Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

We headed out on our own yesterday opting out of the many tours to see what we came to Xian to see – The Terracotta Warriors. The clay army was built around 200 BC at the request of the first emperor of China Qin Shi Huang. The massive army was built to protect his almost just as large mausoleum or so the historians speculate as there is no record of the construction. They were only discovered in 1974 by accident by a group of farmers digging a new well.

I have to admit that the warriors when viewed up close are quite intimidating or at least creepy. They are life-size with each warrior having unique facial features. Some say it was modeled after his actual army. There’s something about the eyes that seem to see right through you that is a little unsettling. It’s easy to imagine that this clay army may well have succeeded in warding off any potential looters when you consider that they were all armed when originally set up. All of the blades were still sharp when they were discovered.

In the first viewing area there is a section where the excavators and workers are piecing the warriors back together. Not a single one escaped damage after being buried for so long. Each soldier is in an average of 10 pieces when found. It looks like painstaking work putting each puzzle piece in place.

After returning from the Terracotta Warriors we decided to take advantage of what will be our only afternoon in Xian and toured around the city. There’s really not that much to do that interests us anyway so we ended up just wandering around. We had some dinner in the Muslim Quarter and walked through one of the many green spaces in the city. Xian is one of the cleaner Chinese cities we’ve come across so it was nice to just stroll the streets.

Tomorrow we’re heading out of the city again. This time to see Famen temple for our last full day in Xian.