Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Warriors, Geese, and Dumplings, Oh My

Today we visited the so-called Eighth Wonder of the World that is the Terra Cotta Army of warriors. It seems as if there are at least a half a dozen places in the world with the same title, but this is China's iteration. The army was built to guard the first emperor of unified China's tomb in the afterlife. The sight of 6,000 or so clay soldiers, ranging from 5'8" to 6'5", in the largest of the three pits is truly a wonder to behold. If only you could behold it as well via a posted picture. Alas, Laura's husband has offered to come to our rescue and post some pictures for us. We'll get it all straightened out in a day or so. Take that, Chinese censors!


Before we ventured out to the Terra Cotta museum, we made a stop at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which should not be confused with the Little Wild Goose Pagoda located across town. Shame on you if you mistake the two! What were you thinking? 
For dinner we had a dimpling banquet of something like 18 different kinds of dumplings. Fear not, those of you who think we're not eating. The waitresses at dinner would yell at us until each of the baskets was finished when they tried to give us the next round. They would explain what was in each kind of dumpling when they set them down. We were usually able to understand them, but it was with some trepidation that we ate "spoiled dumplings" (boiled) and "baby Smurf dumplings" (?). Dinner concluded with a show that transported us back to the Tang Dynasty period with music, dancing, costumes, and a guy who could make trumpet sounds with his mouth. Oh, to have lived in the Middle Ages... 
After such a full day, most of us were exhausted upon our return to the hotel. Tomorrow we're spending our last day in Xi'an, and then it's off to Chengdu on Thursday.

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