Ah Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors!!!

We stopped by Taylor's work Thursday about 11 o'clock to pick up Taylor and his sales manager, Fred, on our way to the airport to fly to Xi'an.  Unfortunately this was all Tanner got to see of Taylor's workplace.  We didn't have any extra time before our flight.
As you can see from the flight, the curtains to first class were closed.  No peeking.  No admittance.

Here's the lunch they provided which is more than US airlines do for a 2-3 hour flight.

We were so fortunate in Xi'an as Taylor's bicycle dealer there graciously hosted us Thursday afternoon and evening and Friday part of the day.  He picked us up at the airport and dropped us back off at the end of our visit and provided us meals, transportation, a lot of sightseeing and a gift.  He really treated us royally.  Maybe it pays to be "mature" in China.

After meeting us, he drove through several areas of the city on our way to the hotel.  He didn't speak English, so Taylor kept us informed about some things we drove past.

The traffic in Xi'an is totally crazy.  There are all kinds of vehicles going various directions.  We tried to snap a few photos from the car to capture the flavor of it, but weren't very successful due to all the motion and commotion.  That is one city I would never want to drive in.

Here is the famous Bell Tower.  We were told the top was originally made of solid gold but the Japanese stole it during WWII.  A few years ago, they finally replaced it with gold plate.  You will see some beautiful night pictures of it all in lights.

Here is a picture of our hotel.  We had beautiful views of the plaza and the Gate of the Ancient City Wall from our hotel windows.  Taylor had arranged the perfect place for us to stay.

That evening the bicycle dealer took us to dinner.  There seven of us as a salesman was also added to the group.  He took us to a restaurant and we were seated in a private room.  There was a big lazy susan in the middle of the table and the servers brought out about 6 or 7 dishes to get us started.  They were called the cold dishes.  We rotated the lazy susan and people just reached into the dishes with their chopsticks and put the amount of food they wanted onto their plate.  We tried most dishes as we were trying to be polite and we were also curious.

Tanner quite liked a gelatinous dish that was in a spicy sauce.  I tried it but it was to spicy for me.  Steve didn't try it.  Tanner liked it so after he had eaten several helpings, they told him it was pork skins in the clear gelatin. He was surprised but still liked it.  After the cold dishes, they started bringing out hot dishes.  This included a soup that was pretty tasty but we didn't finish that because there were so many other foods to try.

I am holding a local favorite.  It is a bun-type bread with meat in the middle.  It looks like a small hamburger but the meat is more shredded.  I think they call it a roujiamo.  It as okay but I only ate one as I liked a lot of the other dishes better.

If you look closely at this whole chicken, you will seat the head to the left.  I think it is an honor to be served the head first.  No one at our table ate the head, but the chicken was delicious.

Xi'an is also famous for their many types of noodles.  In this part of China, they specialize in noodles rather than rice.  The big fat noodles, kind of like thin lasagna, are really long too.  One noodle can fill a whole bowl.  The fat noodles are called Biang Biang Mian.  I was happy that we got to taste them.  We liked them.  Biang is one of the most complicated characters in the Chinese language to write.  It takes 58 strokes to write it.

Here is the Bell Tower lit up at night.

After dinner, the dealer took us on a walk a few blocks away from the restaurant.  Behind us in this photo is the famous Drum Tower.  On the other side of it is the Muslim Quarter which is a huge night market.  Muslims have been in this part of China for thousands of years. The night market is loaded with various kinds of food.  I think the Muslims have been very influential on the foods preferred in this area.

These sticks are skewered lamb and they are cooked over hot coals just before you eat them.  Some people drizzle them with spicy sauce.  They are really good just plain. You will see a picture of Taylor and Fred eating them.  I had one earlier but I was too full after that 20 course meal.

There were lots of stands where a man was pulled taffy-like candy.  Since he used his bare hands, no one in our party wanted to sample it.  They were also nervous that it may occasionally touch the ground.  I didn't see any evidence of that.  The pullers seemed quite skillful.

These big pots that were boiling probably contained some type of noodles.

In the building next door to these cows, we were told they are having a funeral.  Later we were told that the cows would be used as a sacrifice associated with the funeral.

This group consists of Taylor, Fred, the salesman, and the owner/dealer who was our host.  Notice his shoulder bag.  It must have been filled with cash as their bills are small denominations and it takes a lot of them to buy anything.  China is very much a cash society from what we can see.  I am standing in front of a booth selling lots of kinds of bread.

Once again, Tanner was popular with the young ladies.  Various times they would stand by him and take photos.  This time they asked permission.

Tanner is standing near another stand selling a type of bread.

This is typical of the crowds we saw all evening.  This was on a Thursday night between 8-9 p.m.

These men are preparing to pound that taffy like candy.  They pound it flat with those big mallets.  Then they break it in pieces I think.

Here is the drum tower as we are approaching it to leave the area.

After our visit to the Muslim Quarter, the dealer drove us to another area of the city to see the famous Giant Wild Goose Pagoda.  This building is over 1300 years old.  It is the tallest pagoda in China.  It is surrounded by a wall and then plazas all the way around it.  There is a mall nearby and lots of shops and statues on the other side.  One side has the largest night water show in the world.  It is run every night a 8 p.m.  We missed it but saw the site and it is huge so I am sure the show is amazing.

The plazas around the pagoda had several different areas where people were dancing.  One corner had about 20 couples dancing ballroom style.  Another area had young people doing line dances.  Another area only had a few couples dancing latin dances.  All of the dancers were very good and knew just what they were doing.

These next three photos are various views from our hotel windows.

This photo is a bit misty but if you look in the distance, you can see the ancient city wall and the guard towers.

The next morning, we had a marvelous breakfast buffet which featured all kinds of stations and included what we would consider traditional breakfast items and well as Chinese foods, fruits, pastries, eggs, potatoes, oatmeal, rice porridge, waffles, fried rice, and on and on.

Tanner especially enjoyed the waffles.  I think he was happy to eat food he recognized.  I was busy sampling all kinds of things--some tasted better than others.

Our guide met us by 8 a.m.  Taylor had arranged for a guide and a driver to take us the 1 1/2 hours to the Terracotta Warrior museum.  It must have been rush hour as once again the traffic was horrific.
My pictures from the windows of the car weren't very good so most of them didn't make the cut.

Our guide,  was a native of Xi'an, had gone to school to learn English so she could do this job.  She was very proud of her city and her heritage.  As soon as we arrived at the museum, she took us to a little tourist building and introduced us to a gentlemen who came often to sign souvenir books for the tourists.  She said that he was one of the three original farmers who first found the pottery fragments and bronze weapons in 1974 when they were drilling wells for water.  The site proved to be one of the biggest burial pits of China's first feudal Emperor-Qin Shi Huang.

He looks like the photos they have posted around the place including one with Pres. Bill Clinton when he visited the site.  We are somewhat skeptical about the authenticity of this farmer, but we bought the book and he signed it.  They also tried to sell us a replica of a warrior made from the same and used to build the original warriors.  They say it is very special and very strong.  Tanner stands on it at their request to prove its strength.  They were disappointed when we did not buy one, but Taylor's dealer had already bought one for us.  It is not made from the special sand, however, and we are okay with that.

The government has built huge buildings around the three pits that are available for the public to see. They have found over 180 pits and used laser to determine that there are many more warriors, chariots, and horses.  It took 720,000 people over 32 years to construct these life-size warriors and each is individually unique.  These warriors are supposedly guarding the tomb of the Emperor Qin which is in a hill several miles away.

They are still in the process of excavating and restoring warriors.  Many of the warriors were severely damaged by a rival of Emperor Qin.  The rivals soldiers broke into the tomb to steal the weapons each warrior carried.  While they were at it, they broke up a lot of the statues.  Now they have areas, where workers reconstruct the broker warriors.  It takes 3-6 years to rebuild a statue.

There are a few statues that were found in perfect condition that have been placed in temperature controlled, clear boxes so that they can be seen closely and still be preserved.  They are waiting to uncover many of the statues until they can figure out how to preserve them better.  Once they uncover a statue, the colorful painting on the statue disappears within a couple of hours.

Here we are at the hotel with our guide and our driver.  The driver kind of looks like the farmer's brother, don't you think?  Who knows?

There are a few pictures of us that look like we are standing amongst the statues.  These are photo ops that have a few replicas in the front and a backdrop.  You pay for the opportunity to stand there and get your picture taken.  Such a nice little fund raising idea.  We we game as it wasn't expensive.  We passed on the additional opportunities provided.

These workers are climbing back into the pit after a break.  They work very slowly with little brushes and big lights excavating in the pits.

Here is one of the hospitals were they are working to rebuild the statues.  These statues are in various stages of repair work.

Even the back of the soldiers were very detailed in their construction.  It was amazing to see.  Our guide told us that you can tell what season the statues were built by their clothing and especially by their shoes.  She also said that you can tell which warriors were officers by their "beer bellies."  The soldiers were well fed by the emperor with meat and wine to make them strong.  After years of eating the rich diet, they gained weight.  She told Steve that he could be a general.  The Chinese are very blunt and don't think such statements are offensive.  We joked that Steve is our general.
On our way back to Xi'an, we saw the hill containing the tomb of Emperor Qin.  They don't allow visitors to go inside so we were content to see it in the distance.  He is the same emperor who had the Xian City wall built and the Great Wall of China.  He united the many tribes and groups to create China.  Of course, that was mostly by conquering them so he was the Chinese equivalent of Alexander the Great.
One of the vehicles I found most interesting were these little taxis called bung bungs that were used by the city people in the less affluent sections of Xi'an.  The guide said they were bung bungs because of the way they bounced so much.  With three wheels, they don't look very stable.

We met up with Taylor's group again at the hotel about noon.  We went to a local restaurant where the dealer often eats noodles.  It was a bit shabby with worn linoleum covering the floors.  The noodles were being cooked outside just as you entered the doorway.  We were seated in a room at the back and our Chinese friend looked in there and said "That is a cat, not a rat," speaking of a cat curled around the legs of a table.  I think Tanner lost his appetite immediately.  They gave us a big bowl of noodles and vegetables with a few chunks of beef and broth.  We stirred it all up and slurped it down as we only had chopsticks to eat it with.  Slurping is very acceptable.  Our hosts had a lot of spices added to their noodles.  Ours were plain.  I liked them a lot but could only eat about half of the bowl.  The Chinese ate every drop.
After lunch we were taken to the city wall.  Most people bought a ticket, but our host talked to the men at the entrance and they just let us all walk through without purchasing a ticket.  I was impressed that the dealer could get us in for free.  We walked up 60+ stairs to the top of the wall which was as wide as many streets.  Once on the wall, you could rent a single, double or triple bike or you could pay to ride around the wall in a 10-person golf cart with a driver.  We all climbed in a golf cart.  It was then that I realized our host owned all of the concessions for renting bikes or golf carts to ride around the wall.  He also owns several bicycle shops all around the city.  Taylor says he is a very wealthy entrepreneur.  Throughout our time in Xi'an he was sending pictures of us and our activities to other dealers throughout China that he was hosting Taylor's parents from the US.  They said that they want to host us too.  I guess they want to impress Taylor.  There are advantages to being mature in China.  Older people are more revered there.  That was one time, it was good that I have wrinkles and Steve is a general.

This is one of the 4 city gates with entrances up to the wall.

As we rode around the wall, we were getting a bit nervous that we might miss our flight.  We should have been on our way to the airport.  Our host was able to get us to the airport just 30 minutes before takeoff.  We were running, but we somehow managed to get through security and on our flight on time.  Of course we were carrying our terra-cotta warrior replicas but no luggage.  We made our trip with a backpack. Our trip to Xi'an was truly memorable.  If we have another chance in our lifetime to go there, we will take advantage of that opportunity.  We saw many highlights in our short visit but there was much more to see.

Friday evening, we arrived back in Shanghai in time to have dinner at a Mexican restaurant Taylor and Jen like.  Because it is in the ex-patriot section of Pudong, it was bustling with non-Chinese residents.  The food was tasty and I think Tanner enjoyed that meal much more than lunch.  There are a few photos at the restaurant.  The next morning, we just had time to pick up the suit and slacks that were made for Tanner and Steve, purchase a couple of gifts and give final hugs to the kids.  Then we were off to the airport for our long flight home.  We left Saturday morning, and after a delay in Seattle, arrived back in SL on Saturday afternoon.  Sometimes arriving home before you left is one of the things that gets your body clocked so messed up after a trip to China.  Jet lag aside it was a fantastic trip!

This ancient Chinese wooden bicycle is displayed on the Xi'an City Wall where Taylor's dealer has his office, a small display of bicycles, a repair shop, etc. located in the various guard towers.  I thought this display was very interesting and fun and wanted to include this photo.