As I noted in yesterday's posting, I arrived at the train station shortly after 5am and immediately got some breakfast at the McDonald's across the street. What I forgot to mention is that before I caught the hour-long bus ride to the Terracotta Army, I visited a nearby “internet cafe” listed in Lonely Planet. It was another unusual experience to walk into the dimly lit cafe and find around three dozen computers with larger flat screen where most all of them were occupied by persons either using the provided headset to make a call or playing shoot-em-up games. This was 5am in the morning and the place was busy. I purchased an hour from the attendant after noting they didn't offer wireless for my computer and I checked in online. Thereafter I caught the bus.
I arrived at the Terracotta site about the time it opened which gave me the opportunity to visit the site with very few other people. The site is definitely set up to handle crowds but I felt unrushed. I was able to get some other visitors to take my picture a few times – including one that cost me 10 Yuan (a little over $1 USD) in amongst fake soldiers – just for the photo-op! I've posted the photos here.
A fascinating place to be sure as I contemplated whether in it's day (220 BC) it was created as a public works project or a misguided, extraordinary ego by China's First Emperor. It's easier to understand an the Emperor's acquisition of concubines and luxury places to reside while living – it's impossible for me to understand an elaborate burial site with 8000 full size soldier replicas placed in battle-ready positions.
Upon exiting the museum/grounds, I was approached by a local “guide” who was engaging and fun to converse with – so I was happy to give him 50 Yuan (about $7.50 USD) to give me a guided tour of the nearby Tomb of the Emperor. The tourist site itself wouldn't have been worth a stop if I hadn't enjoyed the delightful conversation with the guide – who suggested, at my prompting, that my Chinese name could be “Dong Lai Fu” which he interpreted to mean “East Comes Happiness” and gave me the Chinese characters for it. He said that be picked this name because I had explained that I loved visiting China. For those of you who may not be aware, most english speaking Chinese choose “western” names to make it easier for us “foreigners.” It had been a topic of conversation with the factory sales reps I met with – who said they would also suggest a Chinese name for me. We'll see what they come up with, but I was impressed with my $7 guide's fast thinking – and I'll check out his claim when I next meet up with Staci/Martin's contact teachers.
The guide directed me to the local bus to return to the city – and that proved to be an interesting trip where the female toll taker on the bus got off at each stop and rounded up folks who were headed back into the city. After arriving back at the train station, I walked through the city to get to my hostel. It was a much longer walk than I expected from looking at the map – but I enjoyed every minute of it as I came to appreciate the fact that Xi'an really is a city of 4.5 million – and I think I saw them all on my walking route. Many of the streets are so busy that pedistrian underpasses are the only way to get across traffic.
The hostel was like the ones I stayed at in Beijing and Wuhan, providing a western oasis of fellow travelers.
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