It's one of the most ultimate narcissistic demonstrations ever. Well, the Pyramids in Egypt are grand, I suppose. Yet, I find the idea of having an army with thousands of clay solidiers and infantrymen created as a protection after the death of one and one's family, the ultimate gift for the emperor who has everything.
We took the regular 7 RMB bus to the site of the Terracotta Warriors. So, in fact the tuktuk driver's charge of 15 RMB to get to the train station cost more than the subsequent one-hour, 35K trip. We found the excavation pits interesting. The figures themselves were mostly pieced back together and stand under enormous buildings. I think I figured out why they seemed important to me. Their discovery was in the 1970's. I can remember first reading about them in a National Geographic when in school. I didn't remember that they were 'discovered' by farmers trying to dig a well.
The complex is quite large and can accommodate thousands of visitors. We ate lunch at around 2:00 pm when leaving the site to take the same #306 return bus back to the city. We passed thousands of highway-side vendors trying to sell pomegranates and persimmons.
As it was getting dark, we took a bus (about 10 cents) a few kilometers up the road toward the Drum Tower. We walked the market area of the Chinese-Moslem quarter. It was fascinating. Remembering the Arab market of last year's trip to Fes, Morocco came to mind but with a distinctly different flavour.
Our time here is over. We will be using Asia Miles reward points for tomorrow's flight from Xi'an back to Shanghai. It leaves at 10:00, so we'll have to be up at around 6:00 to get ready and be at the airport. Shanghai seems like our home in China and we'll be there until Wednesday.