The three of us piled into a cab to take us to the Train Station. It was there that the local bus to the Warriors left from. A tour cost between 350-450 RMB, which none of us wanted to spend to be dragged to various other activities. We wanted to spend time seeing the site without being hustled to the: jade factory, trinket manufacturer, great uncle's tailor shop, etc.
So for 8 yuan, we climbed on board and headed to the the last stop. There were many Chinese tourists on the bus with us. The bus pulls out of the parking lot onto the road, and Wendy spots a hotel call "Golden Showers", which of course made the 3 of us laugh like idiots.
The day was gray and drizzling and we were hoping that the site was covered. The site is, however the walk from the last stop to the entrance is not covered. Wendy did not have an umbrella, so I gave her mine, and used my hood.
Tickets were 150 yuan. Now this is about $20, plus the $1.25 for the bus, puts us at a grand total of 158 yuan vs. $50-$65 a guided tour cost. We certainly did not feel in anyway deprived or at a loss because we did it on our own. lonely Planet suggested starting at pit #3 and working backwards to pit #1.
This is the 3 of us, Wendy is in the middle looking at Bill's phone, where I am looking at you all!
This is the view from the side of pit 3. There are rows and rows of these that have yet to be uncovered.
This poor photo shows an undocumented warrior parts. Note the back end of a horse, rear end raised in center of picture. There were walls where on one side was a horse's head, and on the other side the rest of its body yet to be uncovered.
The shot above is again, the back end of a pit where they are digging test pits to determine if there are items that need to be carefully dug out.
Pit 2 was the conservation pit. There were many headless warriors along with horses and chariots in the front of the pit, and in the back was where the magic happened. There were various stations set up where the pieces were "assembled" into a warrior and held together with some gray goo that looked like cement, but was more than likely a similar clay like material. Then there was another area where the newly remade warriors were cured and finally an area where the "new" army is given a face and the head added to the body
There were various tableaus of headless warriors arranged in semi formations. I'm not sure if they were curing, or if they are waiting to join their brethren in pit #1.
Just a side note about Chinese Grandma's. These are the most aggressive, take no prisoners, bulldozing, linebacker types I have ever encountered. Thank God there were rails, or Wendy, Bill and I would have been pushed over the edge so that these ladies could get a closer look. Now, understand that they are all under 5 feet tall, and are somewhat squat, bowlegged, and have a low center of gravity. They will not topple over! They ram you with sharpened elbow, kick at your legs and feet, push against you midsection all without regard to the fact that you may be taking a photo. Wendy lost her cool at one point and yelled at one grandma, "Just a minute and you can snap all the photos you want,. Jeez"
Ok, rant is turned off.
Here is a better example of a pit in its early stages. The relics here are just being uncovered. The pit is numbered and as this progresses, the pieces will be numbered and catalogued. Note the pit number 38.
Here we see some horses and below some more warriors with heads, and some without. Again note that there is a sign, albeit, facing away from the camera on one of the "mesas" above a headless warrior.
The rain was starting to get annoying, it would come down in buckets, then stop, then start up slowly, only to get us wet again. Everything smelled damp and moldy. And, not to mention, cold and breezy.
These are side views of the iconic pictures of the terra cotta warriors. The grandma's were too strong, as were the HUGE, or should I say, YUGE, crowds that don't move!
We hop on the bus and head back to Xi'an. We tried to get a cab back to the hotel, but no one would pick us up! I also got very confused. We were walking down streets that were labeled West, but we should have been walking down streets that were east. This go resolved after finding a mall and getting some Thai food. We were able to discover that we were just a bit off the track, not, a bit deal. We were able to snag a cab and hit the hay, ready for the adventures
So for 8 yuan, we climbed on board and headed to the the last stop. There were many Chinese tourists on the bus with us. The bus pulls out of the parking lot onto the road, and Wendy spots a hotel call "Golden Showers", which of course made the 3 of us laugh like idiots.
The day was gray and drizzling and we were hoping that the site was covered. The site is, however the walk from the last stop to the entrance is not covered. Wendy did not have an umbrella, so I gave her mine, and used my hood.
Tickets were 150 yuan. Now this is about $20, plus the $1.25 for the bus, puts us at a grand total of 158 yuan vs. $50-$65 a guided tour cost. We certainly did not feel in anyway deprived or at a loss because we did it on our own. lonely Planet suggested starting at pit #3 and working backwards to pit #1.
In many of the pits there are bits and pieces of warriors waiting to be reassembled. Note the tagging on the pieces above. Each piece is carefully catalogued with location, within a part of a pit, location within the layer from which it was dug free of, and documentation of what other parts were found with it. The idea of doing this work just gave me the shivers. I could not be that detailed oriented with so much relying on my ability to correctly describe location in 3 dimensions.
This poor photo shows an undocumented warrior parts. Note the back end of a horse, rear end raised in center of picture. There were walls where on one side was a horse's head, and on the other side the rest of its body yet to be uncovered.
Just a side note about Chinese Grandma's. These are the most aggressive, take no prisoners, bulldozing, linebacker types I have ever encountered. Thank God there were rails, or Wendy, Bill and I would have been pushed over the edge so that these ladies could get a closer look. Now, understand that they are all under 5 feet tall, and are somewhat squat, bowlegged, and have a low center of gravity. They will not topple over! They ram you with sharpened elbow, kick at your legs and feet, push against you midsection all without regard to the fact that you may be taking a photo. Wendy lost her cool at one point and yelled at one grandma, "Just a minute and you can snap all the photos you want,. Jeez"
Ok, rant is turned off.
The rain was starting to get annoying, it would come down in buckets, then stop, then start up slowly, only to get us wet again. Everything smelled damp and moldy. And, not to mention, cold and breezy.
These are side views of the iconic pictures of the terra cotta warriors. The grandma's were too strong, as were the HUGE, or should I say, YUGE, crowds that don't move!
We hop on the bus and head back to Xi'an. We tried to get a cab back to the hotel, but no one would pick us up! I also got very confused. We were walking down streets that were labeled West, but we should have been walking down streets that were east. This go resolved after finding a mall and getting some Thai food. We were able to discover that we were just a bit off the track, not, a bit deal. We were able to snag a cab and hit the hay, ready for the adventures
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