Stopover in Xi'an

We have arrived in Chengdu after a very short stopover in Xi'an. So far Chengdu seems pretty nice, and the weather is better. But we will have lots of time to talk about this city...so we will give an update on Xi'an instead.

Xi'an is dirty, the whole city was a haze from the pollution. I can only imagine how bad it would be in the summer. The city loves its neon lights though, even the freeway had a row of neon blue lights along the side of it...kind of distracting if you ask me. In contrast to Beijing and Shanghai, the streets here were really dirty too, and there did not seem to be as many little restos to hit up for food as other places we have been.

The terra-cotta warriors (our reason for stopping over) were pretty neat. To be honest though, we both felt a little let down. The figures themselves are impressive, especially the horses, and when you think that each of the over 6000 figures have completely different features, you cannot help but be a bit impressed. What was lacking though was the overall picture of why they were there. Who the emperor that ordered their creation was and why he made them...what were they to do...how long did it take to make them, etc. Alot of the information on them dealt with technical aspects, like "the chariot is 1.93 cm tall and weighs 193 kilos while consisting of 3486 individual parts". The admission was also quite a bit more than other sights we have seen in China so far.

Our advice, unless you are a big archaeological buff, don't make a special trip to Xi'an to see the warriors. If your coming through and can stop over for an afternoon, go for it. Otherwise, spend you time visiting other cities or rural areas.