Saturday offered up a reprieve from both work and and VLL.
We boarded the bus around 8:45 for an hour long drive to an area surrounding Lishan Mountain.
The first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang, was buried here with his Terra Cotta army which he commissioned to protect him in the afterlife. They were discovered in 1974 by some farmers digging a water well. They estimate now that there are as many as 8,000 in the vicinity, many of which are still buried.
The figures were painted in bright colors which fade quickly after being unearthed. They are hoping that some technology will be developed to preserve the colors before they excavate all.
I guess it's still pretty rare to see non Chinese people in China. I have noticed on several occasions, Chinese children pointing at us and we have been asked more than once to have our picture taken with people on the street.
The facility built for the Terra Cotta army is a huge tourist destination and we saw the most non-Chinese people we have seen during the whole trip, but the Chinese still made up probably 80-90% of the crowd.
After the Terra Cotta warriors we went to lunch at a nearby restaurant. They we just wrapping up a wedding which was quite the party. At lunch we dodged the VLL, but they brought some beer out and I quickly found out that preferred method of consumption for ANY alcohol is the toast. This was relatively tame however, so we were not too tired for the afternoon event.
Following lunch we visited the Huaqing Pool complex which was a favorite relaxation spot for many Chinese Emperors. One in particular, Emperor Xuanzong, spent so much time here with his concubine Lady Yang that the whole Tang Dynasty started to go down the tubes.
On the return to the city, we talked with our Chinese business partners and suggested we cancel the organized dinner. As a result I ended up just going out with the American co workers in the evening and we toured the market as it was closing up.
We then went into the central Bell tower that was built around 1400 AD and had dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Our project manager was looking forward to going to bed for once without the room spinning.
Have you bought much of anything? How are the prices of things in China? Do the Chinese try to sell you stuff like in Mexico or are they more reserved?
ReplyDeleteIt is probably a good thing you have kept this blog because after all the VLL you have been forced to consume you may not have too many memories of the trip by the time you get home!
Better yet hope you don't have to go through a VLL detox once you get home! That would suck!
Did they try to sell you anything at the markets? How long did you spend at the Terra Cotta Army? I bet that was fun! We all hope you're having a great time! We miss you!
ReplyDeleteHi there --- we did some more shopping today and I did buy some stuff, but can't say what because some of its for someone reading the comments. Things are cheap though and they aren't very aggressive.
ReplyDeleteWe stayed at the Terra Cotta army for about 2 hours. Our dinner host tonight said there is another discovery by the airport that may be as big!
Miss you all too.