Xian day 1:
We made our way out of the hotel at about 5:30am to catch an 8am flight to Xian. By 10:30 we were off the plane and taken directly to lunch. Then, much to my delight, we headed to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses museum. This was a big check on my bucket list! I've seen pictures of the warriors, of course, and I'd read about them but I was completely unprepared by how HUGE the exhibit was! The majority of the exhibit is in these two enormous airplane hanger typ...e buildings. So cool!! Or rather, blazingly hot with millions of people all trying to stand right in the front and right in the middle so they could snap their pix. But, have no fear, the Crowells eventually made it to the front :-) Awesome!!
We made our way out of the hotel at about 5:30am to catch an 8am flight to Xian. By 10:30 we were off the plane and taken directly to lunch. Then, much to my delight, we headed to the Terracotta Warriors and Horses museum. This was a big check on my bucket list! I've seen pictures of the warriors, of course, and I'd read about them but I was completely unprepared by how HUGE the exhibit was! The majority of the exhibit is in these two enormous airplane hanger typ...e buildings. So cool!! Or rather, blazingly hot with millions of people all trying to stand right in the front and right in the middle so they could snap their pix. But, have no fear, the Crowells eventually made it to the front :-) Awesome!!
Honestly, I don't understand how they are managing to assemble the shattered pieces of the statues. It seems like it would be the world's most difficult 3D jigsaw puzzle. So amazing. The work is ongoing with new statues being unearthed and reassembled on a continuing basis. To think they were just buried there below the farms for like 2400 years is fascinating. I took TONS of pictures but none of them do the place justice whatsoever.
We were warned repeatedly by the guides that we should ignore the vendors selling small replicas of the warriors and other trinkets on the walkway outside the museum. We were told they were poor quality and that "the good stuff" would be available later at "the government store". Of course, me, the total rebel ;-) shockingly purchased a cute little set of the warriors from one of those vendors for 10 yuan... or about $1.64 US. Totally saw the EXACT same thing, in the exact same box and it seemed like the same quality to me too, later at "the government store" for the equivalent of about $25!! Score!
Anyway, the evening's entertainment was a dumpling banquet and Tang Dynasty show. Our family enjoyed the little dumplings many of which were shaped like little animals etc and the show was really good. Georgie made it through about 80% of the show then crashed. I'd say about half the kids and adults fell asleep at some point or another. At about 10pm we finally checked into our hotel for what would be a total stay of only 9.5 hours.
I took, and have posted, tons of pix of Xian. It was a very interesting city that I wish we could have spent at least a few days exploring. Unfortunately, the air quality was pretty bad.
At the entrance of the Terracotta Warriors museum:
I call this series of photos "Georgie as Warrior" haha!!
I'm guessing the right answer is "like donating money" but I'm sure there are other options
I love these lighted countdowns to the green light. Of course if you'll notice, none of the cars are paying any attention to the light.
Goldfish dumpling... quite delicious ... and, in case you were wondering, not made of goldfish :-)
The Tang Dynasty show was really beautifully presented. It was 10 separate performances all very theatrical.
We were warned repeatedly by the guides that we should ignore the vendors selling small replicas of the warriors and other trinkets on the walkway outside the museum. We were told they were poor quality and that "the good stuff" would be available later at "the government store". Of course, me, the total rebel ;-) shockingly purchased a cute little set of the warriors from one of those vendors for 10 yuan... or about $1.64 US. Totally saw the EXACT same thing, in the exact same box and it seemed like the same quality to me too, later at "the government store" for the equivalent of about $25!! Score!
Anyway, the evening's entertainment was a dumpling banquet and Tang Dynasty show. Our family enjoyed the little dumplings many of which were shaped like little animals etc and the show was really good. Georgie made it through about 80% of the show then crashed. I'd say about half the kids and adults fell asleep at some point or another. At about 10pm we finally checked into our hotel for what would be a total stay of only 9.5 hours.
I took, and have posted, tons of pix of Xian. It was a very interesting city that I wish we could have spent at least a few days exploring. Unfortunately, the air quality was pretty bad.
At the entrance of the Terracotta Warriors museum:
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I call this series of photos "Georgie as Warrior" haha!!
I'm guessing the right answer is "like donating money" but I'm sure there are other options
I love these lighted countdowns to the green light. Of course if you'll notice, none of the cars are paying any attention to the light.
Goldfish dumpling... quite delicious ... and, in case you were wondering, not made of goldfish :-)
The Tang Dynasty show was really beautifully presented. It was 10 separate performances all very theatrical.
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