On our way to the Terracotta Warriors we stopped by Huaqing Hot Springs - a beautiful ancient park with natural hot springs and it was once the favoured retreat of emperors and concubines during the Tang dynasty. It was the place where Chiang Kaishek was bathing and then taken over by his own men because they were upset that he was more focused on fighting communists than the Japanese. This became known as the "ChaingKaishek incident" where his men betrayed him. It is a typical chinese "park" with lots of greenery, pools, cool architechture and it has a serene and happy feeling. It had tons of lotus flowers and lilly pads in the pools and of course fish!! We got a lot of random and cool pictures here.
Good morning Grace!! Her hair is wild after a good nights sleep.
Terracotta Warriors. Pit 1 which has over 6,000 warriors and horses. Each warrior and horse is different with different facial expressions, clothing, tread on the bottom of shoes, etc... the details are amazing. Literally the whole army had an exact duplicate made and this was starting in about 200 bc. The emperor who did this was the first person to unify China and he picked from the biggest, strongest and smartest warriors to make up his army that is why the warriors are taller and bigger than an average chinese person would be. It is considered the 8th wonder of the world!!! It is mind boggling to think that this emperor who became emperor at age 13 and was so consumed with either protecting himself in the afterlife or leaving a noticeable legacy. This guy was amazing and he accomplished more in his 36 years of rule than most did for a much longer time. He was such a control freak and took criticicm so badly that he buried 460 disapproving scholars alive. He conquered 6 major kingdoms (in China) before the age of 40, standardized measurements, currency, writing, built roads, canals, etc...but enslaved thousands and was not so nice - but he left a serious legacy!
Ellie and James eating cow tongue. They thought they would eat this over the pigs feet (on a stick) we kept seeing!
Pigs feet. The crispier versions looked a lot more appetizing than the underdone ones :)
Motorcycle taxi? I am not sure what to call it, but there are all sorts of creative ways to get around in China. They are lots of fun - anything goes here!
Here are Ellie and James on top of the old city wall of Xi'an. We rode bikes around the top of the wall and it was a blast!! We could look out and see all the rooftops with the gray shingles in typical chinese fashion. The wall is over 1,000 years old and very cool.
At night with the city wall in the background and the nightlife coming into action!
More Xi'an to come...
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