Day 205: Terra-cotta Warriors — Muslim Quarter — One Meal, 16 Different Dumplings
Yesterday we were very happy with our decision to beat the crowds to The Great Wall, arriving at 7:30 am.
We tried to do the same thing today, meeting our guide Hellen at 7:30am for the 45 minute drive to the Terra-cotta Warriors, which open an hour later than The Wall at 8:30am. Unfortunately that 1-hour difference in opening time gave us less of an advantage because the place was packed when we arrived.
Well, it felt packed until we saw the crowds arriving when we left around 11am!
There are 7,000+ clay warriors with horses and chariots buried in 210 BC with China’s first emperor to protect him in the afterlife. A farmer discovered the site in the 1970s. It’s still an active archeology site, with excavators working away to dig up new sections and puzzle piece the soldiers back together. There are 3 roofed “pits” sitting below walkways for visitors.
Seeing The Warriors was one of the highlights of my first trip to China in 2006. After the second time I’m still amazed by the scale and eerie detail of these figures. Each one is different, mimicking an actual human. The infantry guys are skinnier (lower class) and have less armor, the more senior officers have “general belly.” Out of the thousands of warriors only one was found completely intact — a kneeling archer. The rest were destroyed during a peasant uprising after the death of the Emperor. Incredible stat: 700,000 people worked on the warriors. More amazing: not one stopped to question whether the afterlife is actually a thing!
The kids thought the warriors were pretty cool. They were entertained for a bit but were frustrated by the crowds (“James later wrote that he was “squished” in his journal”) and eventually lost patience. They messed with each other, asked for snacks, whined to leave and were generally pretty annoying. I know these are boxes that need to be checked but I’m slowing losing my patience with dragging a 5 and 7 year old to these super-crowded touring sights.
Speaking of crowds. Holy. Shit.
The biggest change of this site since my first visit in 2006 was the number of people and the commercial infrastructure built up to meet it. We were elbowing with *thousands* of people to look down at the warriors, and we beat most of the crowd to the site. As we left we walked by massive lines of many thousands more waiting to enter. No idea where they will put all those people. They’ll need the subway employees who shove everyone inside so the doors can close.
Margaret was still not fully recovered from our stomach bug and needed to get back to the hotel to rest. Lobsy and I took the kids to the buffet restaurant across the street within the Sofitel complex.
After lunch I took the kids to swim which didn’t last long because the indoor pool was surprisingly cold.
I then dropped them with Lobsy for baths, journals and some games while I got in a workout.
Lobsy, the kids and I joined back up with Hellen and headed over to the Muslim Quarter. The place was (once again) packed with Chinese tourists, digging into the squid on a stick and Chinese burgers. It was fun to experience such a different culture, smelling the food and people watching (they stared back). Sensory overload in a good way.
We turned off onto a narrow alley with market stalls that reminded me of Cairo or Istanbul. There were fewer and fewer people the further we walked from the main drag and eventually we arrived at a beautiful garden and mosque. There were only a handful of Western tourists there and no Chinese. Not sure why. We asked Hellen and she said that basically, they all have mosques in their own cities and towns. Huh.
We made our way to dinner at Defachang. Unfortunately Margaret stayed home so it was just the four of us. It was a set menu, a few apps and then sixteen (not a typo) courses of dumplings. Lobsy and I washed them down with a cold beer. So good!
Thankfully Margaret was feeling better by the time we got home.
Back on the train tomorrow. Destination: Chengdu.
