10/16 Street food, baths, and Terracotta warriors

October 16th

We finally had a chance to sleep in! We met in lobby around 8:30 and headed to find breakfast. We found a restaurant where Leon ordered my parents more eating soup. My mom saw a street vendor selling "egg sandwiches". Yep, I ate food from a street vendor! It was good but spicy.

There was a guy that was doing calligraphy on the ground with this giant wet paintbrush.  It was neat to watch.  The work is fleeting as once the water dries the characters are gone forever.

We then walked to bus station to catch a bus towards the Terracotta Army. Along the walk we saw people opening their businesses and some people sleeping in beds on the street (not sure what this was all about). We also noticed the telephone/ cable/ internet lines and what a rat's nest these lines were up in the polls. It was surprising they could get service!

Leon kept calling the Terracotta Warriors teriyaki warriors on the bus ride which made us laugh. We stopped at a bath where a preferred concubine of an empower liked to spend her time (??? Not really sure what this place was really about but the remains of the bath were there). We watched a movie at this place that told the story of the empower and his favorite concubine. We went into one of the buildings and moved from floor to floor to watch different parts of the movie. The movie showed how the concubine and the emperor fell in love. He presented her with some hair pins (that were huge and had to hurt her head). Next she took a bath. The emperor then had a rebellion on his hands because he was too focused on the concubine so she had to die or be killed (the movie was all in mandarin). Ten they met in heaven - he was old and she was age when she died. It was strange yet very interesting and extremely popular among the people visiting this place.

Tickets to the Bath above

We then jumped on a bus to the Terracotta (or teriyaki) Army. There was a tour guide that spoke English out front and we decided to hire her for a tour. They do not design anything on a small scale. Again this place was huge and we walked all around it. First, we went to see the bronzed horses and chariots that were found near the Qin Mausoleum.

Tickets to Terracotta Army above

Qin was a ruler who unified China about 2200 years ago. He standardized the currency and measurement systems. He ordered this Army to be built to protect his tomb. They estimate about 7-8,000 warriors were made by ~700,000 over 36 years. The pieces made of wood have all disintegrated. We saw examples of the generals, archers, and swordsman.

 

This was found when some guys were digging a well in 1974.  Here is where the well was dug. 

Guy who was digging the well.  He also signed our book from here. 

Kneeling Archer

Middle ranking officer

High ranking officer

Cavalryman with his saddled war horse

 

Standing Archer

We went to dinner at a mall food court. The Benedict Family was ready for something American - so we had Papa Johns for dinner.  It was nice to have ice in our drinks.