Saturday, November 18, 2006
16 November, 2006
We got the local bus at the station to the Army of the Terracotta Warriors. It took about one hour to get there and then we struggled finding the entrance. We eventually walked through an enormous empty complex that will probably one day be full of shops and offices and reached the gate. There are 3 pits to see, a movie and the exhibition hall. We were not advised beforehand, but I would presume that one should see pit 1 last because it is the most spectacular. We were not surprised that it is considered the 8th wonder of the world. It really is impressive and one cannot quite believe that 2000 years ago one man could get 720 000 workers to construct thousands of life-size terracotta soldiers and their horses in battle formation underneath the earth. Qin Shi Huang, the Emperor who reigned for 37 years also started the construction of the Great Wall as a defense and he united the country and standardized the currency. His rule lasted until his death in 210 BC. His Tomb must have been the grandest Mausoleum in the world? We left after seeing the 360 degree movie footage about the Emperor and the history behind the construction of the warriors. We decided to skip the tomb because apparently all that is left is a little mound. We headed to Huaqing Pool which is where the Emperor and his concubines used to bathe in the Hot Springs. The area around was once again very pretty and green and there was a nine dragon lake decorated with pretty flowers and features. They are still doing research about these natural pools and apparently this is the only site in China for archaeological findings about these hot springs. We arrived back at our budget hotel ready for our final train to Beijing. We managed to eat some food, finally and we left for the train. There was one other fellow in our cabin but he couldn’t speak a word of English and our Chinese is not very good. We were in the ‘soft sleeper’ which is the ‘snooty’ section. We tried to sleep but it was a bit difficult. The train was very comfortable and clean and I prefer trains any day to airplanes.
We got the local bus at the station to the Army of the Terracotta Warriors. It took about one hour to get there and then we struggled finding the entrance. We eventually walked through an enormous empty complex that will probably one day be full of shops and offices and reached the gate. There are 3 pits to see, a movie and the exhibition hall. We were not advised beforehand, but I would presume that one should see pit 1 last because it is the most spectacular. We were not surprised that it is considered the 8th wonder of the world. It really is impressive and one cannot quite believe that 2000 years ago one man could get 720 000 workers to construct thousands of life-size terracotta soldiers and their horses in battle formation underneath the earth. Qin Shi Huang, the Emperor who reigned for 37 years also started the construction of the Great Wall as a defense and he united the country and standardized the currency. His rule lasted until his death in 210 BC. His Tomb must have been the grandest Mausoleum in the world? We left after seeing the 360 degree movie footage about the Emperor and the history behind the construction of the warriors. We decided to skip the tomb because apparently all that is left is a little mound. We headed to Huaqing Pool which is where the Emperor and his concubines used to bathe in the Hot Springs. The area around was once again very pretty and green and there was a nine dragon lake decorated with pretty flowers and features. They are still doing research about these natural pools and apparently this is the only site in China for archaeological findings about these hot springs. We arrived back at our budget hotel ready for our final train to Beijing. We managed to eat some food, finally and we left for the train. There was one other fellow in our cabin but he couldn’t speak a word of English and our Chinese is not very good. We were in the ‘soft sleeper’ which is the ‘snooty’ section. We tried to sleep but it was a bit difficult. The train was very comfortable and clean and I prefer trains any day to airplanes.
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 3:49 AM 
