Along with the eye for detail. They have even managed to add in pottery styled wrinkles, raised eyebrows and smirks. EAch warrior is the individual face of a guy who made the warriors. T wo guys would create each other's likeness in the moulds. They did this because they all knew they were going to be put to death in some cruel and torturous way so this was their immortality ticket. The guys bodies were dumped in graves and their pottery look alikes are being preserved and recreated in front of our eyes.
Jaja , our guide picked me up at 9am. it took an hour and a half to get there and she chatted about the history. She was really interesting.
There are thee different pits and we started with number two. The first ( and as yet, the only intact warrior to be found )was there. A farmer found it in 1974 when digging a new well. This warrior was an archer and he was amazing, right down to the details on the bottom of his shoes. Locals think he is magic! .
We then went to pit 3, which was a bit dull. A few horses and rubble and then the joy of pit number 1 with the warriors all inline. It was packed but was still amazing to see them all there. And also understanding that they have only just scratched the surface when it comes to what is yet to be unearthed. AMAZING!
Right , I'm with the Wisconsin dairy farmers now. They have just come to my table and I'm gonna chat to them. then I'm off for duck wings. I'll be back later.
later...due to too much socialising I haven't been able to blog so much. never met up with Maria until later. She was out climbing mountains until past sunset.
Highlights today were definitely the warriors, but to be honest I have learnt more about them via BBC and channel 4 documentaries. But great to see them in the flesh.
Also I got on the metro this evening to go to the Light and water display at the Big Goose pagoda. It was fun catching the metro. It was so swish, with double security doors like the new stations in London. But it was very very busy. I almost couldn't get off at the stop I needed. I had to elbow my way through and buying tickets took over 15 minutes of queuing. Tonight is the first time I have realised how crammed and jammed Chinese cities are. I think it is because it is a Saturday evening.
The light show was good, especially the red lit up trees. But the best bit was the Xi'an noodles. A speciality. like flat sheets of lasagne. Infact the whole dish tasted like a weirdly presented, more spicy lasagne. Yummy. My nephew fin would have loved it. Infact I think I was pulling the same kind of 'I love this food' kind of face as him, when I was eating it.
The walk to the pagoda took me past the Shaanxi province museum and I am going there tomorrow. I need to leave here at 7.30am to guarantee myself a ticket because they only give out 4000 a day. Which isn't many, surprisingly! At least I know the journey now and can decipher stop names and entrances and exits to the metro system. I worked it all out this evening. It's not too bad, just like playing a weird game of snap and match that symbol.
this evening I have been playing cards with the Chinese, the Americans and a Canadian Chinese guy. he is off mountain climbing tomorrow. he was showing me the planks on the cliff edge he will be attempting to walk along. made me feel sick just looking at them! Check out some images of the mountain by googling...Mount Hua shaanxi province!
I think I am going to walk a bit of the city walls tomorrow too and go and find out the ancient mosque. must sleep. I'm knackered and I can't focus on the screen anymore and I have to be up at 6.30. Night
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