta warriors about an hour outside of the city. I caught a local bus and got there about 11:00am. The temperature had again fallen and the wind had picked up so it was very cold but sunny and clear. I think the temperature was in the 20s with the windchill. The grounds surrounding the warrior pits is a highly developed exhibit, a far cry from 1974 when farmers discovered Pit 1 while drilling for water. I went to Pit 2 first then Pit 3 and finished with the largest Pit 1 on advice from a traveler in Shanghai. Pit 2 ismore of how it looked when they buried the warriors. The pits are housed about 5m down but were supported with wooden beams and covered with mats. Most of the pits had sunk over the 2000 years since they were buried. You could see remains of soldiers down int eh pits. You can not get close to the remains as they have it all roped off. You can see some of the soldiers displayed in cases along with some of the weapons. Most weapons were carried off by locals after the pits were discovered. Pit 3 was the smallest with a some horses. Pit 1 is just huge and still being dug up by researchers. There were almost 6000 soldiers at one time but now just a fraction but it still looks impressive to see the rows and rows of the them in the pit. YOu can also see more horses and some soldiers taken out of the pit and pieced back together. The entire area is pretty impressive and hard to believe over 2000 years old, BC. They were all built in the Qin dynasty by an emperor who believe he needed to be protected in the afterlife. I caught the bus back to Xi'an in the early afternoon.
That night I caught a bus to the Big Goose Wild Pagoda to see a light show at 8:00pm. It was so cold by then that the longer I waited for the show the more my toes and legs froze. The show had not started by 8:15pm so I called it a night and caught the bus back to the hostel, cold and hungry. I had some hot noodles and tomatoes soup for dinner and turned it. There is no heat in my room so I had two comforters on top of me to keep warm. The next day I got myself ready for the 8:15pm overnight train to Beijing, my last stop in Asia. I heard it is colder there so I may have to put on all my clothes to stay warm. See you there!
