Today I woke up around 6:45 AM as I wanted to shower and have time to get some of the breakfast that everyone raved about yesterday. We met in the lobby at 7:40 AM after most of us got breakfast and it was pretty good. They had a wider variety than the first hotel we stayed at in Beijing and I thought it tasted better too, but not by much. We boarded the bus around 7:45 AM and had just over an hour-long bus ride ahead of us. For the first half of the ride, I finished one of my blogs while Rocky talked to us about the Terra-Cotta Warriors. I learned that they were first discovered by a farmer in 1974 who was digging a well to get water during a time of drought and came across one of the warriors. He notified the government and then they started searching for more of them and it has led them to where they are today. For the second half of the bus ride, I fell asleep. When I woke up we were pulling into the parking lot. We got off the bus and Rocky went to get our tickets. Our passports were also necessary to gain entrance into the site. We went through security which I thought was pretty weak for a historical site like the Terra-Cotta Warriors, but I guess they thought it was up to par. We then walked down a long path which led us to a collection of buildings that include Pit 1, Pit 2, Pit 3, and a 4th building that had the chariots in it. These were the important buildings, but they also had a gift shop and few other buildings. Pit 1 is what I would consider the famous site of the warriors. It is where 3,000 warriors are located and they haven’t even excavated all of Pit 1 yet or put all of the broken warriors back together. Towards the back of the structure where Pit 1 was, we were able to see desks, excavation sites, and warriors lined up that they were currently working on putting back together. When we left Pit 1 and went outside, Rocky told us the warriors were split into 5 groups which are infantry, officers, archers, navy, and air force. Unfortunately, none of the warriors from the navy or air force groups have been found, but we know they exist because the records we have state their existence. We then moved on to Pit 3 next which was smaller than Pit 1 and much darker. There was no natural light at all. I assumed this was because they didn’t want the natural light to ruin the warriors and I asked Rocky he said that that was why. It confused me though because in Pit 1 there were huge windows at the front where light could shine on the warriors. Maybe they used special glass or something or weren’t attempting to preserve those warriors as much since they had already been exposed? To continue, I also came to the assumption that the Pits were all temperature controlled as well to help preserve the warriors. In Pit 3 they had a photo op opportunity which Dr. Li paid for so we could take a group photo standing in-between fake Terra-Cotta Warriors which was pretty cool. After the photo, we moved on to Pit 2. Pit 2 and 3 were very similar in regards to darkness, but Pit 3 was much larger and on the left side it also had some of the warriors on display with short descriptions accompanying them in glass cases so people could see them up close. Near where those cases were they also had some weapons and tools on display with descriptions about all of them as well. In Pits 2 and 3 you could see collections of broken remains in certain parts that the excavators have not yet put back together. I thought this was neat to see this because that’s exactly how they were found. Following Pit 3, we walked to the last building that contained 2 chariots that had been found a few kilometers away from the first 3 pits. They were kept in large glass cases that everyone could walk around. This also served as a small museum that had other artifacts in it such as a shield, arrows, jewelry, little history lessons on the walls. This was the darkest building that we had been in yet, but flash photography was acceptable so I found that strange. Once we finished in that building we headed to the gift shop. Most things were very overpriced and Dr. Li told us if we really wanted a miniature Terra-Cotta Warrior we could get it at the market for much cheaper. They also sold life-size replica warriors and horses that went for anywhere from $30,000-$75,000 USD. I thought that was kind of ridiculous that someone would buy a statue for that amount of money. Rocky also pointed out to us that there were replicas of the Emperor statue. He mentioned that this statute is created based off of what they think it would look like, but they aren’t even sure if it ever existed. They have just theorized that it does and have made their best guess as to what it would look like.

Following our time at the site and the gift shop we walked to a nearby buffet style restaurant for lunch. I enjoyed the lunch and tried my first Chinese hamburger which they supposedly only have in Xi’an. It tasted more like pulled pork and was served as just the meat between bread, but it was tasty. We finished up our lunch and got back on the bus for over another hour to bike around the City Wall of Xi’an. In total, we biked 14 kilometers (about 8-9 miles) and I had a blast. The view from on top of the wall was great, no matter the direction I looked. And although it was hot, the bike ride was very relaxing and the wind from biking kept me cooled down. Additionally, during the bike ride, we saw many couples taking wedding photos and I found out that the traditional wedding dress color in China is red. After we completed our ride around the entire wall we got back on the bus to go back to the hotel. This was probably our earliest day back yet and Dr. Li alerted us that he would be going to the Muslim Market at 5:45 if anyone wanted to join him. I rested in my room until 5:45. Once we got to the market Dr. Li recommended we eat at this famous restaurant. He told us that President Clinton had planned to eat at this restaurant back when he visited Xi’an, but due to a schedule change, he couldn’t. When we got to the restaurant Dr. Li asked us if we were all okay with him ordering this famous dish for us because they have a secret recipe for it and he claimed it was very good. We were all okay with it and they brought it out to us one by one. It resembled soup and contained potato noodles, lamb, bread bits, mushrooms, garlic, and celery. To be honest, it didn’t look appetizing at all, but I tried it regardless as I consider myself to be an adventurous eater. Dr. Li’s recommendation did not disappoint. The soup was amazing, I really enjoyed it. However, the bread made it extremely filling and I could not finish my bowl. After everyone finished eating we split into groups and walked around the market, I used this time to buy gifts for important people in my life while exploring the market. The amount of fake designer clothes and accessories they try to sell is ridiculous. At about 9:20 Ben and I made our way back to the hotel as we had lost everyone else. Once we got there we worked on our blogs and then headed to bed after a long, but exciting day. Tomorrow we’ll be up bright and early due to our train ride to Shanghai.