Xian

Xian, China

Sorry I didn’t write yesterday but it was a total day of travelling and we couldn’t be bothered to sort out the in room internet connection until today. Nothing really to tell about yesterday other than we started at 0730 on out journey to Xian and arrived at the hotel at 1815. We did not much more than travel, eat and sleep. The new hotel, Le Garden Hotel, is very nice from the outside and in the lobby. The rooms have all the facilities but are a little tired after the grand entrance hall. This morning was another early start but was the day Amy has been looking forward to the most for this whole section of the honeymoon, the Terracotta Warriors. Amazingly, our tour guide, Noa, has looked after us again and we were the first coach to the museums. She also managed to negotiate for us to get in 15 minutes before the offical opening so we would be first to the exhibits. I don’t know how she does it, but I think it is her incredibly intimidating nature and large toothy smile. Whatever, we were in. The sites have been covered with huge aircraft like hangars to protect the warriors though they are still decaying somewhat. When you walk in you are immediately stunned by the huge rows of terracotta figures that extend back across an area the size of about two football fields. When you look closely you see that each figure is dressed slightly differently and has an individual face and height. The detail is amazing considering they have been buried for the last 2200 years. The zoom lens was quickly employed. The site was built by over 720 000 people and took 4 decades to complete. Its was created as a tomb for the first emperor of China and currently only 7 pits have been dug of which three are on display as museums. His actual tomb is a flat top pyramid with sides of around 500 metres each and over a 100 metres high. At the moment a law exists for it not to be excavated as modern engineering methods are not advanced enough to bulid another hangar over the whole site. Sinking intermediate supports is not an option as they would damage the priceless artifacts beneath. Most of the Warriors were found smashed and have been pieced back together. This is because of a rebellion soon after the first Emperor died and the rebels smashed and burned them all. The sheer size of what has been discovered is overwhelmingly shadowed by what still lies 4 or 5 metres beneath miles of nearby city currently being destroyed by coaches bringing 10 000 visitors a day to the site. I don’t think it will be long before International Heritage organistations make the Chinese re-think how they are currently exhibiting. The day was breathtaking and many pressies have been purchased. It’s surprisingly easy to spend with what the Chinese call ‘prastic money’. From there we had lunch in the theatre we are going to later to see another show. This was a little odd but the lunch was lovely and I assume all the tables will be replaced with seats later. After that we went to a Jade factory. Another obvious Government funded enterprise where they take the unsuspecting foreign tourists and charge extorsionate prices. The pieces made were lovely and I was very tempted by a jade figure of a terracotta General. Then I realised it was £1200. The shop assitant had clearly realsied I liked it and at the moment I started to look closely descended like a vulture. I couple of swift sales techniques later she had it in my hand and wormed out of me how much I liked it. Mike, you would be proud. Quickly she realised the chance of a sale with a smaller one priced at only £800. But despite her excellent technique, my tight fistedness prevailed and I walked away whilst she chanted more entising words. The last visit we made before I started writing this was to the city walls. These are 15 metres wide, 12 metres tall and go 14 Kilometeres around the old city. Prettty impressive. Amy considered hiring a bike and circling the top of the wall in the 40 minutes we were there but thought her recent training regime had been a little too relaxed. The main gate housed, guess what, yet another shop, and amazingly we managed to resist buying anything at two destinations in a row. Soon we will be going off to dinner and then to a Tang Dynasty show. Tomorrow is another travelling day as we have an early start to go to a Pagoda and then we fly to Shanghai. As the first capitol of China I think Xian has a lot to offer that we haven’t seen and I would have liked to stay longer. Amy on the other hand is looking forward to one of the main things to buy in Shanghai, silk. We have some great photos to show you when we get back so I’ll stop writing war and peace and get Amy to put a few on as time now is short before dinner. Rob