China Trip Xian

Ok, so I am behind on posting and everyone is probably wondering if we even went to China. Fear no more, I am ready to narrate and show off some pictures.

Our main goal was for the kids to see the Great Wall. How many times in your life can you ever get the chance to see something that amazing? James and I are really lucky, we visited it 10 years ago and felt it was something we wanted to take the kids to. First, let me begin by saying China has really changed in 10 years. The people dress more like westerners, they drive newer cars, and the streets are very clean. I am not sure if it was because of the Olympics in 2008, but a change has been made for the better. They had shopping malls, McDonalds, KFC, and we even saw an IKEA and Pizza Hut. All the things that I look at for survival.

The Bell Tower

We had an exciting time in Xian, even though we only spent 2 days there. When we arrived it was raining, so we visited a museum and then checked into the Bell Tower Hotel. From our hotel room we had a perfect view of the Bell Tower which was located in the middle of a huge traffic circle. We would stare out the window at all the pedestrians, mopeds, buses, taxis and bicyclists going around. I really could not believe how laid back one could be when they are driving a bicycle loaded down with boxes going in and out of vehicles much bigger than them.

The Terra Cotta Warriors at the factory

The next day we visited the Terra Cotta factory, where we got to see firsthand the process that was used to originally make the soldiers. The kids were able to make one while we took a tour and watched an artist carve life-size statues. It was really fascinating. We got to see the bust of David Beckham that was commissioned for his scheduled visit. We also got to see them make silk rugs by hand. The entire process takes 6-9 months for a 4x6 size rug.

Pit 3 with the 6000 soldiers

Then we drove to the area that had the Terra Cotta Soldiers. There are a total of 3 pits (kind of look like huge airplane hangars). The first one we visited (I think it was number 3) held 6000 of the soldiers. We learned how a famer ran across them while digging for a well in 1974. Ben was amazed over the features of the faces, horses, and the fact that there were so many. They are believed to be actual life size replicas of actual soldiers from the Emperor’s army. Most of them wore broken up and had been pieced together and put back where they were found. We went to the other two pits where there were horses and 5 different types of soldiers: the general, officers, archers, infantry and cavalry. Each type of soldier had a distinctive style to their head and stance that made it easy for you tell which they were. It was pretty impressive to see firsthand the dedication and willingness to work on something that took over 38 years to complete.

More Warriors

The ones that are being pieced back together

Terra Cotta Warriors

In Xian, we also got to see the largest Mosque in China and a few other things like museums and historical places. We spent every single moment moving and seeing things. By the time we got back to our hotel we were all exhausted, so we just ordered pizza hut delivery and got ready for bed. We had no energy for shopping. The kids had a wonderful time, and were even patient every time someone was brave enough to approach us to see if they can take pictures with the kids (way too many to count and even add up). Since it was only a couple of days into the trip the kids were smiling.

Ben with a new friend