Today's blog is by Ryan Schuller and Ariane Branigan
Our last day in xi'an was very memorable. After breakfast at the Wannian
Hotel we left for a local factory that makes beautiful replicas of the
famous terracotta warriors in varying sizes. It was interesting to see
the process of the clay being coiled, moulded and fired in a kiln. The
finished product was realistic and gave us an impression of what to
expect when we saw the real warriors in the museum. Many of us bought
mini terracotta figures (the real ones sadly wouldn't fit in our hand
luggage). Some people wanted to buy traditional Chinese warrior swords
but we decided that they wouldn't be let through immigration.
After we had left the factory we drove to the Terracotta Museum, which
is on the site of Emperor Qin Shi Huang's tomb. The first of the three
pits was the biggest, holding over 500 standing warriors. Although they
were awe-inspiring, it was slightly disturbing to see life-size human
figures missing limbs or heads. However they *were* looking considerably
better than we would after being buried underground for 3000 years. The
other two pits were smaller but the warriors contained in them were in
better condition and had greater significance to Chinese history.
Lunch was delicious but uneventful until Patryk bet Thomas 15 yuan that
Thomas couldn't eat 15 bowls of noodles. This attracted mass attention
from the rest of the group who started cheering him on- Unfortunately
the contest was interrupted when it was time to leave. However Thomas
still managed to eat EIGHT bowls of noodles, much to the amazement of
the group, and insisted that he could've eaten more if not restricted by
our schedule.
After lunch we walked round the Huaqing Hot Springs, a truly beautiful
mountain retreat which was used by many emperors in the Tang Dynasty as a
summer house. We were very disappointed to learn that we couldn't
actually swim in the volcanically-heated water (understandable as the
water was dark green) but we were all still amazed at the sheer beauty
and peacefulness of the place.
Dinner was good, in an authentic local Chinese restaurant, but brief due
to the fact that we had to catch a soft sleeper at seven. The train
station was very busy and even though we had already experienced soft
sleeper trains in chin, we were all still excited to board the train,
although not for the foot pain you experience when waking up In the
morning.
Sore feet and early mornings aside, the day was highly enjoyable and it
was sad to say goodbye not only to our amazing local tour guide Sean but
also to the beautiful city xi'an itself. We hope to return in the
future.
-Ryan and Ariane
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