Bonding Time With the "Teriyaki" Warriors

The main reason most people make the trip to Xi'an is, by far, the famous Terra Cotta Warriors, which Syd has been referring to as the "Teriyaki" Warriors for days. An estimated 6000 warriors, horses, chariots, etc. were created over 2000 years ago by Qin Shi Huang to protect him in the afterlife. Fast forward to 1974 when four peasants drilling a well here in Shaanxi Province uncovered the underground vault that held thousands of terra cotta soldiers in battle formation. 

Fortunately for us, our guide Jerry is native to Xi'an and visits the Warriors about 80 times a year. He was great at getting us to the right places at the right times to really have a chance to appreciate the "eighth wonder of the world." Here is my first glimpse of "Pit 1" - the largest pit. 

 

The scale is mind-boggling, especially when you understand that each of the thousands of warriors was modeled after an individual soldier and therefore, each is distinct from all the others. 

We also learned that only about 2000 of the estimated 6000 have been excavated. Over time, various groups attempted to destroy the warriors and managed to start a fire that made the original roof collapse over them - breaking or destroying many. Since their discovery, archaeologists have been slowly working to basically put them back together. And that, when originally unearthed, they were very brightly colored but within about a week, the colors faded to the color you see in the photo. This is another reason why so many have yet to have been excavated. There is a technology available to preserve the original coloring, but it's apparently very expensive so the work has been halted until it can be done properly. 

After visiting Pit 1, since we are in China, we of course stopped for a buffet lunch. Once again, our table was covered in far more food than we could ever eat, including delicious homemade noodles, made on site. Here is the noodle master:

 

 

Here's my favorite - noodles covered in pork sauce. Yum!

After too much lunch, we went back to explore Pits 2 and 3 as well as the Terra Cotta Warrior Museum. They have done a wonderful job in creating this historical site and despite crowds, it's a great experience and well thought out. We also had a chance to see some of the soldiers up close. The detail is incredible. 

 

 After the "Teriyaki" Warriors we headed back to our hotel, which took forever because, according to Jerry, Chinese people who have just gotten their licenses like to practice on the weekends. It was at this time that I edified him regarding the term "Sunday Driver." He seemed to appreciate it.

We spent the late afternoon wandering our Xi'an neighborhood and I'll be honest, I don't mind good-natured acknowledgement of my differentness, but I'm totally over being laughed at,b which just happened on the street 20 minutes ago. C'mon Xi'an, you are a tourist destination, I expect better from you.

So...what's up next? Tomorrow morning we pile back into our magical bus for a ride to the airport, from which we will travel from Xi'an to Guilin. I am really looking forward to the countryside!