So I arrive in Xian afer being on the train all night with a Chinese guy snoring so loudly I was unable to sleep. And another guy who slept for 20 minutes (snoring really loudly) and then smoked for five minutes, and then back to 20 minnutes of snoring. After 16 hours I was ready to get off the flippin' train :-)
I arrived at the hostel and decided rather than go to sleep I'd walk around the city walls - it's 14 kilometres all the way around - so they are pretty big walls.
Xian - City Walls:
The main street in Xian:
And another one of the walls:
That night - I headed out to the Muslim Quarter - which is a real vibrant part of the city. It's so called because (obviously) Muslim's settled in this area, and it's an exciting place to visit. There are loads of street stalls and little shops, and hundreds of people walking along checking out the sights.
This pic is of the Drum Tower in Xian, which marks out the start of the Muslim Quarter:
At the hostel in Xian you get a free beer for every night you stay (who says there's no such thing as a free beer :-) and so I headed down to the bar for a quick drink before heading to bed.
At the bar I ran into Mina, Antonia, and Sara who were going to see the Terrecota Army the next day and arranged to go with them. And that's when the fun started - because we had such a good laugh.
The next day we had breakfast and set off to see the army. Quite a few people told me it was really disapointing - and I'd seen the excellant display at the British History Museum when I went to see Rush in London.
But it was a really fun day. Not only was the army definitely worth going to see - we had such a laugh the whole time :-) We even managed to get in half price by saying our driving licences were student passes!
OK - time for some quick history.
About 250 BC there was this guy called Qin Shi Huang - who was the ruler of one of the tribal areas in China. By all accounts, he was a bit of nasty sort, but he left his mark on history by going to war with everyone else in what is now known as China - and winnning. And in so doing so created China.
Being the kind of guy he was - he decided to build a huge mausoleum and to help out in the afterlife - decided to put together a huge army. Clearly - he was expecting some trouble on the other side - because his army was huge.
No one really knows how many statues there are - as they've not all been excavated - but estimates put it at about 8000 soldiers, and 520 horses, plus other bits and pieces.
Just down the road, he had a mausoleum built which is said to run with rivers of mercury and to have a thousand stars in the ceiling. But no one ever recorded the fact that the army was there, and so it lay - buried in the ground.
In 1974 some guy was digging a well and discovered the army. The rest - as they say - is history.
And here are a few pics:
This is Pit 3 - and the smallest collection:
Terracota Horse:
Er...me...and the warriors - I had to squeeze under a brass bar and hang out over the edge to get this shot:
and close up:
The main pit (Pit 1) where the major excavations have taken place:
The warriors:
And close up:
Antonia, Mina, and Sara - fantastic company:
And another close up:
That night we headed to the Muslim Area and had the local soup - which was good, and then it was back to the hostel for the free beer. We ran into Amy at the bar, and with so many Brits about we decided to have a good old fashioned G&T...or several :-)
Let me say - the bar in the Youth Hostel is the best in China. It was run by an Italian and Spaniard (Kim and Stefano) who really know how to do a party - and played some great tunes. Had a great night out - one to remember :-)
Thanks everyone for happy times :-)
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