Terracotta Warriors, Gift Shops, and Good Company

The most wonderful thing about going to Xi’an—besides just being grateful for making it out of Hohhot in the midst of what was to turn out to be a record-breaking, traffic-stopping, traveler-stranding, killer snowstorm—was the opportunity to be in the center of ancient Chinese history. It was in this area that the emperor Qin Shi Huang lived and ruled over China (the name of which comes from Qin). It is here that he conscripted thousands of artisans to build the enormous army of terracotta warriors which guards over his tomb. Xi’an was also the terminus of the Silk Road and as such it was a place of centuries-long cultural intermingling. Even today, Xi’an bustles with its large Muslim community, descendants of the cultural and physical exchanges of the past. At the same time Xi’an is clearly a modern city, making our “little” city of Hohhot seem quaint in comparison. We were absolutely thrilled, in other words, to be in Xi’an.

Food vendors in the Muslim quarter, gift shops in the background

Another food vendor in the Muslim quarter

With this great enthusiasm filling us to bursting, we naively signed on for a tour of the Terracotta Warriors, the Emperor’s Tomb, and the Banpo Neolithic Village. Our only other experience with a tour of this sort was in Datong—otherwise a memorably unpleasant trip—where we nevertheless enjoyed being on a tour of the Yungang Caves and the Hanging Temple. We did indeed get to see all three sites (photos will follow) although except for the warriors we wouldn’t have expressed any final regrets on our deathbeds about missing out on the latter two. And we hadn’t been exposed in Datong to the “tour of gift shops” which normally plagues travelers.

The best thing about the tour turned out to be meeting Robert and Ghislaine (Swedish and French), a couple of incredible world travelers in their sixties who were the only other clients. On the trip to the Banpo Neolithic Village (memorable for two things: it was a matriarchal society; the tour guide stressed the fact that because the villagers appeared to share their food storage their culture was the first example of a communist society) Ghislaine and I chatted in French about French literature and Dave and Robert chatted about everything else. It was really enjoyable and helped salvage the tour for us. For although we were very glad to see the Terracotta Warriors, the weather was bitterly cold, the Tomb is not excavated and because of snow we couldn’t even climb on top of it (it is a mound of grass-covered earth), and the Neolithic Village left us fairly cold (no pun intended). And on top of that, we visited more gift shops than we would ever want to in our entire lifetime. I am not exaggerating. We saw the gift shop at the BNV, then were taken on a tour of a government run factory that makes “authentic” terracotta warrior replicas (all sizes, can be shipped directly to your home), were barraged by peddlers at the Tomb, and then had to walk through what must be in warmer temperatures a shoppers’ paradise of mall-like gift shops—easily a half-mile of shops and peddlers. We were not impressed. I know, tour sites are also shopaholic havens, but we were cold, disappointed, cold and cold.

The park grounds around the site of the Terracotta Warriors.

Warriors and horses--the site is not completely excavated because once the statues are exposed they begin to lose their paint. They originally held wooden staffs or carried bows, and there were carriages pulled by the horses (you can see a horse over to the left and a blank spot behind it where the carriage stood).

Robert and Ghislaine

Every one of the 8,000 soldiers has a unique face--no two faces look alike, almost as though each soldier was modeled on a real person. I love the expression on this guy's face.

Freezing on the grounds of the Terracotta Warriors.

In the end, though, I will always be glad we went on the tour because we really enjoyed ourselves with Robert and Ghislaine. We met with them again the next day and took them to lunch at the same place we went with Howard and Thomas. It was terrific to hang out with them and hear about their travels. Robert has been traveling extensively since the early 60s and neither of them plan on stopping now. Prior to coming to Xi’an they had taken the Trans-Siberian Railway to Ulaanbaatur, Mongolia, then went on to Beijing and Xi’an. At the time we parted company, they were heading south (hopefully they got there—they had to fly since train travel was shut down) and then to India for a month before returning to their home in Arles, France.

Saying good-bye to Robert and Ghislaine in the square in front of the Bell Tower (and Starbucks). Grace performs an post-lunch/pre-hot chocolate dance in front.

That final night in Xi’an we headed for the airport with plenty of extra time padding us before take-off, in the event of bad roads or traffic. Our flight to Shanghai was not cancelled (miraculously) or even delayed and we had a fairly uneventful time other than the fact that we “lost” Grace’s small red carry-on for a while. When we discovered the bag was missing we were still waiting to check in. After the kids charged off looking for the would-be thief Dave reined them in and they went back to the check-out counter to see if we had left it there (when we first tried to check in). It was in fact there—we left it right in front of the counter, a sure sign of travel fatigue, and so soon into our vacation. Yipes. This red bag (contents: animal books, terracotta warriors—no, we didn’t entirely escape the peddlers, three stuffed animals, cherished trinkets) became a bit of problem for us once again, but I’ll leave that story for when we get to Shanghai, which will have to be the next post.