When we get down there, it is packed and have to wait for a table. We eventually get seated, though at a 4 top which doesn't exactly work with a family of 6 even if I use new math. ;). We all eat though I do it standing up and Julie is holding Shan-Shan on her lap. We have just enough time to dash to our room, collect our stuff for the day and head down to meet Rea. While waiting in the lobby, Shan-Shan starts crying. We check the usual suspects, diaper, he just ate, is being held, etc to no luck. He is destined to cry today apparently. Of course today is when Rea is about 15 minutes late after we watch a number of other groups gather and leave the hotel, probably headed to the same place we are.
We load into the van and are off. Rea tries to tell us some history of the terra-cotta army but Shan-Shan's crying disrupts her and she eventually gives up. Traffic in Xi'an is heavy and crazy (that seems to be the norm in China) and it takes almost an hour to get to the army. After we get on the highway, we are told to pull over by someone in a green uniform that we were told in Beijing indicated military. This might not be a good thing as I doubt he wants to say "Ni hao" to the car load of foreigners. What seemed like a heated exchange ended with us driving off and Rea said that they wanted to check our driver's license and permit for tourism. Either way, we are not in jail or stranded along the road so we are pretty happy. At one point in time Rea is holding Shan-Shan (because he reached out to her)but the upside for us is that even being held by a Chinese woman and hearing Chinese, she cannot soothe him either. We are very fortunate that we are not packed in to a tour bus like the others are because our driver drops us off about 100 yards from the entrance. If we look to the other side of the road we see tour groups running a gauntlet of vendors and pickpockets whereas we stroll to the entry gate, present our tickets and we are in. I've read so much about this place that I had been dreading the entrance, so really appreciate the close drop-off. We get in and head straight for the building that covers pit 1. If you've never seen or heard of the terra-cotta army, you deserve it to yourself to Google it. For those without Google capability, we have a stone tablet for you that is in the mail. LOL! The building that covers pit 1 is like an airplane hangar in both shape and size - it is HUGE! It literally takes your breath away as you see the rows of statues spread out before you. We stand there for a while just taking it in as well as plenty of pictures. There are around 8000 soldiers and horses in pit 1, but only 1000 are re-assembled and/or unearthed.
Rea then takes us to another building that shows a movie about Emperor Qin, the guy who built the army as well as started the Great Wall and unified China for the first time. The movie is cheesy but does the trick. Qin is not a nice guy and the more they excavate the tomb complex, which is the largest in the world and covers more than 50 square kilometers, the meaner dude they find him to be. Burying the workers who helped with the tomb and army alive (skeletal remains have been found where it appears the people were struggling to get out when they died) high levels of mercury that were used as part of protective rivers around his tomb and more all point to a pretty bad guy. After the movie we buy a book about what quite honestly is the archaeological find of the 20th century and have it signed by one of the four original farmers who found the army by accident when they were digging the well. How's that for cool?
We then head towards the building that contains pit 3 where the commanders and officers were found having a "meeting" based on the way they were facing. This is much smaller than pit 1 but still very cool. You can also tell that the Chinese are learning more and more about how best to preserve the objects they unearth and this pit is much darker than the others to minimize damage. We finally reach pit 2 which is a huge building that was constructed before they started excavating. They were able to use sonar and other technology to determine where the artifacts were before they dug them up, so they were protected from the beginning. Pretty darn cool. Finally we head to another building that was created after the site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site and see the two bronze chariots they found on the site, too. All of this is impressive in it's own, but considering it is more than 2,000 years old just blows your mind. We see artifacts that were chrome plated when they were buried and while that sounds kind of cool - think about when chrome plating was "re-discovered" in the 1950s (according to the sign in the display, I need to verify that fact for myself, but if it is true - wow!). Keep in mind that this whole time Julie and I have been playing pass the Shan-Shan as he is still crying. He varies from all-out wailing to just crying to whimpering. When you have that, plus the crowds, plus the heat, it makes for a tiring experience. We are stopped multiple times by other tourists to have pictures taken with Sydney. They'd like to get Veronica in on the action, but she wants no part of it. Trust me, the novelty wears off pretty quickly and it is hard not to remember that they probably have never seen anyone with blonde hair and certainly not as cute as our crew. :)
We head back to the car and again are thankful that we don't have to run the vendor gauntlet but instead hop into the cool AC of the van. We are on our way to Weinan, the city where Shan-Shan lived until just a few days ago. We have been told that there were heavy rains the day before we arrived and that part of the highway has been washed out. Apparently whatever repair needed to be made has not been completed so we take the "old" way to get there. This is the equivalent of a 2 lane road that the Chinese drive on as if it is a 3 lane road (and sometimes 4 lanes). It is slow going and we get to see more of the authentic Chinese countryside as we drive through smaller towns, cornfields, manufacturing plants and who knows what else. Julie and I both comment that the living conditions look a lot like other poor places we've seen, like Mexico, Peru, Grenada, etc. So sad and makes you really appreciate the blessings we've been given. Even out here the pollution haze is palpable. I thought it might dissipate as we distanced ourselves from the 7+ million people in Xi'an but it doesn't seem to. Good news is that Shan-Shan is asleep so he must have wore himself out - poor little guy.
We eventually get to a larger city that they say is Weinan and Rea breaks out a hand drawn map that she and the driver discuss before deciding which way to go. We drive around for a while before stopping for directions and during the conversation hands are waved and fingers pointed as if we were in Italy. LOL! Everyone decides which way to go and we are off again. After more driving and taking pictures along the way, the camera's batteries die! Normally we'd have extra, but they are in the big backpack at the hotel. No way did we come all the way out here to NOT get pictures of the city and orphanage. While driving/wandering we stop in the middle of the intersection and ask a police woman for directions. I figured for sure we'd be told to move along as we were blocking traffic, but she does her best to give us directions. More driving and a U-turn ensue and we stop for directions two more times. As we are sitting at a light, we spot the building and head towards it. I get out and snap a few pictures before the camera gives up the ghost. Not to sound like a plug for a camera company, but this camera is perfect for travel because it uses normal AA batteries, which can be found just about anywhere, including the small store across the street from our son's orphanage in Weinan, China. Try that with your proprietary, camera specific battery. LOL! I owe that tip to my good friend Mark Wagner - it paid for itself today when I was 6500+ miles from home, dozens of kilometers from our hotel and NEEDED to take some pics. As a side bonus, this store also sells the small French bread rolls Shan-Shan loved when we met him Monday so I picked up two AA batteries and six rolls. I snapped a few more pics and we were off on the way back to the hotel.
Now for those of you who are keen readers, you'll recall that we were told that we couldn't visit the orphanage because it was a mess from all of the construction of the new orphanage. Maybe it is just me, but I missed the construction and it looks pretty much like no work is going on there at all. Refer to my conspiracy theory thoughts earlier for more details on that. As we drive back, both Julie and I notice that we waste no time jumping on the highway back to Xi'an. Hope the washed out part doesn't mess us up in some way. :) It is smooth sailing until Xi'an traffic, Veronica falls asleep in Julie's arms while I hold Shan-Shan and then we are back at the hotel.
Rea is headed to the notary office do get more paperwork and she'll bring it back to the hotel to review it. We head upstairs and war, rummy the usual time-killing techniques that are employed. Shan-Shan is in a better mood and is happy to re-explore the hotel rooms. He seems to be getting more and more used to us and we get occasional smiles and laughs from him. Rea calls and I go downstairs to review the paperwork with her. All seems to be in order and we are on our own until tomorrow. Back upstairs and hanging out in the room until dinner when we head back to what is now our old favorite. We load up and everyone is winding down and apparently I am getting grouchy, too. :)
Julie starts packing and organizing the suitcases because we leave Xi'an tomorrow and fly to Guangzhou. We are on our own until 1:45 when we meet Rea and she'll take us on a tour of the city to see the Muslim quarter, the Bell Tower and whatever else we can do until we go pick up Shan-Shan's passport around 4:30 or 5PM. Then they will drop us off at the airport and we catch the 7:50 to our next to last city, Guangzhou. It will be a long day so we hit the hay. Shan-Shan does something new tonight and cries when we put him to bed. Not sure if having the light on to read helps him see that we are right there in the room with him and thus the crying. Unfortunately for Julie, I don't know how it ended as sleep overcame me.
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