Xi'An Weekend - Part 2

Xi'An Day 2 began with a hour and a half drive to the Terracotta Warriors!

We arrived, purchased tickets, and headed into the main exhibition hall.

 

 

 

The warriors are from 2200 years ago!  They were discovered on March 29, 1974 by three farmers looking for water while digging a well.  Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty had the tomb built (biggest and most elaborate of the time) to ensure protection in the afterlife.  The actual tomb of the emperor in encased with mercury and has remained untouched.  Inside, there is believed to be 3000 concubines and many farmers who were buried alive so their souls would remained owned by the emperor and so the tomb's location remained a secret.

I was fascinated by how the warriors were restored.  Prior to the 1974 discovery, the tomb had been raided several times.  This left to the destruction of the warriors.  Every evening after the closing of the exhibit, the warriors are painstakingly put back together.

Some areas have yet to become unearthed.

Pit No.2 is famous for the 'kneeing archers'.  It too is still being excavated and contains an exhibit  fully restored warriors and weaponry.

Cindy our guide!

Pit No.3 is known as the 'command center' for the people in the other pits - generals, commanders, etc. were found in this pit.  It also contained two miniature chariots found and restored thought to carry the emperor's soul into the afterlife.

Part 3:  Xi'An Bell and Drum Tower, funny city signage!

Xi'An Weekend - Part 1

   We flew to Xi'An, China to for a weekend trip and to see the Terracotta Warriors!

   About a 2 hour flight from Shanghai....

   Our guide, Cindy, met us at the airport and we headed to our first stop the Yang Ling Tomb before 

   checking into the hotel.  The tomb is over 2,000 years old and has only been open to the public for

   2.5 years.

    But before entering the tomb, we had to put on shoe booties to protect the space; apparently  

    emperor's prefer clean tombs....and wearing flip-flops requires some ingenuity!

 

    We left the tomb, checked in at the hotel, then visited the ancient city wall which was over 600 

    years old!  The tandem bike ride on top of the wall was the highlight of the day; took about 45

    minutes and was such an experience!

  

 

   After our bike ride, our last stops of the day included the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda and Muslim 

   'Food' Street!

Part 2:  Terracotta Warriors!

Travel = Baozi!

Whenever possible when traveling, we always try to take the Maglev to and from the airport.  It's super fast, relatively cheap, and you don't have to worry about a taxi driver falling asleep or taking all the 'back roads' to get more money!

We also like going this way because we can get some yummy jubao (pork bun) or caibao (vegetable bun)!!!  While I'm not one to eat street food here in China or really any food that could be suspect, we both love the steamed buns at Family Mart!!!  These little buns are 2rmb each ($0.32!!!) and they are delicious!  Family Marts are like 7-11s back home (minus the slurpies...) and very common.

We each buy 2 then head to the train and eat on the way to the airport!

Next stop.....Xi'An!

Laoshi Brandon!

Laoshi in Chinese means 'teacher or coach'.  That's right!  You are looking at Coach Brandon!

 

B has been working as a swim coach for Sports World China for the past 5 months!

He teaches in the afternoons during the school year.  during the summer, he's been running summer camps for the company coaching several different sports, games, and teaching swimming too.

He primarily teaches expat children but during the summer there has been some Chinese kids too.

It's really helped his Chinese skills while trying to talk to the kids!

He's had some pretty funny moments too:

*While in training for the job, he had a kid struggling in the pool.  The kid climbed up on the side to take a rest.  While B was in the pool talking to him, the kid lifted up his foot right in B's face and said, "I have a prosthetic!"  The kid's nub was in B's face!  B told him that was cool and the kid went back to swimming...

*Kids names:  TT, Bingo, HaoKai (means 'good use' in Chinese...hmmm...)

*He deals with the 'whiners' and 'screamers' too! 

It's been great for him to have a schedule during the week since I work such long hours - and not to mention some extra spending money ;)

Team Summer Party

The project manager on our team treated us to a team party on the Bund at Shanghai Rose Cafe.

It was a great night of team building celebrating accomplishments and looking forward for what is yet to come!

Chicken Wings

I met B after work at the Kerry Hotel for a beer and dinner.  We ordered nachos and chicken wings.  The nachos were so HUGE and well, the chicken wings....were LOCAL!  Not what we were expecting to see when they arrived at our table!

There was so much food, we took the wings home for lunch the next day....and cut the wings up to look 'normal'....