Xi`an, Part 2

Hi all. Even though Dave and I have already left Xi`an earlier today, I still want to describe the rest of our time there. It was great! As I mentioned in our last blog, we got to see so many things, that I simply didn't have any time to write about them. So here it goes: day 2 in Xi`an..

On the morning of our second day were went to see another tomb. Similar to the tomb we visited the day before, this emperor had also left behind a great treasure, including a large army to protect him in the afterlife. It were these soldiers that I had already heard about: The Terracotta Army! As opposed to the previous tomb, these soldiers were made to resemble their actual size (perhaps even a little bit exaggerated). Thousand and thousands of statues were found, and we got to visit some of them. Here are some pictures:

The original pit in which the first soldiers were found. Most of them had been destroyed,
due to collapses and robberies, but they are slowly being restored to their original state.

Close up of one of the Soldiers, this one with horse

I bought two small statues that model one of these soldiers and a general. I think they will look great with my Bonsai :) After lunch we went to visit on the local hot spring that has been used by many Emperors in history. This was a beautiful setting with many old building. One of the most valuable and popular resources here is Jade. This is a type of stone, that can have a wide range of uses. Many of the old baths we saw were made out of this material, and there were also shops to buy Jade made jewelry. Behind the "spa" was Li mountain, which we also got to see from the top after taking a Gondola ride up. The pictures I took did not turn out as nicely as I had hoped, but here is one showing much of the setting from our cable cart.

View from the spa from the cable cart

After dinner we returned to the same place, because at night it is also the decor of a dance show. The show was called "A Song of Everlasting Sorrow" , but I am glad to say I was not nearly as depressing as the title might portray. In fact it was beautiful! The show must have included at least 100 dancers, and they quite literally turned the whole place into one big stage. There were panels and stairs emerging from the water, they made fog roll down the mountain passage, and giant LED screens would rise from behind the buildings. They even went as far as placing hundreds of lights on the mountain behind the resort, so it could resemble the night sky. No wonder this shows sells thousands of tickets night after night. It told the story of one of the old emperors and his love for a "lower class" lady. All the narrating would be in Chinese, but Dave and I still understood most of it. No pictures or videos were allowed, but of course I had to sneak one in for you guys ;)

The Spa functioned as the decor for the show. The "stars" are actually hundreds
of lights on the mountain, and the moon is projected by a huge LED screen.

And that concluded day 2 in Xi'an, and I will have to leave it at this for now. It is currently the first morning of our stay in Hong Kong, and I really want to go and collect some more stories to tell you. Thing will be different now that we don't get to have guided tours any more. So we will have to find our own way around the city. Hopefully I can get back to you later tonight and describe some more of our trip in Xi'an. The Internet in this hotel has been extremely unreliable, so even a short blog like this, with four pictures and a couple of words, takes me about an hour to write and upload.

I also plan on creating another blog section in which I will just upload all the funny things I've seen here. Strange signs, funny situations (or situasians), you will be able to find those soon.

As always, I hope you are all doing well.

Jeff