Xi’an

Prior to our flight from Tibet, we were given a box lunch, KFC chicken sandwiches. Frances passed but I thought the sandwich was reasonably good. Lunch was also served on the flight. Frances again passed. I again didn’t. The noodle dish wasn’t too bad although I did my best not to eat it all. Again, the seats were miserably tight but, again, the passenger in front of me kept her seat upright. Thank goodness for small favors.

Xi’an is the capital of Shaanxi Province in central China and yet again a large city, with a population of thirteen million. In the days of the Silk Road, this city was its eastern end. Xian (I’ll drop the ‘ here on) had many eras of greatness, being the home to four of China’s great dynasties. (The Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasties, if you’re curious.)

The City Wall

Before going to the hotel we were taken to  Xian’s city wall, the only complete city wall remaining in China. The most recent version of the wall (ignoring modern renovations) was initiated in the 14th century during the Ming dynasty, but under the Tang dynasty (beginning the 7th century), it was at its greatest extent. Today the wall is 8.7 miles in circumference. We entered through the Hanguang (west) gate. Told there was a great view from a tower some distance away, I left Frances in place and marched toward it. Fifteen minutes later I swore the destination tower was no closer than when I started. Walking at a fairly swift pace (it was nice being at a reasonable altitude again) it took me 55 minutes round trip with perhaps 5 minutes consumed at photo stops. I had worked up a sweat.

Was it worth it? Meh. You decide.

Left: A map of the Silk Road in the gate museum. Right: Our guide, Richard, describing the Xian walled city.

Left: A cross section of the wall. Right: On the wall. My objective was to reach (for a supposedly great photo) a building too far away to see in this picture.

The view from the wall, (left) inside and (right) outside.

An intermediate structure on the wall and (right) my objective.

As elsewhere at tourist sites, the wearing of costumes by (mostly) young women was common.

Left: The Xian bell tower. Right: Another view inside the wall, both of these taken at the turnaround point.

The Terracotta Army

So why were we in Xian. The Terracotta Army, of course, a world wonder.

You can get a much better, complete and accurate description of the Terracotta Army using Wikipedia, but here are a few facts. Discovered in 1979 by several peasant farmers, this army of 8000 clay soldiers and horses was constructed by 700,000 conscripted workers starting in 210 BC. Three pits have been uncovered, each now housed under huge buildings, first opened as a museum in 1979. The “army” was for Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. The area is part of his mausoleum. It’s estimated that only 20% of the army has been unearthed.

Reconstruction of the figures has been intentionally slowed, in recognition of the fact that, once unearthed, the colors painted on the figures quickly disappears. The curators are waiting for the technology necessary to preserved the figures better. The soldiers, by the way, are generally slightly larger than life and face east toward Qin Shi Huang’s enemies.

I must have taken 150 pictures within the three museum buildings, but I’ll spare you all but a couple of dozen.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang at the museum entrance—and the entrance. Our guide said the crowd weren’t too bad this day but I would not want to visit when they are worse.

Museum building #1, opened in 1979 and containing the most uncovered soldiers.

Close-ups. Every face is different. It is speculated that the workmen used each other as models during the construction.

Hairstyles, hats and helmets indicate rank. The hat on the far right figure indicates that the subject is an officer.

More views. This is the condition of the soldiers when first unearthed.

The chariots for these horses were of wood and leather, long decayed.

Left: A crossbowman, the crossbow long gone. Right: The reins and bit obviously were added to this display.

In building #3 (opened 1989) the excavations are just being uncovered.

Left: A General. Right: A commander. These are in building #2, opened in 1994. Chinese crowds being the pushiest I’ve ever encountered (with no acknowledgement of their action), it was difficult getting close to the figures.

We departed the museum and passed through an extensive collection of shops and stores. The advice to not look a vendor in the eye when approached was sound. It worked.

Some shops put a lot into their storefronts.

Who knew the warriors wore glasses?

To get to lunch we passed through a higher end shop. The items for sale were spectacular.

Craftsmen make reproductions.

If I were in a collecting mood and rich, there was much I’d love to possess.

Left: Only $100k, but that included shipping. Right: How about a pair of these guarding our front door!

I was awed by these silk “paintings”, or whatever one would call the constructions, all are pure silk.

Our hotel was the Intercontinental. Physically attractive, it was not our favorite hotel this trip for the arrangement of the room, especially the lighting. What was most surprising is that in all the higher and midrange hotels we have stayed in all our travels, this is the first one where not a single staff member we interacted with spoke a word of English, even at the reception desk. Whenever we asked a question, the staff member would whip out a cellphone with a voice-input translation app and point it at us ready for us to ask our question. This didn’t work the first two times they tried it, so I pulled put my own iPhone and used Google translate. That worked. Frances got her hair dryer and the room a few more clothes hangers. Google products, by the way, are generally banned in China, but not if using a cellular connection.

We did not join the rest of the group for the evening dinner and show. It was an optional add-on. (Viking has way too many of these. If one pays for an extension, then such excursions should be part of the extension.) Instead, we ate in our hotel room, the prime course being the birthday cake our guide, Richard, had sent to our room. I spent the rest of the time putting together my obnoxiously long blog posting on Tibet. My excuse is that I’ll be giving a talk on Nepal and Tibet to a travel group in October and wanted to record my notes while the exaggerations, er, experiences were fresh in my mind.

It was an early wake-up for our final domestic flight in China, Xian to Beijing. Security in the airport was its now familiar strict process (including a very complete pat down). On board we survived the usual close-pack seating in steerage, but the flight was less than two hours long. The terrain (I had a window seat) was hilly, even mountainous most the way to Beijing, a final four-night stop on this incredible journey.