China Two Ways

For the longest time, I thought EPCOT's China Pavilion at Walt Disney World would be the closest I would ever get to visiting China. Standing in the middle of the huge theater and watching the CircleVision 360 movie that surrounded me on all sides whet my appetite for a journey to the homeland.

If you're not familiar with EPCOT, half of the park is the World Showcase where pavilions from eleven different countries encircle a large lagoon. Each country sets the mood with iconic buildings such as the Eiffel Tower in the French pavilion and the Chichen Itza pyramid in Mexico. In Italy, you feel like you've just stepped into Venice's St. Mark's Square that happens to have a fountain evocative of Rome's Trevi Fountain on the side. In just a few hours, you can pretend you are hiking around the world as you walk from pavilion to pavilion.

The China pavilion at Walt Disney World EPCOT

As a kid, I was puzzled by the China pavilion as I didn't recognize the building. It was neither the Forbidden Palace nor the Great Wall -- the only two famous Chinese structures I knew. When I finally visited Beijing (the real one, not a Disneyfied version) a few years ago, I was excited to figure out that Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest within the Temple of Heaven complex is that building from EPCOT.

Tiananmen Square, I will not forget you

Tiananmen Square. What comes to mind? Chinese patriotism and a longing to see the national flag raised at sunrise? An image of a lone man bravely standing as the sole blockade against a row of advancing tanks?

Tiananmen Square: Monument to People's Heroes and the Great Hall of the People 

Twenty-five years ago, I was a university student working in a microbiology laboratory in Houston, Texas. Three of my labmates were Chinese graduate students who were closely attuned to the pro-democracy movement taking place in Beijing. Knowing that they would one day return to their home country and with so many of the protesters being university students their own age, possibly friends, the topic came up day after day as we did our experiments.

Great Wall of China Toboggan Ride

Whenever my kids go to one of those upscale ice cream shoppes, their eyes grow wide, and they start asking for everything. What starts out as a simple outing to get a scoop of ice cream turns into a Bambi-eyes request for the ice cream and the mix-in and some hot fudge sauce on top.

On the Great Wall

That's kind of what our visit to the Great Wall of China turned out like. For many folks, visiting the Great Wall is a bucket list travel aspiration. Just getting to the Great Wall is enough. But thanks to my kids' circle of well-traveled classmates, they knew that the Great Wall had more to offer. There was no need for me to go online to figure out ways to make the excursion exciting for children. Asking around on the playground was enough. One activity kept coming up over and over again.

Slide down from the top of the wall on the toboggan run. 

Oh yeah, a visit to a Wonder of the World and a toboggan ride

What's up next? Water slides down the Pyramids of Giza?

How about getting up to the top? In all my Great Wall daydreams, I am already standing on the wall. I never considered how I would actually arrive there. Should we walk up? Goodness sakes, no way! 

Ride up on the cable car or chair lift.

Enclosed Cable Cars from the parking lot to the top 

So, this little bucket list item turned out to be visit the Great Wall and go up on a chair lift and ride a toboggan down. Can you see why the kids were excited? It's as if we went into that ice cream shoppe and said triple scoops, mix-ins, fudge sauce, and chocolate-dipped waffle cones for everyone.

Visiting the Mutianyu Section

We drive about 1.5 hours from Beijing to reach the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. This 2.3 km stretch is the longest restored section of the wall, and everything I read indicates that it's less crowded than the other sections closer to Beijing that are open to tourists. A tamped earth wall was built here in the sixth century, but it was upgraded during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 A.D.) to a granite fortification with 22 watch towers spread out approximately every 100 meters.

As we pull into the car park, I gaze upwards at the wall snaking its way across the mountain pass about 100 meters above us. To get to the ticket office, we walk through souvenir stalls selling all sorts of Chinese memorabilia including the "I climbed the Great Wall of China" T-shirt that I buy my daughter at the end of our visit. (A week later, I regret not washing this black shirt separately from the rest of the laundry as I pull out a load of now-grey clothes from my washing machine.) 

Souvenir stalls

At the bottom, we have three choices for getting up to the wall.

• Walk up the footpath with 4000+ steps for 30-40 minutes
• Ride the enclosed cable car up to Tower 14 with option for return ticket down
• Ride the chair lift up to Tower 6 which includes toboggan ride down

Tip: The cable car and the chair lift are operated by different companies. If you plan on going up on one and returning to the bottom on another, buy both tickets before heading up to the wall.

Going to the Top

We decide on the chair lift and hop on. During the 10 minute ride upwards, I look around taking in the view. The surrounding mountains cloaked with autumn colors on this late-October afternoon are a sight to behold. After the bustling crowds of congested Beijing, Mutianyu is relaxing and literally a breath of fresh air.

Riding on the Chair Lift

Finally, we are on top of the wall. Jump for joy! This Great Wall moment is one of the reasons why I desperately wanted to visit China and was willing to go through all the hassle of applying for a visa... and getting rejected, reapplying, and paying the ridiculous rush fee despite having turned in the paperwork weeks beforehand.

Walking on the Wall

While the restored Mutianyu section of the Great Wall has a mostly smooth walking surface, there are still stair steps as it follows the ridgeline up and down. Lots and lots of steps. Merely getting from Tower 19 to Tower 20 involves 450 steps. In other words, don't bother bringing a stroller for your little one. 

The Great Wall stretches far into the distance

Here, the Great Wall stands 7-8 meters tall and is 4-5 meters wide. This width supposedly enabled a large number of troops and messengers to pass through the route, but I'm thinking that the steps and the narrow doorways of the towers probably served as bottlenecks. This section is unusual in that it has crenelations on both the inner and outer walls, allowing soldiers to fire on the enemy who were approaching as well as those who had breached the wall.

The end of October turns out to be a beautiful time of year to visit. The crowds from Golden Week earlier in the month are gone, and the trees are changing colors. Perhaps being a soldier stationed on the wall was not so bad if you got to stare at this all day.

The view looking north east from the wall

The summertime is reputedly hot and more crowded with foreign tourist. My son's friend walked the wall one winter and declared it "the coldest he's ever been." One of my mama friends visited in late March and was surprised to encounter snow. While her older kids enjoyed the sight of their first snowfall (and the younger one cried about freezing toes), they were disappointed to discover that the toboggan run closes when it's snowing, raining, or for other bad weather conditions. 

Mountains start to fade away

I rein in my teen boy while we are up there. Faced with all this expansive scenery and the top of the Great Wall stretching out before him, all he wants to do is run. He longs to go up and down steps from tower to tower as fast as he can. Instead, he has to make do with going no more than one tower ahead and waiting while the rest of us caught up. Poor guy, because this mama is quite slow, stopping to take photos every few steps.

Exploring Watch Towers

Tower 5 of the Mutianyu section has a covered 2nd story

Most of the watchtowers are a single story with stairs leading up to the open rooftop. Tower 5 is unusual in that the 2nd floor is also covered. Back when the Great Wall was still in use as a defense system, lookout guards were stationed on the towers. If they spotted attackers approaching, they lit a signal fire on the roof to warn the surrounding towers. Since the towers were built on hilltops, it was easy to see the smoke during the day or firelight at night. Any guard who saw a signal fire built his own fire in order to pass along the message to alert the troops to ready for battle. Lanterns on poles and flags were other ways to communicate between towers. 

Looking out from a watch tower

The average Chinese man is shorter than his Western counterpart. Plus, people who lived four centuries ago when the towers were built were shorter than modern folk. Put these two together, and you get granite doorways that were much too low for hubby to walk through upright. 

Watch your Head! 

Tower 1 has not been restored, and its derelict state shows how much work has gone into improving the wall for today's tourists. Visitors are not permitted on the section eastward from Tower 2 to Tower 1, but some explorers and photographers ignore this as the wall's rustic ruins makes for wonderful photo ops. 

Visitors climbing on top of the ruins of a watch tower

The Graffiti Problem

Unfortunately, many people decide to commemorate their time at the Great Wall by scribbling or carving their name into the granite bricks. Have a little respect, folks.

Almost every brick on this watch tower had graffiti. Most of it is not Chinese.

In order to help protect the wall, Chinese authorities announced this week that they have set aside specific areas near Tower 14 where graffiti is permitted. This move will hopefully limit the area of damage. A proposed plan also involves touch-screen electronic graffiti walls for tourists to go crazy leaving their mark where it can presumably then be erased with the touch of a button.

Finally, the Toboggan Ride Down

The end of our walk culminates with the much anticipated 1580 meter (almost 1 mile) toboggan ride down. The carts accommodate both single or double riders, and my girl decides to ride with her dad. Pushing the lever between your knees forward releases the brake to let the toboggan start sliding down the track, and pulling it towards you makes it stop. Adjust your speed by how far you push it. Before we arrived, I pictured Olympic luge-worthy downhill speeds. Following my girl, it turned out to be a rather slow-paced ride since it took a bit of strength to push the lever forward enough to go fast. Luckily, her oldest brother was ahead of her and could shoot downhill as fast as he liked.  Overall, it's a safe ride for kids, although two L.A. Lakers managed to injure themselves in separate accidents while visiting a few weeks before us.

Getting ready to ride the toboggan down

The Great Wall of China did not disappoint. In fact, it turned out to be much more exciting than what I would have expected when it went on the bucket list decades ago. If you're looking to check the Great Wall off your own list, I highly recommend doing it at Mutianyu. The only thing that could have made it better would be a deluxe ice cream parlor at the bottom.

Related Posts:

Running around Beijing's Olympic Green

Terracotta Warriors and Tandem Bikes: 24 hours in Xi'an

This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox, "Oh the Places I've Been" on The Tablescaper, and Friday Postcards on Walking On Travels. Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

Running Around Beijing's Olympic Green

The most expensive Olympics Games in history are over now, and Sochi is free to commence its downward spiral until the day when it's featured in "Abandoned Olympic Venues" articles floating around on the internet. I actually never got to watch the 2014 Winter Olympics other than the entertaining clip of when AT-AT Walkers attacked downhill skiers. Our satellite TV went out during a January power outage, and I've been holding firm to my stance that the kids need to figure out how to fix it if they want to watch television.

What surprises me when I look through those Abandoned Olympic Venues pictures is that Beijing is in there. Granted, it's nowhere close to the pinnacle of attention it once occupied in Summer 2008, but I wouldn't label it abandoned.

When I asked the kids what they wanted to visit in Beijing, what do you think was at the top of my teen son's list? Not the Forbidden City. Not the Great Wall. His pick was seeing the Beijing National Stadium, a.k.a. "The Birds Nest" with his own two eyes.

The Birds Nest (Beijing National Stadium)

That's how we found ourselves at Bejing Olympic Green one October day surrounded by busloads of Chinese tourists. Located just 25 minutes away from the Forbidden City in one direction and the Summer Palace in another, it's close enough to other popular sites that it's easy to stop by for an hour to walk around.

On one side of the very long plaza running the length of the green is the Beijing National Stadium, affectionately known as "The Birds Nest." It has a distinctively irregular, steel latticework design which originated from the study of Chinese ceramics. This was the home of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies as well as football matches and track and field events. Covering 258,000 square meters, it can seat up to 80,000 people — a figure that it comes no where near approaching nowadays.

I warned my boy that since we were arriving late in the afternoon too near to closing time, we wouldn't be able to go in for him to do his best Usain Bolt imitation. Our guide says that it's now mainly used for concerts or winter ice skating, although you can pay CNY50 per person if you just want to go in to look around and take photos.

The Water Cube (Beijing National Aquatics Center)

The Water Cube whose official name is the Beijing National Aquatics Center sits across the plaza from the Birds Nest. It was the site of the 2008 Summer Olympic swimming and diving events and is currently being utilized as an indoor water park. The outer surface looks like soap bubbles squeezing through a polyhedral frame.

Pangu Plaza - Olympic torch or Dragon Head?

We couldn't help noticing the 39-stories-tall building rising up behind the Water Cube. It's called Pangu Plaza and is not actually part of the Olympic complex. What we thought was a torch is supposed to be a dragon head, and the four boxy looking, 23-story-tall buildings trailing behind it represent the dragon's undulating body. Ok, whatever... if you say so. The tallest building is a 7-star hotel while the rest of the plaza is a shopping mall, office space, and residential apartments.

Numerous kites guide your eyes up to heaven

Besides the modern architecture in a city better known for its ancient structures, what I will remember most about Beijing's Olympic Green is the numerous kite sellers strolling up and down the plaza among the hundreds of tourists. They daisy chainned together multiple 5-kite strands so that they stretched high into the sky.  At one point, an electric police buggy came by, and the crowd of kite sellers started strolling away from them. "Oh me sir? No, I'm not selling anything. I just happened to come out today to fly this massive line of kites right here."

Tip: Instead of buying your kids souvenir kites, just pick up a discarded one from the ground and let them run around to make it fly since the string is so short it won't catch any air.

Running around Beijing Olympic Green

Our time walking around this 2008 Summer Olympics venue was brief but interesting. Plus, it gave us a chance to attempt to form the Olympic Rings ourselves.

Chinese tourists took pictures of us posing like the Olympic rings

The strange thing is that I saw a few strangers, probably Chinese tourists, stopping to take pictures of us as we posed for our own camera. Why do you think they wanted a photograph?

a. We're such a cute, clever family.

b. We have THREE kids, even though the oldest is a boy.

c. My husband is white and over 2 meters tall (and incredibly handsome). 

d. All of the above 

This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox, Friday Postcards on Walking On Travels, "Oh the Places I've Been" on The Tablescaper, and Sunday Traveler at Chasing the Donkey. Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

128 Hours 55 Minutes of Air Travel in One Year

This has been a banner year for travel for my family. I've often said that living the expat life has prompted us to travel, and my oh my, we really embraced that notion these last 12 months. We literally traveled around the world heading westward until we returned to our starting point in Penang. On another trip, the kids made their first hop back and forth across the Equator.

Would Icarus be jealous?

Here are some statistics for our family's air travel for one year.

• 128 hours and 55 minutes in the air, not including layovers
• 31 flights
• 20 airports
• 12 airlines; hence, abysmal accrual of frequent flier miles at any one airline
• 7 countries
• 5 flights longer than 10 hours
• 4 continents
• For hubby, add on an additional 32 hours 10 minutes spread over 6 flights for business travel.

We did all this without the kids missing any school for travel.

Wow. If you had predicted this three years ago, I would have laughed in your face. Earlier this week, I was chatting with a nomadic family about their flight from England to Rio de Janeiro. When they said it took 14 hours, I actually said, "14 hours? That's not bad." My brain now thinks that 14 hours is no big deal.

Back in Penang, I'd spend my days while the kids were at school exploring the island and getting deliberately lost in George Town so that I could stumble across its many wonders. On weekends, we'd play on the beach, hike through the jungle, or camp out on Penang Hill. There are many perks to living in a tourist hotzone.

So, where did we go on all those airplane flights?

Enjoy the hikes around Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the early morning on hot, January days.

Australia

We kicked off the year in Australia. We strolled along Bondi Beach on New Year's Day and watched from afar as the water was cleared after a shark sighting. A glow-in-the-dark puppet show entertained the kids at the Sydney Opera House. We snorkeled at the Great Barrier Reef and wilted in the 114°F (46°C) heat at Ayers Rock. Kangaroo Island off the southern coast of Australia proved to be a great place to relax and unwind after our hectic itinerary.

Despite how incredible this trip was, my children really missed being with their grandparents and cousins at Christmas. This has been mentioned repeatedly throughout the year during honest, heartfelt moments.

The PETRONAS Towers

Kuala Lumpur

It wasn't always overseas travel that called to us. We took a roadtrip to Kuala Lumpur one long weekend. After learning my lesson from a previous trip when we couldn't get into the Petrosains Discovery Centre due to crowds, I reserved tickets a few weeks in advance to make sure we'd gain admission this time to the very hands-on science museum. We enjoyed our hotel room with a view of the Petronas Towers, the tallest twin towers in the world, and a kid-free outing at the Sky Bar. Kidzania was the highlight of the trip for my younger kids because they loved playing pretend and trying the various jobs from DJ to chocolatier. We stocked up on plenty of American processed foods at Ampang Grocers and made sure to visit La Mexicana, a truly authentic Mexican restaurant.

Water for Elephants in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Easter found us in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We played in waterfalls, visited the Long Neck people and other tribes, strolled through temples, squeezed into tuktuks, and did a little drifter kart racing and paint ball target practice, too. As a family, we took a Thai cooking class where my boys surprised me with their culinary skill. For me, the highlight of the trip was a day spent at Elephant Nature Park where I got to feed elephants and bathe them in the river.

Jumping for joy at the Eiffel Tower.

Paris

Paris was an eagerly anticipated trip. We were headed to Texas for the summer school holiday but took a week-long stopover in the City of Light. Everyone seemed to be brimming with suggestions about where to go. We went deep underground to see decorative skeletons in Les Catacombes and climbed high above the city at both the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. The kids gave a thumbs up to the classics at the Louvre and a thumbs down to modern art at the Pompidou. My son still exclaims, "Some pictures were nothing but white paint on a canvas!" One gustatory delight after another crossed our lips from macarons to baguettes smeared with Brie to McDonald's on the Champ Élysées. Versailles dazzled us and gave us a taste of idealized country life at The Queen's Hamlet. A day spent at Parc de la Villette allowed the kids to just run free and have fun. Best of all, we completed our goal of visiting a Disney park at each of its worldwide locations when we added Disneyland Paris to the list that already had Florida, California, Hong Kong, and Tokyo on it.

My daughter has been dreaming about her first visit to the American Girl Doll Store and Café.

Texas

Fathers' Day was busy for us. We had breakfast in Paris and a late lunch in Houston, Texas with both my dad and father-in-law before making the 3 hour drive to our home in Austin. The kids absolutely loved being in the Lone Star State, seeing their friends, and celebrating the Fourth of July with their cousins. We tried some new adventures like indoor skydiving as well as old favorites like visiting the Kemah Boardwalk and multiple museums in Waco, Austin, and Houston. My oldest boy spent a week at Boy Scout Camp in the Lost Pines along Lake Bastrop and talked to his friends about middle school in Texas compared to where we are now. He came away concluding that Texas kids have more social pressure.





Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival at Singapore's Gardens by the Bay

Singapore

Cheap airfare and a long weekend lured us away to Singapore just in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Our kids asked to go to the Science Centre where we met up with some Texas friends, and we also explored Gardens by the Bay for the first time. The new S.E.A. Aquarium awed us with the Guinness Book of World Record Largest Aquarium Tank. Dining on Chili Crab at Jumbo Seafood and Tex-Mex food at Café Iguana have become a Singapore trip tradition.

The Great Wall stretches as far as the eye can see.

China

China is in the same time zone as Malaysia, so we had no issues with jet lag. In a departure from our usual method of independent travel, we hired a private tour company. It was wonderful to be freed from worrying about logistics so that I could just enjoy myself. The Forbidden City was large and imposing while the Great Wall turned out to be great fun since we took a cable car up and a toboggan down. Seeing all the Terracotta Warriors standing at attention at the massive archeological dig site was impressive.

Woman with Tibetan Prayer Wheel at the Yak Butter market stall in Lhasa.

Tibet

Tibet was a last minute addition to our China trip and highly recommended by a friend with kids. I flew in over the Himalayas with vague notions of Shangri-La and Dalai Lama quotes floating through my brain, and I exited with a richer understanding of life there. The conflict between Chinese rule and a longing for a free Tibet was an undercurrent that ran throughout our travels. Tibetans clearly still cherish the current Dalai Lama who has been living in exile in India since 1959. Hubby and I took turns visiting palaces, temples and monasteries while the other parent cared for the kids who had been rendered lethargic by altitude sickness.

New Zealand The United States (again)

Hubby and I had long planned on heading to New Zealand for the Christmas break, but the kids had other ideas. They have never really forgiven us for keeping them away from Texas family and traditions last year. I'd try to tempt them with visions of glowworm caves and glacier hikes, and they would counter with "Grandma, Grandpa, Lolo and Lola." So one day, I just looked at hubby and said, "New Zealand will always be there. Let's give the kids what they want."

In a few days, we'll head off on the last part of our 128 hours 55 minutes of flight time in one year travel binge. On Christmas Day, we'll be seated around the table at hubby's aunt's house surrounded by both of our families. Both hubby's and my parents get along fabulously and celebrate this day together so we don't have to choose.

We've offered our kids the world, and what they want most is home.


This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox, "Oh the Places I've Been" on The Tablescaper, and "Share Your Best" on Two Kids and a Map and Mommy Travels. Please check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

Terracotta Warriors and Tandem Bikes: 24 Hours in Xi'an

The Terracotta Warriors were uncovered in Xi'an, China

Imagine being a farmer just outside of Xi'an, the former capital of ancient China and starting point of the legendary Silk Road. It's 1974, and frankly, all that you are looking for is a new source of water during this time of drought. You start digging a well in the same earth where generations before you have plowed and buried their dead. You uncover bits of a clay figure. Odd shards of pottery have been dug up around here for centuries. Unlike others, you don't dismiss it as insignificant. You've just discovered one of the greatest archeological finds in the world — a life-size army of terracotta warriors and horses.

The Terracotta Warriors are one of the top tourists draws in China. Note that it is nowhere near Beijing, the Forbidden City or the Great Wall. Most Westerners hop on a plane to get here. The clay army is what draws most tourists to Xi'an, but other historical sites exist in this 3,100-year-old city, too. It turned out to be a place my whole family, both kids and adults, enjoyed even though we had just 24 hours to get out and explore.

The centuries-old wall encircling old Xi'an is the largest in the world.

Cycling on the City Wall

After our delayed flight finally arrived in mid-afternoon, our first stop in Xi'an was the City Wall which happens to be the largest one in the world. It measures 12 meters (36 feet) tall, 18 meters (54 feet) at the bottom, and 15 meters (45 feet) across at the top. The rectangular city wall wraps itself around the old city, covering 13.7 km (8.5 miles) and is interrupted by gates on each side which were closed each night when it still provided fortification for China's former capitol.

When the kids saw the bicycle rental shop on top of the wall, they immediately decided that it was a much better option than walking. At US$6.60 per 100 minutes for a single bicycle and double that for a twin, we adults didn't argue with them. Hubby and I both got tandem bikes to share with the younger kids while my teen took off on his own. This was indeed a very popular way for tourists to get around, so I was quite glad that the wall was so wide on top. Rental shops are by each gate, and customers can return their bikes at any of them. As we rode around, we peeked out through the battlements and kept smelling the inescapable aroma of stir-fried food. After an hour, we were ready to head off to the next stop.

Taking a break from biking at one of the corner towers on the Xi'an City Wall.

The Bell Tower and Drum Tower

Both hubby and I weren't expecting much from our Bell Tower visit, thinking that it was just a way to fill time before heading to the hotel. It turned out to be more interesting than we thought. Standing at the geographical center of old Xi'an, it's surrounded by a giant roundabout connected to the North, South, East, and West Streets which extend outwards towards the City Wall gates. The juxtaposition between the tower built in 1384 and the luxe shopping malls with Starbucks and Haagen-Dazs on the outer side of the roundabout sums up Xi'an perfectly. It's a mix of old and new.

The massive 5-ton bell that tourists are NOT allowed to ring much to my kids dismay.

The wooden, 3-story tower sits atop a tall brick base. Centuries ago, the bell was rung at dawn to signify that it was time to open the four city gates. At nightfall, the giant drums of the Drum Tower a block away were played to indicate it was time for the gates to close. I imagine that in the 14th century, it must have loomed over the town. Both the outside and the inside are covered with intricate paintings. You can climb the stairs inside and go out to the surrounding balconies for a good city view.

The Drum Tower at night as seen from the Bell Tower

By now, it was time to head to our hotel for dinner and a restful night's sleep.  The next day would bring the highlight of our time in Xi'an, a visit to the Terracotta Army.

An Army Frozen in Time

The Terracotta Army stands ready in Pit 1.
See the tourists standing behind the railing against the side walls?

Qin Shi Huangdi, the "First Emperor," unified China in 221 B.C. and died in 210 B.C. He is best known in the modern world as the man who required an entire terracotta army to protect him in his afterlife. In the almost 40 years since the first pieces were discovered, archeologists have located 600 underground vaults within a 22-square-mile area. Only three vaults (pits) have been thoroughly excavated so far. This small sample of Qin Shi Huangdi's necropolis contains an estimated 7,500 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses, and 150 cavalry horses.

When you walk into Pit 1, the army is amassed and standing at attention as if ready to head off to war. The sheer size of the dig invokes awe. That's something that cannot be transported to the touring exhibits in museums around the world.

Imagine what the other 597 pits must contain. Test digs have revealed bronze waterfowl as well as clay officials, musicians and acrobats. I guess he needed counsel, protection, and entertainment after death. A forested berm has been identified as the Emperor's actual tomb, but it has so far been left undisturbed until archeologists are certain they have adequate techniques to protect what they find there.

Amazing attention to detail, even down to the tread on a soldier's shoes.

The warriors were crafted with mix-and-match molds, allowing each one to look a little different from the next. They were mass produced and painted before being carted down into the underground vaults. Earthen walls between the army columns supported wooden beams that held up reed mats, waterproofing clay layers, and the soil used to bury the terracotta soldiers. As time marched on, the beams collapsed, crushing the warriors beneath them. By the time the 20th century rolled around, archeologists were left with a gigantic jigsaw puzzle of attempting to reconstruct each man. As the paint was exposed to air, it quickly disintegrated. This is why the scientists have been proceeding with caution, nervous at uncovering other materials that they currently cannot preserve. As each soldier or horse is completed, it is moved back to its original position.

Some paint remains on these Warriors.



Each warrior is tagged and his location noted as they are unearthed in Pit 1.

The "hospital" in Pit 1 where archeologists reassemble warriors.

Restored warriors at the front with the fragments in the back.



Four soldiers are displayed so that you can get an up close look at them.

After three hours visiting the Terracotta Warriors, we headed for the airport in hopes of finding a late lunch there before we departed. It was just under 24 hours since we had first set foot in Xi'an.

What happened to the farmer who was looking for water but discovered an army? He now sits behind a desk at the gift shop, signing autographs and posing for photos for those willing to pay him. It's nice work if you can get it.


This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox, "Oh the Places I've Been" on The Tablescaper and "Sunday Traveler" on Ice Cream and Permafrost. Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.