Terracotta Warriors

Finally we went to see my mother's highlight ............ Xian (Terracotta Warriors).

Early morning we went to the train station, 1 1/2 hours earlier than our departure. This was a good thing since there were many many many people waiting for the same train. Steven and I stood quickly at the check-gate waiting for the gate to open and it became more hot, sticky, noisy and when one hour was over there was a loooong line of about 1000 people. WE WERE THE FIRST IN THE LINE. Then the train staff game to open up and check all the tickets and they opened not our gate, but the gate NEXT TO US?!?!?!!? Anyway, the train took only 3 hours till Taiyuan (500km south of Beijing). A friend of ours Mr Penterman picked us up and we went straight to a steak house. Mr  Penterman ordered for us, lovely Chinese tomato-soup for starters and for main we had DONKEY steak!!! Steven and I didn't know what it was until Steven finished his plate. I did not eat a lot (luckily) because I am not such a big meat eater. The next day we visited a very old and nice Chinese town Ping Yao. Here we cycled through the little streets and visited old houses and shops. This is what my mom remembered from her visits in China in the 90ties. I now also understand what she was telling me all the time about how Beijing had changed. It was lovely seeing a town riding on a bike, saying Ni Hao to all the people.
In the evening we took the night train to Xian where we had our first experience sleeping in a train.
It was nice, but dusty and the toilets were (again) just a hole in the floor with a terrible smell. Dad didn't sleep well because he has hay fever, we loved the motion and the bunk-beds.
In Xian station there was a lady with a sign with Steven's name on it. She did not know Steven was a boy of only 12 years old (Steven made the booking with the Guest House via internet) and she had to laugh....smart boy!! Smart boy!!

Steven was picked up

                                                         Diningroom in train Xian to Beijing

He booked us in a great  guest-house with lots of sun and very central with very colourful curtains and tables. (They also had 2 files of MOVIES!!)  But we first went  to the Terracotta Warriors, because that was our reason to visit Xian. The Terracotta Warriors is an army of guards made of clay (terra) backed in a hot oven (cotta). The First Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the an important Qin Dynasty had them made to protect him in his grave (210-209 Bc) so the army could protect him in his afterlife. It was only discovered in 1974 by a local farmer who was digging a well to water his crops. And guess what..............WE MET HIM!!!. He only visits the museum some times because he is now old. After he discovered the Army the government took over his farmland and gave him money every month for it. He is only getting rmb3000 per month and that is very little if you see all the visitors and shops and all the money they make. The Warriors were also very interesting and ALL DIFFERENT, some where from the north of China and were tall and slim, others were short from other areas of China. There are more than 8000 warriors and there are many more soldiers still to dig up. The place where the Emperor himself was buried is not yet open and they did not dig him up yet. So, many treasures still to be discovered. Our guide said that there will be work for another 100 years to find everything which is still buried. The visit was very exciting especially for MOM she loved  it!!

The man in the middle is the local farmer who
discovered the Terracotta Army

That night Mom and I went to a beautiful  Music and Dancing Show while eating Dumplings. The food was very tasty and the music and dances were all from the Tang Dynasty. The dances were very colorful and the music was soft and slowly played with instruments that were very old and Chinese. All was about the nature, animals, birds, blue skies and trees. But if you look now China doesn't have many blue skies and trees are not easy to find in the cities. So also not many birds and the animals in the Zoo look very unhappy. The next day we went cycling on the old wall of Xian. It was 13 km cycling(4km cycling without rain and 9km cycling in the pouring rain). We could see the houses and how the people in Xian lived. That night we had to go back to Beijing and hopped in the night-train again and fell asleep straight away. The next morning we nearly overslept, because we thought we were arriving at 9:00, but instead we arrived at 7:00. there was someone who woke us up 10 before 7:00. So we quickly got ready in time.

On Friday 1st June it was Children's Day!! The Chinese celebrate that, but we didn't really celebrate it, because my mom says "Every day is Children's Day" it is true. Steven went to a party with his friend from soccer.

On Saturday 2nd June we are leaving with the Transiberian Train to Moscow. We are in the train for 6 days and than arrive in Moscow. Staying in Moscow for a few days and leaving with the train again to Ukraine and than to ..............

Xie Xie and Tai tien (good bye)

Loes