Xian Day 2- back to Beijing- fly out to Okinawa

Today we headed out to see the 8th wonder of the world, the TerraCotta soldiers.
First we stopped at a replica factory to see how they were made and learn how lacquer furniture is made. We bought a small TerraCotta officer.
Then we headed to the museum. We watched a short low budget movie about the Quing dynasty's first emperor. He feared death and began working on his tomb at age 13. The tomb and clay soldiers were crafted by slaves from EuroAsia. They were not Chinese. Also they were not artists. They copied what one another looked like for the models.
A local farmer found the soldiers in 1974. He thought he happened to open the emperors tomb. This would bring him bad luck to him and his family. He did not know what he had done. Many people shunned him and would not befriend him. Today he has become very famous for finding the 8th wonder. He signs books about the TerraCotta Soldiers. He was paid 50yuan or $7.50 for finding this, but today he earns a salary for signing the books. He has met many famous people including Bill Clinton.
When we walked into the first pit it was amazing to see how big the museum building is, very long. All of the soldiers were found broken and the archeologists have worked very hard to put them back together and stand them up. They are learning as they go, when they first dig them up, they are painted very colorful. But as oxygen touches the 2000 year old pottery the paint disintegrates. So they have excavated 2000 soldiers, but they know there are over 8000 soldiers. They are working with German and Swiss scientist to come up with a way to preserve them batter before digging them up.
Only one soldier, an archer has been found intact. He was not broken. He also has color on his shoe, skirt and back panel. He is beautiful. It is just amazing to see something intact that is over 2000 years old. That is hard to comprehend.
I loved seeing the soldiers. Tonight we flew back to Beijing to fly out in the morning. Our flight is at 7:15am. We will be leaving before 5:00am. Ugh...then back to work for us working folks. Next stop, Okinawa!

Beijing day 5/ Xian day one

Today we went to the Summer Palace. It is a beautiful residence of the last emperor and his mother. It is beautiful built on a hill on a man made lake. It was built there for the good feng shua. It is all about the feng shua.
It was nice walking through the summer palace. You got to see how the emperor lived his daily life. Bill and I climbed up to a big temple viewing area. There were 263 steps down, I can only guess we had that many up, it was very tall. I really enjoyed the Summer Palace.
Afterwards we had a very lovely lunch and then shopping at a market. We finally got the bargaining down. Dad bought a suitcase for 100yuan or $15. Good deal for a good friend!
After shopping we went to the airport. We caught a plane to Xian. Tomorrow we will be seeing the TerraCotta Soldiers.

Beijing Day 4: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven

Today was a day we realized how crowded the city of Beijing really is. Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City have an average 10,000 visitors daily. During holiday, there are over 100,000 people visiting each day.
It was very interesting to walk through the square with such a heavy military presence. Also, Chinese people believe that this area is the most important place to visit.
There were cameras on us all the time. The square is under constant surveillance. We went under the main road to enter into the Forbidden City. The Forbidden City was closed off til 1924. This was when the people's republic took over from the last emperor.
It was so interesting to walk through each area and see where he lived. I. Especially like walking through the concubines quarters. The city is quite large and seemed to go on forever.
After the Forbidden City, we went to the Temple of Heaven. At this point I am having trouble distinguishing between the various places. If ya ask me, it all has begun to look alike. Afterwards we had our tour guide take us to a KungFu show. It was neat to see the KungFu acrobatic show. Very entertaining. After that, we were dropped off at a Dumpling Restaurant. It is one of our favorites. There is a sticky bun with egg and sugar that is very good. Then we went back to the hotel.

Beijing Day 3

When we got up on day 3, we knew it was going to be a long day. We were headed out to the Ming Tombs and the Great Wall if China. (This was my favorite day)
We headed out of the city towards the countryside where the Ming Tombs are located. There are 13 emperors buried there all from the Ming Dynasty. It is interesting how the emperor wanted to self preserve his rule over China. It was beautiful scenery.
Afterwards we went to a lovely restaurant. We have had some of the BEST Chinese food!!! After lunch it was a short ride to the Great Wall. First interesting bit that I learned was that when the astronauts "saw" the Great Wall from space, they actually saw a nearby river.
When we arrived at the location, there is a small city area. Lots of souvenirs. We climbed in a gondola to ride to the top of the wall. We could have climbed 1000 stairs, but we opted not too.
Seeing the Great Wall is so surreal. I still can't believe that we were there. Seeing the pictures are still startling. It was so awesome!
It was just absolutely cool to be walking on the Great Wall.