Tuesday, the old wall and the terracotta warriors

We were excited about today because we were to be seeing the terracotta warriors… and we weren’t disappointed. First we went to the old city walls and started at the North wall. There are over 13 km of wall surrounding the old city but we only walked one quarter of that distance. Lots of people were hirig bikes (either single or tandem) nd that would have been good also because there is lots of space and notmany people … you just have to be careful on the corrigations in the paved walkway. There are gardens which surround the old city walls and many Chinese people were exercising, playing gamesordoing tai chi (this is usual practice for people to use the gardens in this way).

gardens looking from the old wall, Xian

Buddhist temple, looking from the old walls

street view from the old wall

us on the old wall

After the wall, we went to a Chinesetea house for tea tasting … we had jasmine tea, dragon well tea and an xi tie guan yin tea. All were good and then we had our guides favourite meal – noodles with chilli and vegetables using very wide noodles.

having tea with our tea host

After lunch it was off to see the terracotta warriors but not before a visit to the shop to meet the farmer who discovered the terracotta fragments when making a well.So we bought the book and got a photo with him signing our book … very lucky. The terracotta warriors were fascinating and also was the ongoing process of gently uncovering more of the warriors. The faces are all different on the warriors and our guide explained how different features like the hairstyle differentiated between warriors. The Emporer Qin was young when he began his leadership and construction of his mausoleum began when he was only 14 and lasted for36years. He was known for the unification of China. The terracotta warriors are only part of his tomb complex but there are thousands of them about 5 metres underground. They wre coloured but apparently exposure to air has caused the colours to fade. It is a fascinating place to visit.