China Day Five

Today we got up at a somewhat reasonable hour but still a bit tired from the previous four days activities and travels.

We had a decent buffet at the hotel which included FRANCE TOAST. I think thats the Chinese version of freedom toast?

After breakfast we went to a Terra Cotta Warrior factory. This is where they create all the replicas and souvenirs (well most of them anyway). They use special clay (mud) from a certain hill in the Chinese mountains. It is said that this is the same clay the original artists use to create the originals. They mostly use molds, one for the body, one for the head and one for the hands. This keeps them consistent and by piecing the body parts together allows for holes to be left so air can escape during the heating process. The kiln was said to get over 900 degrees Fahrenheit then cooled. This allowed for the warriors to get wet but not revert back to mud. They showed us a sample they dipped in water and it dried immediately. They also showed us how durable the replicas were by hitting them with various hard objects.

These are miniatures, that had already been through the kiln.


Our guide told us about the replicas that the street vendors sell. She called them suicide warriors because the slightest bump or tumble and they break.

They also made lacquer furniture at this factory as well. I'm not the biggest fan of lacquer furniture but I now have an appreciation for why it is so expensive. Its a huge process involving lots of hand carving, hundreds of layers of lacquer and more carving and fine finishing.

Next we went to the actual warriors site. We took a small golf cart to the dig sites for 1 Chinese dollar which is about 13 cents American. Once there we went to Pit 1 which is the largest of the pits. This is the image you usually see on TV when they talk about the warriors. The pit is long and narrow almost like a football field. At the side closest to the entrance is a few hundred warriors lined up in their original positions. As you go further back the site reverts back to a true dig. The dirt piles up and you can see the ground rise where they haven't started to excavate yet.

Our guide told us that the warriors were built for the emperor as he wanted his army with him after death and in case of reincarnation. He chose not to bury his current army alive (its ok he buried the original architects and workers of the site alive nearby so they wouldn't tell anyone the site was there, thats why it remained undiscovered for so many years) because if he killed all the soldiers no one would protect his family and followers. The warriors were built much taller than the average Chinese person at the time because the emperor believed people would be taller in the future, so he didn't want them to be inadequate when he came back to life later.
In the picture above you can see all the pieces that have yet to be put together and if you click on the picture you can see how many of these warriors are missing pieces.

The soldiers were originally completely painted in full color, and separated by hard mounds of earth, that you can see still separates the lines in the pictures. A layer of wood was then placed over them, followed by a layer of fabric, compacted dirt, then more wood. After the emperor died, those that he oppressed were so angry at his rule and the amount of time and money he spent having them built, that they broke in and broke all the warriors. Which doesn't exactly jive with the fact that he killed all those who knew its location, but thats the language barrier I think. Over the years this broke down and collapsed on the warriors, filling in the space with dirt. Thats right, they have not found one completely intact warrior. All that you see here was put back together like a puzzle by the Chinese. That makes it ten times more amazing one you find that out, because there are a ton of them that look completely put back together, and you can see in some of the pictures the amount of pieces they still have to work with. I'm completely guessing but I would say each complete figure is comprised of many hundreds of pieces of clay. I think I would go crazy trying to put one back together and just draw a stick figure with a helmet and call it "artists dramatic recreation" and put it in front of a pile of clay.
This is a closeup of all the little pieces that someone must put back together to make one warrior.This guy has yet to be put back together. After all the pieces are put back in place they use special compounds to make the joints seamless.
Then we went to pit 2, which is also an active excavation site. Here they have other figures, not warriors but advisers or councilmen and horses etc. Pit 3 had more of those as well as some of the higher ranking figures.
These are about two feet tall (above) and show what the warriors would have looked like at the time of their creation in full color.
This is one of of very few warriors that have been found that still show some of the original colors. It was behind glass. If you click on the picture you can see the soles of his shoes actually have a really intricate texture. This was due to the cloth that was wrapped around the statue for its transport.
This is one of two chariots and horses that was discovered and put back together. Its a set. The first chariot carried an archer in case of attack, and the second one carried the emperor.

This was probably the most awe inspiring site I saw in China. Just amazing to see the amount of work that must have gone into this especially for being so long ago with no automated tools.

After this we went to a Hot Springs, which was actually another palace like the Summer Palace that the emperor used for relaxation. It was pretty neat and very ornate. They actually did have a small hot spring in the center that you could pay to wash your feet in. We did not do that.







Afterwards since we had so much free time before our flight back to Beijing, we decided we could get a massage. Well that was a good "idea" but not so much in reality. It took about two hours to get there because the freeway we were on was under construction and went from four lanes to two lanes. Our guide complained in Chinese that they should not charge a toll if its not going to move. I don't think I mentioned it before but there are toll stops every few miles on every major highway in China. It wasn't extremely expensive but it was consistent.

We got to the massage place around 5 I believe and our flight wasn't until 750. We got a one hour massage that included a foot massage and wash which is what we really wanted since our feet were so sore. It was about 15 American dollars each for the full hour. They then proceeded to beat, twist and pull the living daylights out of us for an hour. Well some parts were fairly comfortable but others were extremely painful. I think our masseuses were making fun of us in Chinese because our feet tickled and we winced at some points. But after we did feel much better and less sore, and actually the day after I felt a thousand times better.

We then got in the car to go to the airport and had plenty of time. It had rained while we were inside but had stopped by the time we got into the car. Well we thought we had plenty of time but apparently it rained the entire hour we were inside and Noah was just outside the city. The water was over two and in some places three feet deep! We saw people walking passed their knees in water. City workers were trying to unclog the drains and it was just flooded everywhere. But of course people were still riding around on their bikes and motorcycles.

We get to the airport at 720, which is the absolute latest we can check in. Run in and jump in line and get checked in, run through security, then run to the gate. Once we get there we see some Canadians we had seen on an earlier flight. On the screens around the airport we see a ton of other flights are being canceled. I asked the Canadians if they had heard if our flight was canceled or delayed. They said they had been at this airport all day yesterday and all day today trying to get to Beijing, and all flights to Beijing have been canceled the last two days. I then spoke to a guy from Texas who said he has been at the airport for about five hours because his flight was canceled and another guy had been waiting nine hours to get to Beijing. So we just sat there and waited and waited and waited. At about 845 or 9 we were finally allowed to board, so we thought we were Ok. We take off about a half hour later and we are on our way to Beijing......

Christine is reading her book and I am watching the in flight status map on the TV screen. I turned to Christine and pointed at the map. I said, not to be negative but we have been flying backwards toward Xi'An for the past half hour. I was about to ask a stewardess if we got on the wrong flight when the pilot got on the PA and said something in Chinese. Now the announcements on these flight are always Chinese immediately followed by English. Well after this particular Chinese announcement every Chinese person let out a collective groan that lasted what seemed like forever so we were unable to hear the English announcement. I had to ask a stewardess who did not seem pleased to talk to us, who told us our flight was canceled due to weather in Beijing, and we are heading back to Xi'An. Why we couldn't stop at any of the four airports that are in between Xi'An and Beijing so we are at least closer if we have to take a train or something I don't know. But hey how many flights are canceled mid air!

We get back to Xi'An at about 1030 or 11. We taxi back to the gate but aren't allowed to leave the plane. After about an hour we are told we are being refueled and are going to try again! We decided we should call our guide in Beijing because he would be waiting for us at the airport. Christine had to borrow a cell phone from the guy behind us and called James. She told James that the flight was canceled but we are going to be trying again and won't be in Beijing till after 130AM. She tells him we can take a cab and we will just meet him at the hotel in the morning. I think there was a language barrier or bad connection because I heard Christine repeat this several times. Finally we had to hang up to take off so she told him again we will just meet him at the hotel in the morning.

We finally take off and actually get a second meal (we got one on the first attempt) which was identical to the first meal, both bad.

We land in Beijing at about 145AM and walk out to look for a cab. Who is standing there smiling and waving at us? Why its James of course! He said he felt bad about leaving us to a taxi and thought that the driver would probably take advantage of us and charge us too much, if he even knew where to go to begin with. So James and our driver took us to our hotel and left us till tomorrow, when we fly home.

End of Day Five
And Yes I did tip James and the driver very well!!