Terra Cotta Warriors

IWow. this was an incredible experience. We docked in Shanghai and went to the airport to fly to Xian. This is the city in which the warriors were found. We didn't get into Xian until the evening so we had to wait til the next day to see everything. Rich was like. Kid on Christmas Eve. 

Until two weeks ago we thought we would leave China without ever having this experience. We had no idea there was an excursion planned for Xian. We happened to hear some other people talking about it, so Rich went down to the excursion desk to inquire. We were told we might not be able to go if the excursion was too full. We were told they would let us know a soon as they could. Poor Rich. But lo and behold there was room. 

In the morning we had a few stops before the ms where the Warriors are housed. We went to another temple this one was simply beautiful. I wished we had more time to spend. 

 

Oops.  Didn't mean to pick this picture and I don't know how to erase it. Sorry. 

One of the beautiful cherry trees

The beautiful ancient pagoda

More pics of the temple grounds

A beautiful Buddah 

This is interesting, beautiful and functional. See the hole in its mouth? That is for water drainage. 

After the temple we went to a jade factory. It was utterly too expensive. 

Then we went to the museum. It was so astounding. To imagine all those soldiers were made to protect the emperor in death. Of course this guy was paranoid he had killed all his concubines who were childless and all the workers involved with the building of his tomb

This is only a fraction of what's been unearthed. 

Here are some that have recently been uncovered and are awaiting catogoriizing and restoration. 

Some that have been restored 

Check out the detail on that shoe. 

No two faces are the same. 

One of the horses. 

This warrior was in a glass case, so we could see all the details. 

A little more detail of how they were arranged. 

After the museum we headed back to the airport. It was a whirlwind trip and worth every minute. 

All in all it was a fantastic trip and Rich is over the moon. He even got to meet the farmer who discovered the tomb and for some extra money got to have his picture taken with the farmer. 

We are back on the ship in Shanghai and

We leave this afternoon for Tiajin, the jumping off point for Beijing.  So chow for now.