Greetings from Xi’an!
Today was an adventurous day. We started it off with a refreshing 15km bike ride around the city walls that encircled the old town of Xi’an. The wall towers an amazing height of 20m with a width at the bottom of 12m, made up of long, solid stone slabs that gradually get smaller the higher they get, with the top decorated by lanterns and pagodas. It is evident that ancient Xi’an was very wealthy, as this ancient wall is definitely one of a kind in size and scale. As we rode we overlooked rooftops and the city moat to see we were surrounded by big grey apartment blocks and construction sites. The ride on the wall gave us a different perspective of the area around us. It was hectic to begin with as people got the hang of their tandem bikes.
Half the wall’s road was smooth and refurnished, while the other half were dotted with cracks and crevices, the reason being that the wall needed to be repaired because of the erosion that occurs because of the pollution mixing with rain. However, the repairers couldn’t use regular concrete due to its weight. The wall would simply crumble into pieces. The solution was a mixture of traditional sticky rice and rock powder. The use of this mixture made the wall more stable. The city wall divides the old Xi’an from the new, and glancing left and right showed us the dramatic way in which China has changed. It was quite astounding to see the difference in architecture, poverty and life-style. The ride was 18.8km which circled the city of Xi’an, and gave us a great feel for what life could be like in this bustling city.
After the city wall bike ride we were off to see the famous Terracotta Warriors. It was a couple of hour’s drive in the bus, but when we finally got there it was definitely worth the trip. There were three different pits, and in each there was a variety of different ancient sculptures. It was breathtaking to see such old historical pieces in their original condition. Even though at first glance most of them seemed to look exactly the same, each warrior had a unique face and features. Some of the stand out statues were the master general, the charioteer and the kneeling archer.
We learnt how the Terracotta Warriors were built by the Emperor Qin Shihuan as part of his elaborate tomb, of which the Warriors we saw was only a tiny portion. Anyone who had knowledge of it, including the thousands of people who built it were met with an ominous fate: death, in order to keep the tomb a secret. We were quite amazed of how these sculptors and artefacts were able to be restored so authentically. They made us realise just how cruel, selfish but powerful these ancient rulers could be.
We concluded the day by driving to the Xi’an airport. We checked in and soon we were on our way to Kunming to continue our Big Experience.
By Sascha Weichmann and Rob McLeish.
As we move into the picturesque mountain town of Dali tomorrow, wifi access may become more difficult to access. We will continue to update the blog as frequently as we can, but there may be some delays.
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