Visiting the Terra Cotta Warriors of the Emperor Qin Shihuagn era.

We are in the van with Ann off to finally visit the real place where the Terra Cotta Warriors and horses are.  It was sunny and hot, we drove out toward the mountains area where it was.  Ann got the tickets, and before going into the first pit she took us to a building with a movie in the round and it told of the first Qin Dynasty and the wars they had.  It ended up telling about the farmer who was diggning a series of wells on his farm and discoverd some pottery fragments and ancient bronze weapons.  No one had ever expected that this accidental discovery would turn over a most miraculoue history of civilization, and unfold a unique and majestic spectacle before the world.  After years of drilling, excavation and research, the site was proved to be one of the biggest burial pits of China's first Emperor-Qin Shi Huang.  By 1976, three such pits had been found, nearly 8,000 terracotta armored warriors and horses were found.  When we walked into where they were it was absolutely an amazing sight.  It was different than I had expected.  I have heard of them since they were discovered , so I have always wanted to see them.



The picture above is what they picture him to be,  Qin Dynasty ruler Q Shihuangdi represent the emperor's ability to control the resources of the newly unified China.  His attempt to recreat and maintain that empire in the after life.  The mountain you see is his Mausoleum comlex.  It is quite a place from picture I seen, but we didn't have time to go there.  The soldier are part of his tomb,  it was said that after the workers worked on them and buried them, he had them killed so no one would know where they were buried.  He was ruthless Empeor.




There was mountains to the south of us and there was crowds of people, the building you see are the three different pits that they were in.   Archeologist and repairer works on discovering and restoring , keeping busy mending broken figures.  All the soldiers haven't been uncovered yet.  Beside the soldiers, they have found chariots and horses, rare birds and animals and pottery, stone armor. sords and lots of unique treasures.




As you can see large building were built around and over them to protect them. Archacologist have to peel, take pictures, an record carefully each one.  Each one is unqunie, some were in splendid colors but moisture  soil erosion of over 2,000 years, colors can still be spotted sticking to some of them. The picture above are some of the warriors reclaimed.




They had a fellow that would take your picture in among them the real warriors for a price, it doesn't look like he is doing much business.  We had taken our own at the factory we visited earlier. They had these warriers on display they represented the different Officers.   I am standing behind one of them looking up at him, can you tell which one is me?




One of the General,  and a pit of broken warriers.  They will  put them back together in time..




While there we went to a restaurant to have lunch, and we watched these cook, stretching out dough and pounding it on the counter, and magicly it turned into noodles.   The other cook was shaving the dough into a soup, it was very interesting.




Rita and I went into the restroom afterwards and was washing our hands and here these Chinese girls were washing their lunch dishes in the sinks, it was weird, see me taking the picture.




After lunch we went to some of the other pits, and then went through the curio shop.  I ask one of the sale lady there after I had bought booket about the Warriors, if the farmer was still alive that had found the Warriors in his well digging.  She said "As matter of fact, he is right over there at the desk signing the books."   I looked at the line and decided I didn't want to try as we were on our way out.   So I took the picture of him up above.   He became wealthy, he is the one smoking the cigar.



Morning of June 23 on our way to see the Terra Cotta warriors, got way layed at a factory.

The top left picture is the city of Xian as we see it out our hotel window.  The bottom left is the round about and park.  The right picture here shows part of the ancient city wall.  When Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) captured Huizhou, a hermit named Zhu Sheng admonished him that he should built high walls, store abundant food supplies and take time to be an Emperor, so that he could fortify the city and unify the other states.  After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang followed his advice and began to enlarge the wall built initially during the old Tang dynasty (618-907) creating the modern Xian City Wall.  It's the most complete city wall that has survived in China, as well being one of the largest ancient military defensive systems in the world.



I was a disappointed that we didn't get to go on top of the wall.  There was just not enough time.  The wall  stands 12- meters high.  And 12 to 14 meters across the top and 15-18 meters thick at the bottom.   I don't know how much a meter is, I should have looked it up on the Internet before I started.   But you can see it is pretty wide across, a car could drive along it.
This City Wall has corner towers, ramports, sentry towers, gate towers, battlements and number of city defensive fortification with very strong defense capability.  The inner city was once the living place of the King of Qin.  The whole city was under control by its advantage of high position as it was constructed on the high land in the northeaster area of the city.  After constant repair and protection, the Wall now offers a good combination of the city wall, city moats, forest belt and city ring routes.  All kinds of fun actives on time during holidays.  It could take you a good half day to walk around on top of it.  And now the new city is built around it.




Today was sunny and hot, so different from  from yesterday rain.  Ann and her driver took out of town towards the mountains.  But first they took us to this interesting place where they made the Terra Cotta Warriors of all sizes to sell.  Out front they had these Warriors with out head so we could stand behind them and get our picture taken.   Don't we look furious?




It was a huge place as you can see as we were walking in above. They had some school children visiting and they are letting them use the molds to make a warrior.  It looked like fun.  Then this young girl was telling Rita and I where they get their clay and how it was a special mixture and is put in molds and then fired in their big ovens.   They had workers all over working on not just warriors but many things.




We wandered on around the work shop and took pictures of each other and the warriors and other things they made there.  There was this one warrior was made out of Jade at the left up above.  Others we looked at were painted one like the ones found in the in the ground.  John looking at the dragons, I should have waited to buy one of them here.




They made beautiful inlaid porcelain table tops and beautiful vases.  Rita and Derek listen to the young girl telling the process and each step on how they do it.  You see John and I  among he Warriors




Here are pictures of the Kilns they fire the Warriors in and the coal to use as the fire to do it.  They must have another one for the huge warriors.  I finally found a  table with small 8 inch warrior and bought one, it cost me $8.  in American money.  It looked like this sale lady was asking Rita and Derek.  "Are you sure you don't want to take one of these home with you?"




There was a room clear full of rugs, and here this one young girl was in the process of weaving one  what a job.  Beautiful pictures and porcelain figures,  I loved these two little children statues.




They even had these beautiful kites in store on the way out.  Rita wanted to buy one so bad, but knew it wouldn't get home without braking.  So she brought this good luck necklace  from the box full right above.  They just had every thing there.



We Visit the Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian.

After visiting the museum Ann hurried us over to visit the 1,000 year old Wild goose Pagoda, it was still raining.  We got there just before it closed and Ann had to talk to argue with the ticket taker to let us go in because he was about to close.  So we didn't get to spend much time there.  But we had it all to our selves because of that.



The plaque up above tells you about the Pagoda, we walked up the steps a ways.  It would have been interesting to go into the room at the top, but we didn't have time.




There was a curio shop there, we peeked in, but didn't go in.  Here are some of the statures around the area.  The bulletin board was covered with heart notes.  Ann said they were written to the people of Japan after the big earthquake and Tsunami, their hearts were with them.




The Bell is pretty close to the Pagoda, the people referr to it as the "Magic Bell" read above about its history.  We wanted to hit it and hear its sound, but decided we had better not.  There was a huge park around us and if we would have had more time we would of walked around it.




After leaving the Pagoda Ann and the driver took us to another hotel for our evening meal, it was a nice place.  We see this little Buddha as we walked in.  The dinning room was very nice You can see Rita , Derek, John at the table.  More rice and some sweet soup.  I tried some of the tea they served, it tasted like hot water, not much flavor. Rita took my picture sampling the tea.  But I thought, it's not bad to have a warm drink to stimulate and prepare your digestive system for a meal, very healthy.




If you look closely you will see how they string their electricity wires, we had to laugh, because we heard that it was that way, but didn't believe it in China, more like in India.



Flew into Xian, China on Wednesday June 22, to visit its history.

This was Wednesday June 22.   Our guide Elaine was there at the hotel to pick us up promptly at 6:30 in the van with a new driver, we bid her good by, she posed with Rita and I before leaving.  We felt we were leaving a dear friend and gave her a hug, she seemed sad to see us go.  As we entered the above area to go to the waiting plane, there was this sign above the entrance "Refrain from taking digital pictures or flash, we couldn't figure out why.  After getting on the plane they announced a 45 min wait, so they immediately started serving us breakfast.  They ask if we wanted western or Chinese.  We had Western, it consisted of egg and cooked carrots and two little sausages patty's and a little dish of soy beans and some kind of pickled cabbage.   As we lifted off you can see the alot of farm land and small villages.



We landed in Xian two hours later, as the capital city of Shaanxi province, it holds a key position in the fertile plan between the highland plateau of the north and the Qinling Mountains to the south.  We were met by our new guide above named Ann, she has a daughter going to college and she misses her very much, as you know they can have only one child.  After gathering our luggage, she told us we had lunch coming to us, so she took us to dinning area there at the air port and it was kinda a buffet, we were already full from breakfast, so we didn't eat much.   She took us to the hotel to register us, it was a nice hotel.




The above picture is our view out our hotel window, the big round about below.  You couldn't believe how some cars in the middle of the roundabout would just turn right in front of other cars without signaling, but we never saw an accident.  Over to west of roundabout was an old city wall 13 ft across, it was part of the old city dynasties.  Our beds in the hotel looked nice and were comfortable.  When we got settled,  Ann took us to visit the Shaanixi History Museum.  We see some of the modern city on the way.




The Museum shows the birth place  of the ancient Chinese civilizations.  Here are some the artifacts in it.  It is also big on the Terra Cotta Warriors discovered in Xian by a farmer who was digging a well.  So you see alot of copies of  the warriors in the museum.




Above tells a little of the history of people and the area, I think it is readable.




Here is the Terra Cotta Warriors area, more about them later.  Rita with Ann.  She had a little problem with her English translation, she would squint up her face some times to get the words out.



Free Day hanging out in Shopping center in down town Shanghai

The picture on the right above is the entrance to our room. This was a relaxing morning, we had a day to do what we wanted.  Derek had a client he had to go meet with, so we just slept until we woke up.  We didn't go to breakfast until about 9:30.  You see the nice breakfast area in the photo above.  John got on the computer when we came back.  Rita and I washed some clothes in our room was a little washing machine.  



Derek got back about 1 p.m.  Above he is looking at the map to see where we want to go.  We wanted to go back to the Yu Garden, where we were yesterday and visit the big shopping area there.  Derek got us all in a taxi and off we went.  It had been raining all morning.  As you can see from above everyone had their umbrella.  I love the lions in front of most places, so have my picture taken with them.   I also think the big red lantern are so festive.




These pots caught Rita's eye, she loves to buy one from every county she visits.  I thought this one really represented China, and so that was the one she picked.   She got home with  without it being broken.




Rita was intrigued by some embroidery pictures, she wanted to frame it when she got home.  While her and Derek were looking at those,  John went with me to find a dragon to buy.  When we got back they were looking all over for us.  Derek and John decided to go shopping on their own.   Rita looked at Kimonos  this is where she brought her little grand daughter one.  We saw these beautiful butterfly kites, and Rita wanted to buy some, but didn't think they would survive the trip home without getting all broken up.   Here is the picture of the Dragon I brought isn't he a dandy.




The beautiful fans called to us, but we didn't buy any.  Food looked good, but we had eaten a good breakfast, then we went into this jewelery store.  We couldn't resist getting this Jade necklace and ear ring set, we each got one. 




We told Derek and John we would meet them at Star Buck at a certain time. After working around and buying some magnets of Shanghai and the great Wall of China, we took a little tour again in the Yu Garden, it was peaceful and away from the crowd.  We just wanted to enjoy it again.




We were on our way to meet Derek and John and I took these pictures, here's me under the feet of a Tiger.  We sat awhile in the place where we thought we were to met them.  They never came, so we thought we would walk around another area, and here we found them waiting by another Star Buck place.  That was lucky for both of us, as they didn't move and we did.  By then it was 4 p.m. so we caught a taxi and went back to our hotel.  It seemed a lot shorter way then the taxi driver took us this morning, I think he was trying to run his fare up as much as he could, from those dumb American's, us.  We needed  to rest up and get ready for Elaine to come get us and take us to the place down town to the Shanghai Center theater.  We were going to have dinner at the hotel but they were open until 6 p.m. and we had to leave before then, so we ended up going into the lounge and found a little place selling sandwiches, so that's what we had to eat.




Elaine didn't have her driver and so we had to go in two taxi's, as she went with us to show us where this Center Theater was down town.   It was a beautiful area, she had our tickets and helped us find our seats before she left.  We were own getting back to our hotel.




We had good seats close up in this Huge Theater.  It was so funny, Derek let us all in and we took our seats, and his was on the outer row, and when he sat down he sank down real low.   He had to go find someone to report his seat was broken.  So they came and took Derek and Rita closer up to the stage on another row.  So John and I stayed where we were.  The show started at 7 p.m and lasted until 9 p.m.  They had some pretty amazing acts.  One women came on with a card in her hand, and during her act, cards just came flying out of hands, we never saw her put her hands in her pocket or any thing.  It was just amazing.  I wish I could have taken a movie of it.  But they discouraged anyone from taking pictures.




Toward the end, people were taking pictures not using their flash so I took a few.  These kids in the picture were real entertaining.  At the end all the performers came on stage, so I got that.  We enjoyed the show very much.   When we got back to the hotel, Rita went down to lobby of the hotel to use the Internet.  I was still awake when she came back up.   I slept to long this morning so wasn't sleepy.   We have to be up at 5 a.m in the morning to fly to Xian, it is a city with an incredible history.   Look forward to that adventure.



Still in Shanghai, the day isn't over yet.

Elaine took us back to the Bund which is the water front area in central Shanghai along the shore along the Huangpu river.  We see this huge Bull, don't know the story of how it got there. There were lots of people walking up and down this area.



One of the reasons we wanted to walk down this area, we wanted to get a good picture of this beautiful needle building across the river, and have our picture taken with it behind us.




We walked on down to this area  we see the bridge over the river. You see the Red Flag of China flying above.




We then went down into what they called the People's Square.  During the 1950's a race course was rebuilt as the people Park on the North side and People's Square on the South part.  Great changes took place in the early 1990's  From time to time People Square became the Political and Commercial Center in down town.  They put these big rock balls so the traffic wouldn't come into that area.  In the picture above, a fellow is up in the balcony of that hotel playing a musical interment.  Everyone was enjoying the music.




As we walked down People's Square, there was this little hop on car if you wanted to ride.   We came to this area where people were dancing in the street having a good time.  I felt like joining them,  but I decided not to, so just took their picture.




Elaine took us down this pretty little street, with lights in the trees, they were so beautiful.   She took us into this restaurant and ordered food for us.  We were hungry by that time, so we enjoyed our meal.   Elaine sat over in the cornor with the driver of the van  and had dinner with him.





The above picture was a little better picture of me without my mouth full.  Elaine came and paid for our meal and they took us to our hotel.  It had been a long day and we were glad to see that nice soft bed and get our feet up.

 

After visiting Yu Garden, we visited this Silk Factory.

After leaving the Yu Garden, we were walking down the Bund the shopping area and we see this this Silk Shop, we ask Elaine if we could go in and see it.  So we did and below is what we saw.



They had demonstrations of all the phases that silk worms go through.   Weaving the silk around them as a cocoon to develop
into a butterfly.




She is showing us the actual silk worms, they have to put the cocoons into hot water to kill them and then they attach the silk thread to a machine that pulls the silk thread from the cocoon ball.




Here you see the cocoon ball ready to be attached to the machinery.




You see here the many silk thread being put together to form a large string on a wheel.




Here are the cocoon after the larva is dead and you see several at a time being unwound. 



They have a assembly line tray where they can do a lot at the same time.



I have forgotten what they were showing John & Derek, as I was busy taking pictures.




The girls working here, were working on a comforter to sell.  We felt some of the finish products, and they would be very comfortable to sleep under, but way expensive to buy.




Elaine seems to know alot about this place and was telling us about it.




More ladies busy working.




Not only the comforters they have a selection of clothes.  We went to look at the them, I didn't dare take pictures in there.  They seemed very disappointed when we didn't buy anything.