Xi'an Pictures (tour day) part 3 of 3

TOUR OF XI'AN.
we left at 9am and got back at around 7pm. Our tour guide was hillarious, though a little inappropriate at times but he was enjoyable. He started out with my name is bruce.... lee. lol. So we seriously called him bruce lee the whole time. He would tell jokes that werent that funny but the way he said them and how he cracked himself up was funny. The first place we went he made this noise like "loolooloolooloo" to get our attention and to get us to follow him. At first he said it was probably what the ban po people sounded like? lol. and at first we were just like... uh.. what? but throughout the tour it was actually smart because we always knew where he was because the sound was so weird we could hear it over all the other noise. Our tour group was cool too. There was a mom travelling with her two daughters, one high school age and the other a university student who studies in hong kong. They were french canadian, so the mom didnt speak english at all but the daughters could speak it better. The university girl, who was named evelyn was really cool. Then there was a couple from europe, a couple girls from spain, some guy from we dont know where, and then after the terra cotta soldiers we split off and joined another group which was a guy from japan and then a guy from england traveling with his girl friend from switzerland (they were really cool). So overall, probably one of the best days in china. :)

1st stop: Ban Po Museum
This museum was a sit that showed the habitation of early man. they say it dates back to the Neolithic period, so its pretty much 6,000 years old. It was really neat because of how old it was and how preserved everything was and they were talking about the significance of different things, like how the bodies they found were buried and water vessels they found and whatnot. The pictures arent that exciting and it def wasn't the highlight but it was still pretty neat to go and see.

2nd stop: Xi'an Ceramic Art and Laquer Factory
This place was pretty neat. It's the only place that can make replicas of the terra cott soldiers (either they're the only ones who can do it right, or they may just be the only people that have permission to do it). We first went in and watched a lady making some mini replicas. There were tons of replicas everywhere. they pretty much filled the room. So our tour lady for that place told us how to distinguish the different types of soldiers and their importance and whatnot. It was really neat. Then the rest of the factory was other artists working, there were people that made porceline sculptures, furniture, rugs and whatnot.

3rd stop: Emperor Qishihuang (chee-shir-hwan) Mausoleum
Creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepiest place ever. Seriously. Okay so this Emperor Qishihuang was one messed up guy, like for reals. He's the one that had all of the terra cotta warriors made to protect his grave and to help him into the afterlife and whatnot. So along with the thousands of slaves that died in the process of that, he also had the surviving soldiers buried alive with him, and his barren concubines were also buried alive with him. And turns out he's the emperor that originally started the great wall (a few other people continued it, he just started it). So yea this place was like a replica of his tomb? but they had like life size wax figures of the concubines and a lifesize replica of his dead body in the casket. You walk down a bunch of steps, because its like you're going down under the ground, like you're being buried. and its all dark so everythings little up. And first you see a miniature of his kingdom and the city wall and the layout then you walk into the tomb. And its this huge room where you look down onto the tomb and then surrounding you is a bunch of medium and small sized wax figurines and buildings. It was like some messed up creepy its a small world from... yea.. so it was just creepy.

4th stop: TERRA COTTA SOLDIERS
yes. its as amazing as everybody says it is and even more so. I never thought i'd be that excited to see the terra cotta soldiers but once our trip was set and we knew we were going to, it set in. Seeing the terra cotta soldiers was probably one of the most awesomest things i've ever done. It was just ridiculously amazing. The place is divided into 3 pits. The first one is what you see pictures from all the time. Its the room with hundreds and hundreds of them all lined up. In the back in a bunch that still have pieces missing. Pit 2 is still being excavated but it has all the different types of soldiers on display in glass cases so you can see them up close. And pit 3 is what they think was the command center, but alot of it has been destroyed. Oh really cool thing. We actually got to see the man who discovered them. He found a head in his well one day and thats how it got discovered. But he was at a shop signing books. It was sad because he was like 80-ish years old and just there signing books. But it was way neat that we actually got to see him. But they were way strict about taking pictures. but yea, enjoy :)

5th stop: Huaqing Hot Springs
Huaqing Hot Spring is famed for both its dainty spring scenery and the romantic love story of Emperor Xianzon and his concubine Yang Guifei in the Tang Dynasty. This place was a just a pretty place that we walked through. There was the place where Chang kai-shek stayed as part of the Xi'an incident. It was a pretty big deal but i think its one of those things that you cant get the real story inside china. So yea you can look that up and read about it on your own. But the rest were pools, and baths and fountains where Emperor Xianzon bathed and what not. The love story was really like he stole his son's wife to make as his concubine but it was all romanticized. It was just a really pretty place and we paid .5 yuan to go use the fountain. You can wash your hair or face but we just rinsed our hands in it. It was so warm, or hot.... since it was a hot springs...

Rest of the day Saturday
So the tour van headed back and dropped us back at the hostel. We just hung out for a little bit then Chantelle and I wanted to head back to Muslim Street and lisa said she wanted to go with us and adam from australia tagged along. It was so much fun. Adam is a really really cool guy. we just went down bargaining alley again got some muslim food and just hung out. At the end we went through a tunnel to get home and there was a bunch of people there that drew faces, not like goofy caricatures , but like real pictures. and we thought it'd be a fun experience. We're pretty sure we got a really crappy guy because lisa got eyes that were in two different directions, adam looked like a pretty 12 year old boy, i looked like a boy and chantelle looked like a sad old lady. it was bad but we didnt care if it looked good. we were going to try to make copies of it but we forgot before we left so adam has it and i have a picture sort of of it. And on the way back home there was a group of like 19 year old chinese boys who asked to take a picture with them (it happens all the time with like couples, and families, and boys and whatnot) so we humored them and took a picture with them and then headed home. :)

over all, pretty darn good day.