The Terra Cotta Warriors
was something we had been looking forward to seeing for a long time.
I'm so glad we made it happen this trip. They were really
impressive!! But seriously, the whole idea behind them is a little
wacky!! Definitely glad I don't have to worry about building myself
an army to protect me in the afterlife :)
We started the day with
another impressive breakfast buffet. We were going to need our
strength for this busy day! At this breakfast buffet we even got to
have omelets made. And Ava got milk at this buffet!! She was a
happy girl.
Our first stop on the way
to see the Soldiers was a stop at a factory to see how they make the
soldiers. We started in a courtyard area where there were soldiers,
some without heads, that you could take pics with. Us adults had a
great time with that however, they freaked Ava out!! And I mean
freaked her out. I have never seen her so scared of anything in her
life. As soon as we stepped inside to the factory, there were more
soldiers that were being worked on and Ava was done with this! So
her and I along with Micki went to find the van so that I could grab
her blanket to hopefully comfort her a little more while the rest of
the group went through the tour. Ava did calm down when she realized
I wasn't going to make her go back in. She was fine in the show room
with the little soldiers but still did not like the larger ones.
The Terra Cotta Warriors
are made out of a clay that is naturally found in the mountains
around Xian. They used molds to make the statues. The statues are
hollow inside. The original molds used for the real Soldiers did not
have a face so that each face could be made differently. Once the
statues are made they are set on drying racks. Once dried they are
fired in the kiln. The lady told us that it takes about 3 days to
fire the statues and then about 3 days for the statues to cool before
they can be removed.
Next we left to go to see
the real Terra Cotta Warriors. We even got to meet the farmer who
had actually discovered the warriors when he dug a water well. It
sounds like the farmers job now is to shake a lot of hands :) There
are currently 3 separate pits of soldiers. The first one being the
biggest and the most well known. They are even still excavating both
pit 1 and 3. When the soldiers were originally found there were not
many that were still in one piece. The emperor had the workers dig
trenches and work completely underground. He didn't want anyone to
know what he was up to. The workers then covered these trenches with
wood beams and a fiber mat. However, many of those beams collapsed,
breaking the soldiers. So that leads to the very tedious job of
excavating the pieces and then trying to put the soldiers back
together like a jigsaw puzzle. Then they try to put the soldiers
back in the place where they were found. Not a job that I would
want.
I thought it was very
interesting that when the soldiers were first found they were all
painted very intricately. I had no idea, I just thought they were
all the green/black color that you see now. It sounds like once the
coloring hits oxygen the colors don't last very long.
For lunch we ate at a
restaurant near the soldiers. Again delicious. We also were given
the chance to sample several different teas. Last trip we came home
with jasmine tea but we went through it quickly. This trip we knew
that we wanted to purchase more tea. We bought Oolong Tea here and
will most likely buy more before we leave China.
By the time we were done
with lunch it was already 4pm. At that time we headed into the city
to see the City Wall. The Wall was built in 1371 and renovated in
1984. This is the wall that surrounded the original city and now
contains the old city. The wall is very wide on top. Many people
were on top walking or riding bikes. Micki said that the wall is
about 8-9 miles all the way around. The original wall contained 97
watch towers and 4 entrance gates (one from each direction). The
entire wall was surrounded by a moat. This was really a cool site.
It's hard to believe and understand the history in China. I mean in
1371, the United States hadn't even been discovered yet!
Our evening was pretty low
key. We were tired! We did head out to get some Kentucky Fried
Chicken. Not the same as in the states but still good. Ava was
falling asleep before she finished her food. We had to keep waking
her up to get her to finish eating first. Of course on the walk back
to the hotel she crashed. It's amazing how children can crash so
hard, so quickly, and in the strangest positions.
Once we got Ava settled,
us adults decided it was time for a glass of wine to unwind. We took
care of that and were still all in bed by 9:30pm! Time to rest up
for another busy day. Tomorrow we head to Wuhan...where Ella is
from. We are so close to finally getting our girl in our arms!!
Excitement is not enough of a word to describe the feeling!
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