Xi'an

On August 16, we arrived in Xi'an - the end of the Silk Road. The main attraction in Xi'an is the Terra Cotta Soldiers which I have been looking forward to seeing. We had 3 nights here to catch up on some sleep and have one day of sight seeing. 

On the only day we went sightseeing, our first stop was the City Wall - which is the most complete city wall survived in China. The wall was built in two parts - the first part built during the old Tang Dynasty (618-907). The second part came when Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) enlarged the wall, building the walls higher to fortify the city. Today, the newer part of the city is outside the City Wall as opposed to the original city that sits inside the walls.

Starting our short walk

Looking outside the wall - torn down houses with satellites still up!

I think people are still living in these houses

Paul's checking out what's down below...no, not a fire or Steven Segal

Just trash!

Looking back towards where we walked from

Door obsession continues

We didn't walk all the way around - it would have taken too long

But we walked enough to get some good shots

Check out the wall

Here's another viewpoint

I'm surprised this isn't the China flag

Our next stop was to visit the Terra Cotta soldiers (and horses) about 35 km away east of Xi'an. In March 1974, about 1.5 km from the Qin Mausoleum, four farmers stumbled across a vault of the Terra-cotta Army. This army was created by Emperor Qin Shi Huang (the first emperor of China) and buried with him to protect him in the after life. Eventually this museum was built around the entire site. We were only allowed to visit two of the unearthed pits. There are many more that are still underground but in order to preserve the soldiers and horses from deteriorating, they leave them underground. The ones that have been unearthed are restored by a team of archaeologists. Each soldier is unique - there aren't any two that are the same.

Pit #1 at 230m long and 62m wide contains more than 6000 figures

The details of each soldier is really amazing

Closer shot

And even closer - can you see each face is different?

Here are soldiers with their horses

To the right is the location of where the farmers discovered the terra cotta soldiers

Just rows and rows of them

Despite the pit being this large, it was super crowded and hard to walk around!

This guy's got long arms

Hello

A shot from behind

You can see that some of them are missing heads

This area is where the archaeologists restore the figures

Up close and personal

Whoa, Nelly!

The location of the mausoleum and site is very feng shui because of
the surrounding mountains and such

This is the last of the four farmers who discovered the army...
he wrote a book and signs them here in the gift shop

The kneeling archer

This is a chrome plated sword created in 200 BC - the Germans invented this technology in 1937 and the Americans in 1950 - pretty amazing

All the soldiers and horses were painted too - but the color disappears from oxidation

This is the bronze chariot for the Emperor (Number 2 Chariot)

Hey, look at us - we're one of the soldiers!

Silk Road Part 3: Dunhuang

The evening of August 14 we took a night train (yes, we took another one even though we swore we wouldn't after Vietnam) to Dunhuang from Turpan. It was exactly what we expected it to be - torturous!

As part of our send off, our driver shared some of his watermelon with us - this was his third watermelon - the first 2 were no good so he returned them!

It was quite juicy and just what we needed for our night train adventure

We both got top bunks

And Mustache Kitty too

Yeah, it's pretty much more desert

After the long night on the train, we were picked up at Liuyuan Railway Station (in the pouring rain). Another 2 hour drive later, we finally arrive in Dunhuang. We checked in and rested for a bit, had lunch and then headed out for our day of sight seeing and camel riding. Our first stop was the Mogao Caves (Thousand Buddha Caves) which is home to hundreds of murals and sculptures. You're not not allowed to take photos inside but being the daredevil that I am, I snuck a couple.

Walking towards the entrance to the Mogao Caves, you pass by some stupas

Here's a zoomed in shot of some of the stupas

Entrance gate

These are the cave entrances

These are some of the ones we weren't allowed to go into

The view from the 2nd floor

We found 227 but did not find Jackié

I'm such a rebel...At the time, I remembered why I wanted a picture of this particular Buddha but now that it was a month ago, I don't remember.

I'm pretty sure this is the sitting Maitreya statue in cave #9 at about 30 meters, making it the third tallest sitting Buddha statue in China 

Our next stop was the Echoing-sand Dune to ride the camel.

Indeed we were welcome to ride the camel

Sporting orange boots to keep the sand out of our shoes and socks

Who?

Waiting for people to climb on top of them

Me and my ca-mel...strolling down the sand dunes

It was hard to ride the camel and take photos

There were a ton of people

And therefore, a ton of camels

Pretty

It was hard to walk up the sand hill

Dune

We managed to spot a matching couple!

Joe and his camel whisperer

Poor things

It was actually quite sad to see all these camels with floppy humps

Getting ready to ride back down

Love this shot

Yes, the camel does have a head

We then walked to Crescent Lake.

We were lucky we had blue skies - it was raining earlier in the day

Big sunflower

Next to the Crescent Lake is this pagoda which is a replica of the one destroyed during the Cultural Revolution

Crescent Lake

Paul is trying to camouflage himself by being Asian

Bye bye sand dunes

The highlight of Paul's evening was when we were bombarded by a bunch of Chinese students taking a summer English course who wanted to practice their English. They were so excited to meet Paul that some of the kids were literally shaking.

Student: Do you like basketball? / Paul: Yes, Yao Ming is great

The girl to Paul's left was shaking

Hugs for everyone!

It was the boy with the glasses who first asked Paul for a hug. He was also the boy who told Paul he was real pretty.

Another group photo

We walked around the night market after chatting with the students. Well, really after Paul chatted with them. Most Chinese people in China didn't believe I was American...or rather didn't understand how I could be Chinese American. The students were nice about it but most others aren't helpful if I don't speak Mandarin or even when I do (probably because my Mandarin is at the level of a 8 year old).

The usual scene of a night market

Of course, it wouldn't be complete without a guy on a scooter trying to ride through the crowd

The next morning, we checked out and headed to the Dunhuang Museum before catching our flight to Xi'an. It was quite educational.

The Han Dynasty Great Wall, 100km from Dunhuang

I was annoyed when our tour guide said, "if you have time, you should go, it's really amazing to see." I responded, "Really? It would have been nice to be included in the expensive tour we booked but considering we leave for the airport in 2 hours, I really appreciate your advice." Ok, I said that in my head but I really do hate Travel China Guide.

Messages on bamboo sticks

Zhangzhi - famous for calligraphy

Wei and Jin dynasties in the 3rd or 5th centuries (AD) had forks and knives!

Replica of Dunhuang Mogao Cave #45

High Tang Dynasty: 705-780AD

Tomb guard of the Tang Dynasty - these were put in front of coffins to scare away evil 

Paul and Cao Yijing

We had a quick lunch, walked around town a little bit more and then headed to the airport.

Dunhuang is actually quite a nice little town

At the airport, there is a smoking room...

But everyone likes to smoke at the door to share it with everyone else

Bye bye Dunhuang