Xi'an, the Terracotta Army - Monday 11th July

Guess what, we had another early start because we want to see the Great Goose Pagoda on the other side of town and the Terracotta Army, which is 45 - 60 minutes north of Xi'an before we leave. We shamefully grabbed a fast breakfast in McDonalds. I now know that a sausage and egg McMuffin tastes the same in China as it does in the UK - it was strangely reassuring.

Smog filled air in Xi'an

We travelled across a badly smog filled city in a minibus without airconditioning. It was hard to choose between keeping the windows closed and roasting to death or have them open and choke on the traffic fumes. We chose the latter, as the lesser of 2 evils.

Statue of Monk Xuanzang

The Ming story, Journey to the West, associated with the Great Goose Pagoda and temple is about Monk Xuanzang and his 17 year pilgrimage to India. Eva and I remember the television programme Monkey (Sun Wukong) which is based on this story.






The central feature, the pagoda, is original and square in shape as compared to the more traditional round Chinese style. The surrounding temple buildings and gardens are beautiful, mainly because they have been renewed in recent years.

One final building is still being built with huge timbers and using traditional techniques. The views from the top (7th) floor of the Pagoda would have been wonderful if we could have seen through the smog.



This peaceful place is surrounded by major construction work so extensive you can almost see Xi'an growing as you watch.



On the way to the Terracotta Army we visited the Medicine Market. Not a very exciting place, in fact really boring. Once you've seen one stall selling dried lizards, dried snakes and all manner of dried brown powders, quite frankly, you've seen them all.

We continued on out of town to the site of the Terracotta Army and stopped enroute for some lunch. The temperature continued to climb and the smog stayed with us. It's amazing that it reaches out this far and doesn't get any easier to breath.

The Terracotta Army site is almost as commercialised as Disney but without the thrill rides. From the minibus to the ticket office to the golf cart ticket office to the golf cart queue to the inner entrance took more than 30 minutes - we could have saved 20 of those by walking instead of using the golf cart. I suppose they are using the extra time to build the excitement and anticipation.

There are 3 main excavation buildings covering the areas so far unearthed, Building 1 being the oldest and most excavated with the standing warriors and horses seen on photographs. It was amazing to stand in front of this life size, motionless clay army. They looked as if they were frozen in time. Eerie, moving and surely a minor wonder of the world.

Knowing that we had a train to catch we headed back to Xi'an with enough time to negotiate a room for an hour (without any seedy connotations) to have a much needed shower before starting our mammoth 27 hour train ride to Guilin.